Are you a Responder, an Implementer, a Visionary, or a Captain and Commander?

Your answers indicate that you are not at your optimal level of perspective or control.

In this quadrant you are in the storm, probably somewhere between a mild storm and a major hurricane. Right now it may seem challenging just to keep your boat afloat, not to mention to see where you're going.

On the positive side, you are a Responder. It is the natural defensive game you must play when you are engaged in a "stretch" goal or a major change — even a positive one. The bigger the objectives you have set and the more risks you have taken to step into new and uncomfortable areas, the more likely you will need to focus on tactical responsiveness just to achieve short-term stability.

The downside is that on your worst days, you may feel like the Victim — driven by the latest and loudest inputs and issues, living moment to moment, often in crisis mode. As you perform triage on your daily work, small issues that are overlooked turn into crises over time.

GTD® can help you get some control of the "stuff" — all the potential crises that you haven't had the time to prevent. You'll know what's on your plate and be able to make basic decisions about your commitments. As you get a little breathing room, you'll also get perspective on how to look at your catalogue of commitments and make good decisions about what to do when. These efforts will relieve some of the pressure you've been feeling.

Remember, it is not about what quadrant you are in — it's about knowing how to move from where you are to where you want to be. GTD® can help.

You are an Implementer. If you score in this quadrant, you are ahead in maintaining order and structure, and to some degree are using a systematic approach to keep up with your world.

On the developmental side, you are a Micro Manager. The pressures you feel may be coming from the lack of perspective, rather than from your workflow. A certain degree of form and structure is necessary for freedom; but any more than that creates constriction and limitation. Flexibility is required to maintain real control. There must be a degree of cooperation with the environment, which is always more complex and mysterious than we suppose. Over-adherence to structure under changing circumstances can look like misguided perfectionism.

GTD® can offer you a systematic approach to managing workflow that is inherently flexible. The process requires you to focus on outcomes — the purpose behind any activity — then allows you to capture all those commitments appropriately for intuitive decision-making in the moment. You can still feel in control while flexing with a changing landscape of priorities.

Remember, it is not about what quadrant you are in — it's about knowing how to move from where you are to where you want to be. GTD® can help.

On the positive side, you are a Visionary — you have no shortage of ideas and inspiration. You're probably pretty good at setting goals, being creative, and focused on "the most important thing."

On the developmental side, you are a Crazy Maker. The challenge is that your ideas, projects, and commitments may be outstripping your ability to keep up with them. Along with the inspiration from what you're envisioning, there may be things falling through the cracks, details being missed, and a general sense of being overwhelmed. Other people in your life may have pointed out to you that you don't adequately consider constraints or limitations when making commitments. And that contributes to overloading those around you.

GTD® can offer you a sane way of complementing your strong perspective with improved control. You can use a systematic, but flexible approach to capture and consider all the commitments you want to make. This should help you get better traction bringing your ideas to life. And the efficiency you realise will help you avoid the title "Crazy Maker" as you build a better track record of handling requests and delegating to others in a timely manner.

Remember, it is not about what quadrant you are in — it's about knowing how to move from where you are to where you want to be. GTD® can help.

Your answers indicate that you have a healthy balance of perspective and control. You are "on your game"!

On the positive side, you are Captain and Commander. Your focus gives you effectiveness and your implementation and follow-through give you efficiency. By managing to keep your world collected, processed, organised and reviewed, you manoeuvre with agility and flexibility.

On the developmental side, you could be something of an Autocrat — simply because the power that comes from mastering the control/perspective game could make you vulnerable to a sense of complacency; you might think it will always be this way. That may to some degree be true, but somehow your world will still manage to be a consistent source of surprise. And those surprises tend to get bigger as you take on more responsibility.

The challenge that you face is more about fine-tuning the practices that you already (at least to some degree) have in place. Your improvement opportunity is to pay attention to the more subtle aspects of your work and life. Once you pay attention to what has your attention, you'll discover what really has your attention. As long as there is anything pulling or pushing on your consciousness — no matter how subtle — there will be an opportunity to practice and refine your facility with perspective and control. Are there things you should be doing to stretch "out of the box"? Are there things you ought to be learning, to keep yourself fresh and on your game?

Remember, it is not about what quadrant you are in — it's about knowing how to move from where you are to where you want to be. GTD® can help.