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Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)
As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket"
That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). --Timothy Murphy
317 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
1. Collect
2. Process
3. Organise
4. Review.
This book is not so much concerned with getting things done as it is championing appropriate engagement with your world鈥攇uiding you to make the best choice of what to do in each moment, and to eliminate distraction and stress about what you're not doing.A New Practice for a New Reality
Having a complete picture of one's commitments in work and life can help individuals make better decisions about what to pay attention to in any given moment, which, in turn, will allow them to engage more fully in the task at hand, making flow a more likely outcome.Recognize anything that has your attention (concerns, worries, problems, issues, tensions) and turn them into achievable outcomes (projects) to be executed with concrete next actions.
鈥淵our mind is for having ideas, not holding them.鈥�The GTD system helps you identify every single thing on your mind that keeps you from being fully present, and offers a way to offload them into a trusted system until you鈥檙e ready to tend to them. Since I started putting it into practice, I don鈥檛 spend as much time in my own head planning and stressing. If I do find myself there, I know that鈥檚 a sign I need to get back to my system.
鈥淭he idea is to get comfortable enough with your system that you can completely rely on it not to let things slip through the cracks unintentionally. So that at any given moment you have the reassurance and confidence that whatever you鈥檙e choosing to do is what you ought to be doing.鈥� (paraphrased)What鈥檚 more, it makes you more at peace with what you鈥檙e NOT doing. I have so many things going on that I often feel swamped and overwhelmed. Being able to emphatically declare that I鈥檓 ignoring certain things for the day is liberating. Applying this correctly also means I鈥檒l drop the ball less often.