I am often a freak about productivity. I cannot stand for things to pile up and often set aside large chunks of time dedicated just to “getting things done”. I ready Getting Things Done by David Allen with the hopes of picking up some good ideas about how to streamline my to-do lists with my workspace and my tasks with my priorities. Great read…not a ton of revolutionary ideas, just a practical guide for being more efficient with what you are doing.
Here are some of my takeaways straight from the book…
-It’s possible for a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control.
-Anything that causes you to overreact or underreact can control you, and often does.
-Things rarely get stuck because of lack of time. They get stuck because the doing of them has not been defined.
-No matter what the setting, there are five discrete stages that we go through as we deal with our work. We (1) collect things that command our attention; (2) process what they mean and what to do about them; and (3) organize the results, which we (4) review as options for what we choose to (5) do.
-Have you envisioned wild success lately?
-In general, the reason things are on your mind is that the outcome and the action steps have not been appropriately defined, and/or reminders of them have not been put in places where you can be trusted to look for them appropriately.
-One of the best tricks for enhancing your personal productivity is having organizing tools that you love to use.
-Actions choices are based on the following four criteria, in order: context, time available, energy available, and priority.
If you are interested in specific tools to help you be more successful in “getting things done”, check out David Allen’s website here.