Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

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 relationshipsIn 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 quarterC) 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 relationshipsIn 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 quarterC) 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.

David Allen is a knowledgeable and practical productivity guru. This book has both the strengths of practical and theoretical qualities. I loved this book. I liked about it that it explains a few theoretical principals related to the way the brain works, but not too many. It keeps the subject flow down to earth and it introduces the reader in a very simple, common sense manner to a set of real life tools.I found the book really helpful. I managed to setup my own system using two in-trays, Outlook and One-Note using David's principles of organisation. The book is free of superfluous motivational talk, it is based on research, personal experience built on many years of consulting organisations and individuals. I use the same routine flow at work and at home with no effort. I sometimes realise that when I get a mental trigger to simplify, process immediately something, it is because of the book. One of the key elements David insists on is that you must process the "stuff" immediately no matter what. You must decide what to do with it. The books somehow manages to store this idea in your mind using simple but powerful anchors.What does this book for you?Assuming we live at our fullest potential we were born with, success is conditioned by four factors: focus, goals (strategy), motivation and energy. David's book is about organising your life to give you clarity and focus. I liked how he talks about project organisation and how the immediate tasks are aligned to long term goals. The book is excellent about managing the first two factors. Motivation and energy: that is your responsibility. If you need help there then you have to look somewhere else.How does the book help you do things better?One of the most common sources of frustration is hidden behind our little chores we have to do day by day. David has a take-no-prisoners approach: list everything you have in front of you and handle it, otherwise this procrastination will kill you. At this point, prioritisation makes no sense. To my surprise, this little principle does wonders. You have to have a system though, which is explained in the book very well. This is probably the best gem in the book: it gives you an workflow system that you can use without fail every day. David talks about how more complex tasks are actually projects, and he shows you how to manage that project naturally, using common sense. David then makes you look at this from the perspective of your personal life. He takes you on a nice flight from the ground level (daily little chores) to high altitude where you can view the distant horizons of your life. As usual, David alerts you that before you go up, make sure you do a good job on the ground. David says that the practice shows that this is the best way to discover your call and what is it really what you want. It makes sense: if you keep getting frustrated in seemingly never ending entangled tasks, you may never know what is it really that gives you pleasure and what is your natural talent.The main ideas of the bookWorkflow of the human activities: the humans are systems that have data input, process engine and output. Productivity is about managing all these three areas. David describes a very simple workflow that is made up of five steps:1. Collect: get it out of your head2. Process: decide what to do with it.3. Organise: Decide where to put the stuff.4. Review. Critical part of the workflow: weekly review.5. DoThe whole system is built around this workflow. It sounds simple, and it is, but it is very effective. It is implementable and reduced the noise that unorganised "stuff" creates in our head. You will have to read the book to understand that.Decision Making ProcessThe system offers a fresh aproach to tasks organisation that is not based on common prioritised to-do lists system. I found that David links very well the concern of the moment with long term planning and ultimately with your life calling. The latter is a very complex task. You have to muster the daily tasks management before you get the black belt on life long achievements, because this is the only practical way of discovering what you can do and what you are best at.Project planning.David considers project as a collection of tasks. While individual tasks can be done almost in any order, projects require planning. Instead of relying on learning very complex project management tools, it is best to manage your project using natural planning. If you have experience with project management you will understand straight away what he is talking about. If not, you will still like his approach because it is simple and requires common sense. It is all about delivering outcomes, rather than getting lost in complex considerations.Overall these are the key principles discussed in the book:1. Focus and fast track2. Applied outcome thinking (intention & action, how do I make it happen?)3. The magic of mastering the mundane4. The power of natural planningThe book has a very good structure. It is that kind of book you will come back to revisit some ideas. It requires a little bit of effort because, as David says, it will not work if you don't adopt it to suit your personal style and experience. I regard this book as an excellent investment.