So, I was talking to David Allen, author of the book, "Getting Things Done," about how
to be more organized and he asked me, Why do you keep a calendar?
Because if I don't I'll forget where I'm supposed to be and when.
That's right, your head can't handle that complexity and, like the complexity of your
calendar?
Try the complexity of the rest of your life.
Your calendar manages maybe three to four percent of your commitments and what you actually
need to keep track of.
The other 96% David says are things like our goals, our projects, our to-do lists, what
we need at the store, that phone call we need to make.
All these other things we just let our brain, our psyche, try to keep track of.
The psyche actually sucks as a system.
It will remind you of stuff that you can't do at 3 o'clock in the morning, which is not
very bright.
If that was just one thing, that'd be bad enough.
But multiply that by about a thousand and realize this buzz that's going on in everybody's
head.
So, David thinks we need a new system that captures that buzz and quiets your brain.
The first step in this system is to get everything written down.
So capturing it, that's a first critical step, that is I have to identify those things that
are potentially meaningful, otherwise my psyche is going to go, "Don't forget!
Don't forget!
Don't forget!" and this little monkey is going to start to talk inside my head.
But just writing things down isn't enough because...
If you look at most people's to-do list you see things like, "Mom," or "Bank," but you
have to take it to the next step.
So now you have to clarify.
"What's the outcome I'm committed to?"
And then you say, "Well, what does doing look like and where does it happen?"
So what's the very next action about Mom's birthday?
What's the very next action about the bank?
Is that a phone call to make?
Is that a surf the web to find out something?
The third thing that you need to do is you need to park the results, otherwise it goes
back into my psyche.
The final two steps David says are to review those lists that you make, those parking lots
for your tasks and your projects, and then, of course, to do them.
The big secret here about getting things done is it's not really about getting things done.
I am now free and clear in my head to let my attention go where it wants to go or where
I want to put it.
It's about being appropriately engaged with your life.
And once you stop trying to keep all of those tasks and projects in your head and you quiet
the jabbering monkeys, you'll find that you have increased capacity to think and be creative.