What Does Perspective Mean in GTD?

In this episode, we're discussing the concept of perspective as a contrast to the GTD concept of control. We explore the "Horizons of Focus" and the different altitudes of self-management, ranging from the "runway" of daily actions to the "50,000-foot" level of life purpose. We debate whether perspective is a tactical relationship or a pseudonym for context while contrasting top-down visioning with bottom-up execution. From discussing the "elasticity" needed in planning to identifying incongruencies between our values and our careers, we explore how these various layers of focus can transform mundane tasks into meaningful progress toward a fulfilling life.
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In this Cast | What Does Perspective Mean in GTD?
Ray Sidney-Smith
Augusto Pinaud
Art Gelwicks
Francis Wade
Show Notes | What Does Perspective Mean in GTD?
Resources we mention, including links to them, will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.
Getting Things Done by David Allen
The 8th Habit by Dr. Stephen Covey
Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins
Tony Robbins Audio Programs
GTD "Horizons of Focus" Model
Personal Productivity Club
Raw Text Transcript | What Does Perspective Mean in GTD?
Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is mm:ss (e.g., 0:04 starts at 4 seconds into the cast’s audio).


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Voiceover Artist | 00:00
Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a more fulfilling, productive life? Then you've come to the right place. Welcome to ProductivityCast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity. Here are your hosts, Ray Sidney Smith and Augusto Pinot with Francis Wade and Art Gelwix.
Raymond Sidney-Smith | 00:18
Welcome back, everybody, to Productivity Cast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity. I'm Ray Sidney Smith.
Augusto Pinaud | 00:24
And I'm Augusto Pinaud.
Francis Wade | 00:26
I'm Francis Wade.
Art Gelwicks | 00:28
And I'm Art Gelwicks.
Raymond Sidney-Smith | 00:29
Welcome, gentlemen, and welcome to our listeners to this week's episode. Today, we are going to be talking about perspectives as a contrast to last week's episode on the GTD concept of control. 
So in order to start off the conversation, I want to lay the groundwork with perspectives. The Getting Things Done March 2015 edition appendixes. Glossary of terms definition given for perspective. And it says, one of the two key elements of self and organizational management, along with control, and it refers to point of view, focus, altitude of horizon. We have this concept of horizons of focus in getting things done. And what I'm hearing from the definition is that David Allen is saying that each one of those horizons of focus is a perspective. That's what the terminology is talking about. And so with that in mind, I wanted to ask, Is. Perspective the right term? And what does perspective mean to you in your own.
Francis Wade | 01:33
My mind perspective is a pseudonym for context. And as someone smart said, context is decisive. The background story from which you take your actions is all important. And it's malleable. And most of us just wake up into the context that human beings wake up into every day, which is something close to survival. Survival, desperation, fear, you know, how can I make it through the day kind of, point of view. I think that's the default. 
And then to Create a new context, tics. Or any perspective takes. Conscious act for the most part conscious action it takes deliberate effort. I think this is all important. I think the book GT is really about that. And perspectives is one way of seeing it. I think this idea that... The context of your life is decisive is an idea that's been around probably since the Greeks. And that's something worth paying attention to. 
So yes, it's vitally important.
Art Gelwicks | 02:41
What I think is interesting about this looking at perspective and how it breaks down is that often perspective is not related to ourselves. If you look at the GTD structure you've got, and I'll work from the bottom up, Actions, Projects, Goals, Vision, Life The first four of those categories are often... Stolen for lack of a better term by corporate and work environments. To set the messaging. For everything that you're supposed to be doing and that becomes the context, for lack of a better term, that those get applied in. It's difficult for us to translate goals, vision and life into actual real life things, because every time we think about it, we think about, you know, the next five year plan at work. 
So... If we think about it from the perspective of how they relate to each other, perspectives in my book, are pretty much whatever you're dealing with and the thing above and the thing below it. 
So projects is a good example. If you're working on projects, The projects need to align to the strategic goals that you have. If it's business, obviously you have business strategic goals. If it's personal goals, The things that you're doing should align to those. You have to determine what those are, but they should be tied to it. And below that, the actions necessary to execute those projects. 
So the perspective is less... What the term would lend me to believe, which is a view on things and more of a relationship.
Raymond Sidney-Smith | 04:27
I certainly see perspectives for me. As a vertical planning tool. And so each of the additional perspectives above the actions level or the ground level in at least GTD lingo, you are seeing a different and therefore you were planning at a different time. "layer of time" So it's for me, I always think of time horizons is that, you know, projects are within our time bound within about a year and then you keep stepping up to further and further distances of time. Accepting the horizon too, which is areas of focus and accountability, which ends up being something that is it's a maintenance level. 
So, While each of the time horizons keep going up in that sense, Horizon 2 is the exception there because it's maintenance. It's ongoing maintenance. And if you're like me and you've created other horizons, other perspectives, then you may have other time horizons in that sense as well. They're not going away. And so that has an infinite horizon in essence. 
So I'm looking at it on a regular basis purely because it's perennial. It's always going to be there. The interesting thing about perspectives for me is that I think that there is a clear... I don't know if I want to say contrast or argument between other systems, other methodologies, other thought processes on this and perspectives. I'll give you one example, which is Dr. Stephen Covey's The Eighth Habit, where he talks about the concept of the four intelligences. And if... Control and perspective are really the only two vectors of a productivity system, then Where does something like the four intelligences fit. And I would say that Dr. Covey would say that this is perhaps a completely different dimension. 
You know, the four intelligences being mental intelligence or IQ, physical intelligence, PQ, emotional intelligence, EQ, and spiritual intelligence, SQ. And so he has this perspective on the four intelligences and how they map to all of the rest of how you would develop in his language, you know, finding your voice and helping others find theirs. And so I'm always... I don't know if I'm conflicted because I have myself learned to deal with where these things fit in my own system. But I can see that there can be a difficulty for folks to think about how Picking. IQ, PQ, EQ, SQ, and turning that into vision, discipline, passion, and conscience in the eighth habit world, and then seeing the somewhat limited I wouldn't say limited, but more simplistic view of the perspective concept. And I'm curious from all of you, Do you see a conflict or do you see... Perspective is just basically holding other I.
Art Gelwicks | 07:38
Think perspectives are a more tactical term. Approach. They're more tangible. We associate them with things and activities that we have going on. Stephen Covey's concepts are more to understand people. I want to say spheres of influence. I don't know that they necessarily relate directly to each other. There is no dotted line. It is difficult at best. To translate. For example, projects into mental intelligence, you're not going to be able to make that connection easily without it stopping. Significant amount of work.
Raymond Sidney-Smith | 08:18
Yeah, but to interject right there, like, so if we step up a few horizons and we get to vision and purpose and principles, then we're really starting to connect. The concepts of what he's talking about there at the very top levels of the system. 
So it's not really closer to the tactical level, but more when he starts talking about, you know, creating vision, right, which he defines kind of as applied imagination. And then he we keep stepping down to these other, not stepping down, but going around the four quadrants, right? To figure out passion and discipline and conscious and otherwise. 
So it's, At those upper horizons,...