Time Management (II)

You might have heard of the Cult of Getting Things Done (GTD). No the people in this "cult" don't put on Nike sneakers and drink spiked Kool-ade at midnight in the hopes of being taken on some magical alien spaceship ride. Instead they are obsessed with productivity and with David Allen's wildly popular book Getting Things Done.

Smart Young Leaders typically do already have some sort of grasp of Time Management. However, most of the time this depends on our own mental prowess. We have an innate knack at keeping our every growing lists of projects, to-do's, due dates in our heads. But we all have a limit, and when people are pushed past their limits... we will get frustrated.

So how do we fix this? In its essence Getting Things Done aims at clearing your "mental RAM" by #1 Capturing all the things that need to be done and #2 Having the discipline to do them. Yes it sounds easy... but in practice we all know it's easier said than done. If you can commit to mastering Allen's workflow, your productivity can shoot through the roof.

So let me break this workflow down for you:

1. The first step in getting your life organized is collect all your "stuff". Allen recommends some sort of "inbox" where you will put anything new that you want to look at.
2. Next you need to process this stuff, i.e., Ask yourself, "Is this item actionable?"
If not, "Is it trash? Is this something I might want to think about for later? Do I want to keep this as a reference?"
If yes, decide the very next action you need to do to move forward on that task. If you can do that action in 2 minutes or less JUST DO IT! (Nike please don't sue me ^_^). If not, "Is it something you need to delegate to another person? Do you need to put it on your calendar for a later time? Should you put it on your list of actions that must be done as soon as possible?"
3. Organize all the items related to the processing in step #2. Allen loves two things... manila folders and automatic label makers... well I got to say I love automatic label makers too ^_^. He recommends having plenty of these around. Create a "someday/maybe" folder for all those things you're not sure if/when you might want to do them. Create folders for each "project" for you to store reference materials. If you delegate something, remember to record that you are waiting for something from that person. Create a tickler file, a physical calendar with 43 folders - 12 for months of the year and 31 for days in a month (You put the tasks to be done on that day or month into the corresponding folder). Finally have your iron-clad Next Actions folder (totally pwns wimpy to-do lists) for things that need to be done ASAP.
4. Review, Review, Review! What good is all this organization if you don't review your stuff regularly? Allen recommends weekly reviews of your organized items. Have you gotten the things you were waiting for? Have you completed all of your next actions? Do you still someday/maybe want to do that? and etc...
5. Have the discipline to action Do It! This is important. You don't want to let yourself fall behind, because if you do it defeats the purpose of having your trusted system where all of your things that need to get done are systematically collected and completed.

OKOK, I know this wasn't a magical cure-all for all your time management needs. But it's worth a shot. And hey, who knows you might be the next to join the cult of GTD.

-Jason