I really try to be a disciple of David Allen. In principle I like the Getting Things Done approach. For me there are a few key aspects of it I like.
First, I really like to “process” stuff. When my office get’s overwhelmingly messy, or my desk gets snowed under, I always know I can go back to square one and clean it. I have never been able to clean and organize stuff like I can with his system. In a very focused blast I can ask, “What is this?” and either throw it out, decide on a next action and add it to my todo’s, file it, or put it where it belongs. In no time I can clean almost any room.
The other part of his system that (in principle) I really like, is writing down everything, getting it all out of your head, and then recording it as projects – BUT you also sort it by context. Like tasks tend to be more productively completed if you do them together. In other words, if you are in phone mode, then be in phone mode. Get as many calls out of the way as possible. If you are running errands, find out how many of them you can lump together. Batching up tasks in a way that makes sense by your ability to do them makes all kinds of sense to me.
There are other aspects of his system that are attractive too but I don’t adhere to them nearly as much such as the weekly review and the tickler file. But the one thing I have noticed is that at times I get… stuck. I hav all my projects and todo’s in one place in one application that syncs across all my computers and even my iPhone. But then I will just sit there and stare at it and think… I don’t know what to do. I can’t help but feel that I haven’t captured everything – or worse, I have captured it all and I don’t know where to start.
Unfortunately whenever I feel like that the Internet is only a few clicks away to keep my mind busy. Honestly, I’d be more productive if I played a game instead.
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