﻿How to avoid drowning in daily affairs? Why do some tasks have to
be completed immediately? How to always keep things in order?
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Almost every minute, we are bombarded with current and new tasks and projects that “would be nice to
do” and things that “should not be forgotten.” The chaos and the number of documents on the
desktop endlessly grow. It becomes increasingly difficult to find what you need in a quick way.
We try to keep this confusing information in mind, which leads to the inability to
concentrate on the current work. Whether we like it or not,
our brain is constantly trying to deal with unresolved problems. Moreover, it will keep
reminding them at a most inopportune moment. To work effectively, we must free our minds
from everything not related to the current task and do one task at a time.
Insight 1. Organize your workspace
Start with the simple but essential thing - a comfortable workplace.
If you work both at home and in the office, you need to create two places for work,
one of which will be the main one. Yes, you’d also need a physical workplace at home.
To do this, you will need: a desk;
an in-basket; a place for digital devices:
laptop, smartphone, tablet. Make sure that there is nothing superfluous at the
workplace, but at the same time, it is convenient for you. You should maintain your own personal,
at-hand filing system, and It should take you less than one minute to pick something up.
Once you have your workplace ready, we can move on to the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. It is
a method of putting things in order built on simple ideas and straightforward steps.
Insight 2. Collect all information in the “in-basket.”
There are too many different things, agreements, and documents around us that we must remember,
and they constantly distract us.
To free yourself from unnecessary information at the moment,
use the in-baskets with their respective labels. It is the place outside your brain.
Your “baskets” can take any form: to-do lists on your computer,
email, or even actual trays or baskets where you can collect items or papers. But don’t get too
carried away with different tools: they shouldn’t complicate the process. The simpler, the better.
Let’s get started. Find and collect your things
and affairs that require some solutions in one place. Put everything in the tray,
and if during the process you suddenly remember any promises or things to be done,
put or record them in the “in-basket.” Fortunately, there are many tools for
this in the modern world: from an electronic notebook to major online services.
Organize your desktop and all horizontal surfaces. Clean up all unnecessary things,
go over your documents, reports, business cards, and paper notes.
Organize your drawers, find what needs to be solved, and put it in the in-basket.
Set aside reference information for “storage,” analyze it each time: does it require any
action or is it relevant at all. Get rid of all unnecessary things.
Now let’s move on to the next step. Insight 3. Process and free the “in-basket.”
So, this is the in-basket. Our task is to sort out its content and unclutter it.
There are a few simple rules to do it: We always start with what comes first.
“First” doesn’t mean “more important.” We concentrate on just one task at a time
until we decide what to do with it. We do not return anything to the in-basket.
While moving on to the next thing, ask yourself each time: “What is the next action for it?”
If no action is required, you can remove the task or place it in the
reference information archive. There is still time-specific stuff
or new projects that you would like to think about later. Write them down to your calendar
or add them to your someday / maybe list. Once you have identified the next steps for your
current affair, you have three options: If anything takes less than two minutes,
do it right away and not postpone the decision to do it until later.
Two-minute tasks don’t need to be tracked. If you have already seen that you have received
an email, you can write a short answer in 30 seconds and continue with the current issue,
so do it right away. 2. Delegate. Some people can
do some things much better and faster than you. And they don’t have to be your subordinates.
3. Or instead, plan and solve the problem yourself.
Insight 4. Organize and create storage locations
When you declutter your in-baskets, you need to organize all your things,
issues, and projects. David Allen identifies seven
basic categories that need to be managed. Make a complete “projects” list. Projects are
things that require more than one action to complete. It can be both organizing a
birthday party or presenting a new product. Create a filing system for project support
materials. For example, modern CRM systems allow you to fully manage customer relationships
and store all necessary information in one place. Maintain a “next actions” list. Organize them in
a way that you can understand so that you can track and execute them when the time comes.
Other tasks can be scheduled as time-bound (i.e., call the client this Thursday at 10 am);
context-dependent (i.e., when I am in front of a computer, I need to solve such and such problems);
or related to the necessary resources (i.e., I need to drive to the store).
Maintain a “waiting for” list. Write down the things that you have delegated.
So you can track all your agreements. Make a list of calendar actions.
Create a “someday/maybe” list. Add your creative desires there: new skills, hobbies, travel.
Create a filing system for reference information. It can be anything: incoming letters, contacts,
articles. New technologies simplify our life. Business cards can be immediately
scanned and added to contacts. Our information is stored in cloud services,
and we have constant access to it. After this stage, you will have a complete
and complex system reflecting all projects and tasks, both current and potential ones.
Insight 5. Keep your system up to date and functional.
The GTD system’s goal is to give you the degree of freedom you need so that you can feel “here
and now” when you do business. Check the contents of the system at least once a
day and keep it up to date and operational During a daily check, you should first pay
attention to the calendar and time-specific tasks, then to the list of things you can do
in certain circumstances. It will help you understand that you are not overlooking anything
and are performing the essential tasks. Also, set aside time for yourself,
such as a couple of hours at the end of the workweek, for a weekly review. Thus,
you can evaluate the past week and adjust your plans for the following weeks.
Resume. The main idea of the book.
We take on more and more tasks, they accumulate, and the level of stress rises.
Our consciousness needs space; only then we can fully devote ourselves to the tasks
that need to be solved at the moment There is no need to keep a to-do list
on your mind: create a reliable and logical filing and control system outside of it.
And you will be surprised how your productivity will grow.