Getting Things Done is a giant method of how to be productive and efficient, without being stressed out. The goal is 1) to get all of the stuff you need to do and remember out of your head and into an external system that you can rely on, so your head isn’t trying to always do the remembering (namely, organized lists—a key value of this book), and 2) to get you to make decisions about your work right away. Here is a link to Word document summary of Getting Things Done: getting-things-done-summary.doc
NOTE: The Getting Things Done Summary document was created by Leah Hardwick for David Fairchild at Kaleo Church. (So if it mentions creating a 'Grace' file, etc. that is his wife.)
Addressing the big “E” on the eye chart: do I think this would be helpful for you? Yes. If nothing else, you can walk away from this with a few nifty “tricks” about how to get things done more efficiently, with less stress, etc., if you don’t adapt the whole method. I have outlined the major points and methods of the book so you can determine what would be helpful for you to implement on a day-to-day basis.
Basic requirements of managing commitments:
- If something is on your mind, it must be captured into a trusted system outside your mind that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through
- Clarify exactly what your commitment is, and what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it.
- Once you’ve decided on an action, you must keep reminders of them organized in a system you’ll review regularly.
A few key points:
– If your organization efforts are to be successful, you need to gather everything that requires thinking, and then do that thinking.
– The key to managing all your stuff is managing all your actions.
Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life
Based on Allen's highly popular e-newsletter, Principles of Productivity, Ready for Anything offers fifty-two principles to clear your head, focus productively, create structures that work, and get in motion, including:
* stability on one level opens creativity on another
* you can't win a game you haven't defined
* the value of a future goal is the present change it fosters
With wit, motivational insights, and inspiring quotes, Ready for Anything shows readers how to make things happen with less effort, stress, and ineffectiveness, and lots more energy, creativity, and clarity. This is the perfect book for anyone wanting to work and live at their very best.
