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Ideas to Share
February 14, 2007
Welcome to the first in what we hope is a long series of emails, each one containing an idea that we want to share. These might be summaries of articles that we’ve read, thoughts that have occurred to us as we’ve gone about our daily jobs, reviews of books that we found interesting, or anything else that we think is valuable and want to pass on to you.
For the past few months, we’ve been using a number of ideas that we found in the book, Getting Things Done, by David Allen (Penguin Books, 2003).These ideas have not only boosted our productivity, they have also made us feel far better about not doing the items that have to be postponed, and completed at another time.
The subtitle of the book is “The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.” The first sentence of the first chapter sums this up: “It’s possible for a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control.” The key, according to Allen, is to be aware of all that you have to get done, and always know what the very next step is in accomplishing each objective.
The book is not about lifetime goals, or five-year goals, or even three-month goals. It is about bringing order to the huge array of “stuff” that is in your life today, helping you to decide what needs to be done, and relieving your mind about worrying about what isn’t getting done.
The book describes a system that is made up of five distinct types of activities: collecting, processing, organizing, reviewing and doing. After you’ve collected all the things that are vying for your attention, and worked your way through to reviewing the lists that you’ve created, you’ll be able to do the work you want to do. You won’t have to devote any brain power to remembering all the items that aren’t being done because they will have been written down during the process.
The system does work. My desk is staying very clear (compared to what it was like three months ago), my file drawers look spiffy, and my Day-Timer has far fewer entries of things that have to get done on each page. I may not be totally stress-free, but I’m a lot closer!
The book (and a lot of other stuff) is available (hardcover or paperback) from David Allen’s website: http://www.davidco.com/store/catalog/Books-p-1-c-3.php , although the book itself is a little cheaper at Amazon.com.
Our best to you,
Hank and Jane