Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
· How to manage my time
· How to manage relationships
In both cases, you and I are on our own. Is it any wonder that the divorce rate in America hangs out at about 50%? We are all winging it, and how often does winging it get it done in real life. In the movies sure, in real life, not likely. The same is true for the management of time. I have probably read 50 books in my lifetime on time management, and I have attended a few seminars also.
NOTHING COMPARES TO THIS BOOK in helping you to change the way you handle your affairs. Here is why you need this book.
1) You need to understand that your brain operates like a random memory computer. The author David Allen explains why you will be sitting in the car and all of a sudden you will start realizing that you have to do this, and you have to do that. This always happens when you are in a position that powerless to act like having both hands on the steering wheel of a car.
2) You will learn why your brain treats all “to do” items the same, with equal weighting, and you have to consciously overcome this tendency.
3) If it’s on your mind, your mind isn’t clear. You must capture your to do items in a system that is outside your mind.
4) The key to success is to determine YOUR NEXT ACTION. You just don’t want to write down on your to do list, FIX THECAR. You want to write down the name of the service center and the phone number because that is an action you can execute on. You have to learn to think in terms of ACTION STEPS. If it’s not actionable, it’s not anything. Once you start thinking and planning this way, your efficiency will skyrocket immediately.
5) The essence of the system is to keep nothing in your mind. EVERYTHING has to come out of your mind, and put into some kind of system. It could be paper, it could be on your PC. Perhaps you used a Blackberry or a small voice recorder. It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is you have to get it out of your mind.
6) You can never really do a PROJECT. You can only do some kind of ACTION associated with a project. Do enough ACTIONS, and the project is complete.
There are a couple of very simple concepts that you can implement immediately that will CHANGE your life. Try these on:
A) Never let your file drawers get more than 3/4th filled.
B) Purge your files on a regular basis – once a month, or once a quarter
C) I love this one – If you can get something done in under two minutes – Just get it done. Don’t put it on a list – JUST DO IT. I guess Nike had it right.
D) Handle things once. Yes, we have heard this before. This happens because you take something out of your “IN” basket, look at it, decide you are not going to process it now and put it right back in the basket. No, no, no – You process it right there, and then. Do it NOW.
I have already begun to implement many of the suggestions that David Allen has suggested in this very helpful book. They are working. I am getting things off my desk. I keep a small notebook in each of my cars, if something occurs to me, I write it down immediately, and deal with it later.
I keep a TO DO list on my personal computer. I update (delete and add) all day, and then at the end of the day, I e-mail the updated list to my home computer, and deal with it there. You need to implement the MINIMUM amount possible that will work for you. You do not want to add complexity to your life; there is already complexity enough.
You will find yourself getting much more done than you are use to. This means you free up YOUR time, and what’s more important than that. You have to be flexible though. What works for you, may not work for someone else. Allen’s got the concepts right. Now you have to make adjustments to see what works for you.
Always remember the POWER OF NO. You have to learn to say NO when it benefits you because if you don’t take care of number 1, who is going to. My friends, you want to buy this book and take OWNERSHIP of the contents. You will change your life. Change your systems and you change your world. If fact, you will rock your world, and that’s everything, isn’t it.
There aren’t many books you need – You NEED this book NOW!!!
Who would not benefit from being more efficient about everything one has to do? Think about it for a moment. We go to school and learn a standard curriculum. We go to college, and again learn some sort of structured set of subject matter. There are two extremely important subjects that I never learned anything about in a lifetime of formal learning.
· How to manage my time
· How to manage relationships
In both cases, you and I are on our own. Is it any wonder that the divorce rate in America hangs out at about 50%? We are all winging it, and how often does winging it get it done in real life. In the movies sure, in real life, not likely. The same is true for the management of time. I have probably read 50 books in my lifetime on time management, and I have attended a few seminars also.
NOTHING COMPARES TO THIS BOOK in helping you to change the way you handle your affairs. Here is why you need this book.
1) You need to understand that your brain operates like a random memory computer. The author David Allen explains why you will be sitting in the car and all of a sudden you will start realizing that you have to do this, and you have to do that. This always happens when you are in a position that powerless to act like having both hands on the steering wheel of a car.
2) You will learn why your brain treats all “to do” items the same, with equal weighting, and you have to consciously overcome this tendency.
3) If it’s on your mind, your mind isn’t clear. You must capture your to do items in a system that is outside your mind.
4) The key to success is to determine YOUR NEXT ACTION. You just don’t want to write down on your to do list, FIX THECAR. You want to write down the name of the service center and the phone number because that is an action you can execute on. You have to learn to think in terms of ACTION STEPS. If it’s not actionable, it’s not anything. Once you start thinking and planning this way, your efficiency will skyrocket immediately.
5) The essence of the system is to keep nothing in your mind. EVERYTHING has to come out of your mind, and put into some kind of system. It could be paper, it could be on your PC. Perhaps you used a Blackberry or a small voice recorder. It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is you have to get it out of your mind.
6) You can never really do a PROJECT. You can only do some kind of ACTION associated with a project. Do enough ACTIONS, and the project is complete.
There are a couple of very simple concepts that you can implement immediately that will CHANGE your life. Try these on:
A) Never let your file drawers get more than 3/4th filled.
B) Purge your files on a regular basis – once a month, or once a quarter
C) I love this one – If you can get something done in under two minutes – Just get it done. Don’t put it on a list – JUST DO IT. I guess Nike had it right.
D) Handle things once. Yes, we have heard this before. This happens because you take something out of your “IN” basket, look at it, decide you are not going to process it now and put it right back in the basket. No, no, no – You process it right there, and then. Do it NOW.
I have already begun to implement many of the suggestions that David Allen has suggested in this very helpful book. They are working. I am getting things off my desk. I keep a small notebook in each of my cars, if something occurs to me, I write it down immediately, and deal with it later.
I keep a TO DO list on my personal computer. I update (delete and add) all day, and then at the end of the day, I e-mail the updated list to my home computer, and deal with it there. You need to implement the MINIMUM amount possible that will work for you. You do not want to add complexity to your life; there is already complexity enough.
You will find yourself getting much more done than you are use to. This means you free up YOUR time, and what’s more important than that. You have to be flexible though. What works for you, may not work for someone else. Allen’s got the concepts right. Now you have to make adjustments to see what works for you.
Always remember the POWER OF NO. You have to learn to say NO when it benefits you because if you don’t take care of number 1, who is going to. My friends, you want to buy this book and take OWNERSHIP of the contents. You will change your life. Change your systems and you change your world. If fact, you will rock your world, and that’s everything, isn’t it.