This thread is anything pertaining to getting things done.
The following is from THE MAN;David Allen, with the product and ideas behind Getting Things Done.
This is from his blog/newsletter:
DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT Link
What decisions are you avoiding?
Every senior executive I’ve ever coached, without exception, has at least one (and usually several) key projects hung up and bottlenecked at him/her, simply because it requires a decision about something and there’s no clarity about what action is needed to move forward on making that decision.
If you can’t decide about something, it means you lack enough information to feel comfortable making some choice. Therefore, the next-action coaching question would be, “So what action do you need to take to begin to get the information you need to make that decision?” Nine times out of ten, there’s a specific action to take, such as “surf web re: xyz” or “e-mail A & B to set meeting to explore options about xyz.”
Every once in a while, though, the information you need has to come from inside—i.e. your intuition. You need to sleep on it. But even then, to really clear your head, you need to make the decision about how long you can “just sleep on it” until you feel like you need to actually make the Big Decision. Two weeks? Two months? Four days? Six hours? Whatever that answer is, you simply need to park a trigger in a calendar or tickler file to yank your chain at that point, ensuring that you re-assess the situation in your own timing. You might even, at that future point, decide that you need or want more time, in which case simply repeat the move-forward trigger. In other words, it’s OK to decide not to decide—as long as you park something appropriate in your “decide not to decide” system. Of course at some point you or the world may change sufficiently to have the whole thing exhaust its relevance and disappear; and you can simply forget the issue. But you will have consistently remained clear in your own agreement with yourself about how you’re engaged with the situation.
So, what decisions are you avoiding? What data would you like to get? Where could you start to get it?
Are you OK with not deciding? For how long? What reminder should you insert in your systems, for when, in order for your psyche to let go and really relax in its thinking?
“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
© 2010 The David Allen Company.
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DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT Link
Q&A WITH DAVID
Q: How much time do I need to get my email inbox to zero?
A: For people who have 50+ emails a day, I’ve noticed that it takes an average of about 30 seconds each to process (decide what it is, delete it, file it, respond to it quickly, or defer it to an “action” folder or list.) For someone with 100 emails a day (more and more common) that’s 50 minutes just to get through a day’s email load. That doesn’t count all of the other input you get as well, including phone calls, voice mails, conversations, and meetings.
A typical professional these days must factor in at least an hour a day and an additional hour at the end of the week (for a Weekly Review.) And not as “It would be nice if I could…”—but as an absolute requirement to manage their life and work with integrity.
© 2010 The David Allen Company.
What is Done and Doing?
Not short..and you have to be in the mood to listen to a lecture..
Sustaining a healthy life and work life
This is just someones idea of breaking it all down..
Understanding some key GTD definitions:- What is a Project?
A project is any outcome that will take more than one action step to complete. As a list, the Projects list will represent an index of the current outcomes on your plate.
- What is Someday Maybe?
Someday/Maybe means you are not currently committed to complete it, but you are committed to track it as an item to periodically review for future action.
- What is a Next Action?
A Next Action is your physical, visible next step. Some of these are project related, some are not. The recommendation is to sort these by context.
- What goes on a Waiting For list?
Waiting For holds those items that you are waiting on from someone or something else. For example, call backs, responses to an email you sent, orders placed, etc.
© 2010 The David Allen Company.
BE YOU