David Allen - Getting Things Done by David Allen

Author:David Allen [personal development]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: personal development
Published: 2011-01-20T01:43:51.542000+00:00

Organizing: Setting Up the Right Buckets

HAVING A TOTALand seamless system of organization in place gives you tremendous power because it allows your mind to let go of Airtight organization is required for your focus to remain on the broader horizon.

lower-level thinking and graduate to intuitive focusing, undistracted by matters that haven't been dealt with appropriately. But your physical organization system must be better than your mental one in order for that to happen.

I got it all together, but I forgot where I put it.

— In this chapter I'll lead you through the organizing steps and tools that will be required as you process your in-basket. As you initially process "in," you'll create lists and groupings of things you want to organize and you'll invariably think of additional items to include. In other words, your organization system is not

' ' something that you'll necessarily create all at once, in a vacuum. It will evolve as you process your stuff and test out whether you have put everything in the best place for you.

The outer ring of the Workflow Diagram (opposite) shows the main groupings into which things will go as you decide what they are and what needs to be done about them.

WORKFLOW DIAGRAM—ORGANIZING

PRACTICING STRESS-FREE PRODUCTIVITY | PART TWO

The Basic Categories

There are seven primary types of things that you'll want to keep track of and manage from an organizational perspective: • A "Projects" list

• Project support material

• Calendared actions and information

• "Next Actions" lists

• A "Waiting For" list

• Reference material

• A "Someday/Maybe" list

The categories must be kept visually,

physically, and

psychologically

separate.

reassess The Importance of Hard Edges

It's critical that all of these categories be kept pristinely distinct from one another. They each represent a discrete type of agreement we make with ourselves, and if they lose their edges and begin to blend, much of the value of organizing will be lost.

If you put reference materials in the same pile as things you still want to read, for example, you'll go numb to the stack. If you put items on your "Next Actions" lists that really need to go on the calendar, because they have to occur on specific days, then you won't trust your calendar and you'll continually have to your action lists. If you have a project that you're

not going to be doing anything about for some time, it must go onto your "Someday/Maybe" list so you can relate to the "Projects" list with the rigorous action-generating focus it needs. And if something you're "Waiting For" is included on one of your action lists, you'll continually get bogged down by nonproductive rethinking.

All You Really Need Is Lists and Folders

Once you know what you need to keep track of (covered in the previous chapter, on Processing), all you really need is lists and folders for reference and support materials. Your lists (which, as I've indicated, could also be items in folders) will keep track of projects and someday/maybes, as well as the actions you'll need to take on your active open loops. Folders (digital

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