(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Renowned thought-leader David Allen speaks to Kelly Clarke about his mission to make everyone a high performer whether in the kitchen or the office
He is noted as one of the Top 5 executive coaches in the United States and has worked with some of the world’s smartest and most innovative individuals — though he’s keeping tight-lipped about that. David Allen says anyone can be a high performer and the secret to his success is...intelligent laziness. Excerpts from the interview:
Is everyone in need of executive coaching
Well frankly this kind of coaching training and methodology is in my opinion going to be required for anybody to stay sane no matter how old you are or where you are. As long as you are engaged in the modern world which is changing rapidly and has so much information coming at you I think the whole shift that really needs to happen is people starting to build an external brain as opposed to trying to keep everything internally. Anybody who has to keep track of more than whatever they are doing in the moment needs this if just for mental health if nothing else.
What exactly do you teach your clients
I teach personal and organisational productivity. For me there are two critical elements to high performance. A non-distracted focus when you’re doing work and regular rest day-dreaming and spontaneous thinking. Those two things are really crucial and you find that high-performing people have these elements built-in. They stop rest and reflect when needed. This is opposite to the way most people work which is where the problem lies. People are distracted focusing on what needs their focus and they can’t stop relax and let their brain recoup.
And the key to success
It is a very simple five-step process of how you get things under control stabilised and focused whether it’s in your kitchen or your company. You capture what has your attention you clarify exactly what it means and what you’re going to do about you organise the results of that appropriately you step back reflect and review the totality of the inventory and then you engage your attention focus and resources in a trusted way by doing whatever it is you think you need to do out of all of that.
There is so much self-help literature out there but how do you get people to stand up and make things happen
I’m not really a motivational speaker or the blah blah type of guy. I’m primarily lazy but you know there is an intelligent laziness. I look at how much easier I can get things done and have always been interested in relieving pressure stress or unnecessary work. I want things to be easy so I guess you could call that my driver. I’m fascinated with the value of internal clear space and I try to teach the importance of this to my clients. I had some pretty good training of that with my martial arts training too but when dealing with executives I’ve realised their biggest need is space not time. I get people to create this space by creating an external brain or systematic way to keep track of everything. If you don’t create this external storage area it can be totally overwhelming for your psyche.
How did you fall into this particular career path
Frankly I kind of stumbled on it. I was beginning an early consulting career back in the early 1980s and I was trying to uncover models that would help my clients which initially were small business owners and entrepreneurs. The more I started working with them using these models I realised ‘wow this is extremely powerful and useful for anybody’. It was universally applicable.
The best teachers are those who have been through an experience and learnt from it themselves. Do you agree
I totally agree. I began to experience this personally because I was very interested in clear space and when I began using the techniques I teach today it allowed me to have that clear space I was after. When you get more and more sophisticated in the professional world it’s very easy for clear space to become clouded. As my life got more complex and busy these techniques were critical for me. What the brain scientists have found prove and validate that your brain has a very limited capacity to be able to do what you’re thinking. You can barely think of four things at once so you need to filter it out into other areas. That’s what I do and it works.
Have you read or attended self-help seminars yourself
As I mentioned I did a lot of self-development stuff for myself personally. I needed all the help I could get for whatever it was I was thinking at the time. I was fascinated by high-performance behaviour and wanted to know what I could do to improve my quality of life. I wanted to get results both personally and professionally. It turns out as I was doing that I was discovering some techniques and principles that seemed to apply very specifically to this area people referred to as ‘time management’ but to me it’s more about managing your attention and focus.
It seems nowadays anyone can be a self-help guru. How would you defend this statement
I say prove me wrong. In order to prove me wrong you have to do it not say it. Do you want more clarity and focus Do you know how to get it Then you don’t need to talk to me. But if you want to try my technique I will guarantee you it will work. After 30 years of dealing and working with some of the smartest people on the planet nobody has said it doesn’t work. So I don’t really have to prove anything but I like to let people know it is possible to be a high performing no matter who you are.
Why have you chosen Dubai as a seminar venue
I actually did a two-day seminar here about 20 years ago but that was way before the big boom and I hear things have changed. So you could say this is my debut visit to the new Dubai. My work and mission is to spread this methodology around the world. I want to help people flourish in whatever they are doing and I have found no cause for bias no gender bias no personality bias. It’s a worldwide piece of education to me so nowhere is off limits.For more details on David Allen's upcoming seminar in Dubai please see the linkhttp://rightselection.com/events/david-allen/
-kellykhaleejtimes.com