Step 4: Reflect
You must be feeling it. 
Almost every industry in India is getting disrupted. Take a look at these trends:
– Sites like Flipkart & Amazon have eliminated the need for physical book stores. Shops around India are shutting down.
– Job recruiters have been displaced by websites like Naukri, Monster & LinkedIn.
– OlaCabs & Uber are giving traditional taxi companies a run for their money
– Local Newspapers are seeing their circulation numbers drop as more and more people turn to real time news from Social Media, blogs & news websites for their daily fill of relevance.
If businesses don’t adapt to the new realities. They’re going to die.
And when massive industries are being disrupted, then guess what, so will we, at an individual level.
It’s very difficult to predict what the next big change is going to be. But what we can do is become better at dealing with surprises.
You cannot deal with surprises, if you have a head full of nagging thoughts. GTD helps you get to that place where your mind is clear to deal with change.
What is Reflect?
Once you’ve captured, clarified & organized the things coming into you life, you need to look at your system on a regular basis.
As you develop the habit of and confidence in reviewing your system regularly, you will:
- Trust your decisions on a moment to moment basis
- Be ready to re-calibrate your approach or renegotiate existing commitments when a new opportunity or threat arises
Here are ways you can review your system:
- At the end of the day, review your calendar to see what’s coming for the day
- Review your lists when you are in a particular context. Example: Open your @Home list when you’re at home
- Review all your Next Actions & Projects by doing a Weekly Review, so that you’re confident your system is current.
Best of Reflect:
– Utilizing Orienting Reviews
Worst Practice of Reflect:
– Reacting to Latest and Loudest
What are my next steps?
Every week take 1 to 2 hours to plan your work. During this time:
- Get clear by emptying your Inboxes and In-trays to zero (if any ‘to-do’ that comes up takes less than 2 minutes, complete it.)
- Get current by updating your Next Actions & Projects with additions from the previous step
- Get creative by exploring new opportunities to work on