I just finished reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity book for the second time. I read it about 9 years ago and I went about half way towards adopting the organization system that he suggests and it made a big positive impact in my productivity at work. After reading the updated edition of this amazing book, I did the work last week at my job to completely adopt the system that he suggests. I’m very excited about it.
You can learn something about his recommended system from the diagram above. The idea he has is that we need to have captured all of our projects, next actions, waiting for items, etc. in a system that we trust, constantly update and review once a week. You refuse to allow your work to be constantly driven by what most recently hits your e-mail inbox. It allows for much greater intentionality and focus. When you do take the time to do the intake of your physical or e-mail inbox, you do the hard thinking up front about what the very specific next action is related to each item (assuming you cannot toss it, file it or complete it in two minutes).
The challenge with this system will be for me to stay on it. But, I’m determined.
Forty Books 