Subscribe
Add to Del.icio.us
I’ve been following, well, um, TRYING to follow, some of the principles of GTD - “Getting Things Done”. As badly as I want to start CPORD (Collect, Process, Organize, Record, Do), I can’t manage to get past just surviving day to day. I even bought David Allen’s book last week. Are there any resources for “Getting Things STARTED”?? There are plenty of great ideas, and so easy to implement, I thought I’d share a few, and hope that by sharing them, I’ll be better at doing them!
Inbox Zero: If you are like most, you’re email inbox is overflowing with things you need to do, reply to, file, or do SOMETHING with. Start by going through your inbox and, as quickly as possible, process your messages:
- Delete: Get rid if the spam, junk mail, and other obviously useless stuff.
- Defer: Put it in a”Pending” folder if you need to respond or generate an action from it
- Respond immediately if it literally will take less than 2 minutes or is so Earth-shattering that it just can’t wait
- archive it if it doesn’t require an action but you need to keep it
(from 43Folders)
Once you are down to ZERO messages in your inbox, go back to your pending folder. Now start plowing through: Respond to them and get rid of them, or generate an action from them like adding a task to your to do list. Your goal is to have NO items waiting on your attention in your mailbox. If you have a huge amount of mail, this could take a while, but is well worth it. Just think about how much easier it’s going to be to stay on top of things when you are done!
Start Dashing!: This is my favorite GTD trick, and it’s one I’ve been using long before GTD became a web site, or a book. (I just never called it a “Dash”, more like a “Last resort”! But it works.) Procrastination will bury you. That big project is intimidating, or boring, or just plain sucks, so we find reasons NOT to get it done. But by using dashes - short bursts of focused attention, it will get done. You may even find yourself working beyond your dash because the feeling of actually getting it done is oh-so-good. So just what the heck IS a dash? Pick a set amount of time or amount and focus on that one project for that length of time or until that amount of work is done, and don’t stop until that bit is done. Just little dashes will get you towards your goal of completing the project: 10 minutes working on the presentation you have to give next month, however long it takes to fill one trash bag from that pile of junk in the shed. You get the picture. Set a smaller goal, and the bigger one won’t be so hard/boring/sucky.
Get it off your brain: Focus your to-do items into a to-do list, either on a notepad (which you should never be without!) or your PDA notes, or whatever you use to jot notes and keep your to-do lists on. When you think of something you need to do, buy, pick up, etc, WRITE IT DOWN. Use that list to work off of. Don’t let that stuff keep jumping up in your Brain:
- “DARN it, I was supposed to take that box of clothes to the church yesterday”
- “I wonder if Bob is finished with that proposal yet”
- “I need to check on my 401k contributions, maybe I’m not putting in enough”
- “We need milk. I better pick some up on the way home.”
- “The oil change car is overdue”.
This stuff will distract you all day, and make you feel overwhelmed and overworked, when all you are is over-worried. Instead, you can keep on top of things with your to-do list and let your brain focus on the job hand. And crossing stuff off a written to-do list feels REALLY good. Marking it on your PDA note file feels good, too, but there’s nothing that compares to pulling out the pen and scratch through that sucker knowing you earned the write to scribble that line. Like Zorro :)
I think that’s enough for now. Maybe I’ll come back to the GTD topic more often, and share with you some of the other tricks to get through your day with less stress and more productivity.
