Youmust know who you are and be true to who you are if you are going to be who you can and should become.
Success
is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you
did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
Big
things are accomplished only through the perfection of minor details.
The Five Big Ideas
You must know who you are and be true to who you are if you are going to be who you can and should become.
You cannot have a perfect day without helping others with no thought of getting something in return.
You have to apply yourself each day to become a little better.
If you sincerely try to do your best to make each day a masterpiece, angels can do no better.
Drink deeply from those great books of your own choosing and you will enrich yourself.
It
took me a long time to understand that even a stubborn mule responds to gentleness.
Four
things a man must learn to do if he wants to make his life true:
Think
without confusion clearly
Love
his fellow-man sincerely
Act
from honest motives purely
Trust
in God and Heaven securely.
Be
true to yourself.
Help
others.
Make
each day your masterpiece.
Drink
deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
Make
friendship a fine art.
Build
a shelter against a rainy day.
Pray
for guidance and count and give thanks for your blessings every day.
You
must know who you are and be true to who you are if you are going to be who you
can and should become.
You
cannot have a perfect day without helping others with no thought of getting
something in return.
You
have to apply yourself each day to become a little better.
If a
player appeared to be taking it easy in practice, Wooden would tell him, “Don’t
think you can make up for it by working twice as hard tomorrow. If you have it
within your power to work twice as hard, why aren’t you doing it now?”
If
you sincerely try to do your best to make each day a masterpiece, angels can do
no better.
Drink
deeply from those great books of your own choosing and you will enrich
yourself.
Your
faith, whatever it may be, is the greatest shelter of all.
So
often we fail to acknowledge what we have because we’re so concerned about what
we want.
It’s
important to keep trying to do what you think is right no matter how hard it is
or how often you fail. You never stop trying. I’m still trying.
Never
believe you’re better than anybody else, but remember that you’re just as good
as everybody else.
Very
early we understood that there would be times when we disagreed but there would
never be times when we had to be disagreeable.
Abraham
Lincoln once said that the best thing a man can do for his children is to love
their mother.
The
person you are is the person your child will become.
Be
more concerned with your character than your reputation. Character is what you
really are. Reputation is what people say you are.
Make
the effort to do the best you are capable of doing—in marriage, at your job, in
the community, for your country.
Perfection
is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However,
striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the
conditions that exist. That is what counts.
“I
tell people I definitely believe in God,” Wooden writes. “I just hope God
believes in me.”
There’s
nothing wrong with having faults so long as you work conscientiously to correct
them.
People
want to believe you are sincerely interested in them as persons, not just for
what they can do for you.
True
happiness comes from the things that cannot be taken away from you.
Wooden
believe that things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things
turn out.
You
have little say over how big or how strong or how smart or rich someone else
may be. You do have, at least you should have, control of yourself and the
effort you give toward bringing out your best in whatever you’re doing. This
effort must be total, and when it is, Wooden believes you have achieved
personal success.
Try
your hardest in all ways and you are a success. Period. Do less than that and
you have failed to one degree or another.
Preparation
is where success is truly found.
A
successful journey becomes your destination and is where your real
accomplishment lies.
Likewise,
in Wooden’s coaching, he informed every player who came under his supervision
that the outcome of a game was simply a by-product of the effort they made to
prepare.
You
never fail if you know in your heart that you did the best of which you are
capable. I did my best. That is all I could do.
You
always win when you make the full effort to do the best of which you’re
capable.
You
can make mistakes, but you aren’t a failure until you start blaming others for
those mistakes.
Do
not become too concerned about what others may think of you. Be very concerned
about what you think of yourself.
Goals
should be difficult to achieve because those achieved with little effort are
seldom appreciated, give little personal satisfaction, and are often not very
worthwhile.
Mix
idealism with realism and add hard work. This will often bring much more than
you could ever hope for.
Understand
there is a price to be paid for achieving anything of significance. You must be
willing to pay the price.
The
worthy opponent brings out the very best in you. This is thrilling.
Wooden
told his athletes in basketball, “I don’t care if you are tall, but I do care
if you play tall.” It’s just another way of saying that he judged them by the
level of effort they gave to the team’s journey.
Perhaps
you fret and think you can’t make a difference in the way things are. Wrong.
You can make the biggest difference of all. You can change yourself. And when
you do that you become a very powerful and important force—namely, a good role
model.
Promise
to give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize
others.
Don’t
measure yourself by what you’ve accomplished, but rather by what you should
have accomplished with your abilities.
Nothing
in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is
more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded
genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated
derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Leadership
is the ability to get individuals to work together for the common good and the
best possible results while at the same time letting them know they did it
themselves.
Develop
a love for details. They usually accompany success.
The
four laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation, and
repetition.
People
learn more effectively if given information in bite-size amounts rather than
everything all at once.
There’s
a difference between the journey and the inn.
Success
is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you
did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
Big
things are accomplished only through the perfection of minor details.
How To Be A Positive Leader taps into the expertise of 17 leadership experts to show you how you can become a positive leader, who empowers everyone around him, whether at work or at home, with small changes, that compound into a big impact.
The times of strict and intolerant leadership are over. Many
employees won’t accept the old top-down approach any longer, and assert their
right for proper work-life balance, be it in unions or by simply switching
jobs, since by now many careers with attractive conditions are available. Some
startups like Buffer or Zapier even run 100% remotely, meaning the entire team
works from home – which can be anywhere in the world!
More and more, the fact that we’re all human seeps into
companies and their culture – and that’s fantastic! However, for many leaders,
this requires a serious switch in how they interact with people. This is where
this book comes in, with plenty of small, actionable changes you can make to
make sure you radiate positive energy and give power to those around you
(whether you’re a manager leading a team, or not).
These ideas are especially powerful for team leaders, but
can also change the way you interact with your family and friends! Here are 3
great lessons from the book:
Have more high-quality connections by giving people your
full attention.
Connect to those, who benefit from your work, to see its
meaning.
Stay true to your ethical code with one simple question.
Let’s lead those around us, shall we? Here we go!
Lesson 1: Have more high-quality connections by giving
people your full attention.
The bigger your brain, the more social you are. Did you know
that? No wonder then, that humans have evolved to be the most social species on
the planet. We thrive on social interactions, and the more good ones we have,
the more confident, energetic and therefore creative we are.
If your workplace is a hub of high-quality connections –
exchanges between two people, where both of them leave feeling more energized –
the business is likely to thrive, because people work at their best. For
example, if you feel tired after lunch, but talk about yesterday’s soccer game
with a colleague, who’s equally passionate about it, that high-quality
connection will give you more energy and make you feel better.
Great companies try to maximize the number of these positive
encounters, to maximize their capacity to innovate. Google does this, for
example, with a great, free cafeteria, where people can hang out, eat well and
chat.
To be a good leader, you should help others have more of
these connections, starting with your own.
How?
Simple. The next time you talk to a co-worker or family
member, give them your full attention. Turn your phone silent, put it away, and
just listen. Don’t look at your computer or gaze out the window. Be all there,
really try to understand and be helpful.
The difference will show.
Lesson 2: Show yourself that your work has meaning, by
connecting with those, who benefit from it.
Nothing motivates us more than seeing the impact of our
work. When you know that the work you do means something, that it changes
people and helps them live better lives, you’re much more excited to get out of
bed in the morning.
For example, when students, who worked at a University of
Michigan call center, and had to call alumni for donations, talked to a former
scholarship holder before work, their motivation, effort and results
(=donations received) increased significantly.
However, it’s important to connect with the end user of your
product. For example, my Dad’s company sells industrial adhesives, which are
then used by, say, car manufacturers to fix damping materials in the interior
trim. If their chemists in the lab met a happy car owner, who told them that he
loves how silent the inside of his car is, when he drives around, that’d be a
much better motivator than talking to the supply chain manager of the car
manufacturer.
Try to find someone, who ultimately benefits from your work
the most, and connect with them. Then, make sure you introduce your co-workers,
and help them do the same, so you can all wake up excited for work tomorrow!
Lesson 3: Ask yourself one simple question to stay true to
your ethical code.
You and I have hundreds of opportunities to behave immorally
every day. We could get away with semi-legal, even illegal things, on a regular
basis. Yet, most of us don’t, because we have an ethical code. We all want to
be seen as good people, who make the right decisions, and shoplifting just
doesn’t fit into that picture.
As morals become more and more important, especially in
consumer products, like food and clothes, this desire spills over into
companies, whose employees want their leaders to be ethical as well. If your
boss acts ethically, this has many benefits for you and all of his staff.
For one, the reciprocity bias makes us treat others well,
when we’re treated well. What’s more, we see those, who lead us, as role
models, and want to imitate their good behavior.
Whether you’re in charge of the marketing team at Coca-Cola,
your two daughters, or your local book club, you can always make sure you stay
true to your ethical code by asking yourself this one, simple question for all
your decisions:
Would I be okay, if the consequences of my decision would be
published on the front page of The New York Times tomorrow?
How’s that for a measure for integrity? Not bad, huh? If
you’re comfortable with whatever you decide landing in one of the world’s
biggest newspapers, chances are, it passes the test of what the world will deem
as “the right thing to do”.
My personal take-aways
The summary didn’t address this, but I could instantly see
that all of the suggested changes can be transferred right into your personal
life. That makes this a book, that is not just for corporate managers and
leaders with thousands of followers, but for everyone. Since it’s a compendium,
it stays fresh and engaging, without beating one idea to death. If you want to
make those around you smile more, this is the book for you 🙂
The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership shows you that leadership is learned not inherited and that you can become a leader too, if you internalize some of the universal principles at play in any leader-follower-relationship.
John C. Maxwell is a leadership legend. Originally coming
from a church background, he’s become a leadership expert thanks to decades of
leading various churches throughout the US, working as a pastor and teacher,
and eventually transitioned into talking about leadership for executives and
companies.
Today he’s leading a company that’s focused on providing
leadership training and education to Fortune 500 companies and businesses.
Starting in 1979, he’s also published dozens of books on the topic, some of
which have become bestsellers, and having sold over 20 million copies in total.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership is his most popular
one and it shares the very core principles at play in leader-follower
relationships Maxwell has taken note of throughout his life.
Here are my top 3:
Make sure you stand on solid ground and uphold the rules you
want to inspire others to keep.
Keep earning the respect of your followers.
It’s okay to be a bad loser – it keeps you focused on
winning.
No matter in what capacity you want to lead people, these
rules are timeless, so let’s take a real good look at them!
Lesson 1: A leader must always stand on solid ground. Stick
to the rules you represent.
The number one element that empowers a leader to be
successful (and lead the way in the first place) is trust. Even a tourist guide
needs his group to trust him, because otherwise, why would they bother walking
behind him for two hours?
Maxwell calls this the Law of Solid Ground. Without a good
foundation of trust, it’ll be hard for a leader to do her work.
According to Maxwell, trust is built mainly on three things:
Honesty.
Fairness.
Good judgement.
They’re all related. If you can’t judge a situation well,
you’ll likely not treat everyone fairly, which in turn makes you seem
dishonest. However, fairness is the easiest one to start with and focus on,
because it simply means you’ll play by the same rules as everyone else.
It’s easy to remain fair, because it’s our default mode as
human beings. What makes it hard is that it’s also both tempting and easy to
take a shortcut here and there and quickly “adapt the rules” to a specific
situation – but this never works out well.
When leaders think they’re above the rules, trouble follows
– take Richard Nixon, for example, who thought legal rules wouldn’t apply to
him and deemed an illegal break-in as an okay thing to set up.
Lesson 2: Your followers must respect you, but that respect
has to be earned on a constant basis.
Trust gets people to put what you say into action. But to do
that, they have to listen to you first, and that’s where respect comes in. A
leader is by definition at the front of the group, and therefore, ahead of
everyone else. This is the exact thing followers want from a leader. Having
someone who’s more skilled, more determined and more courageous than they are
go first and say: “It’ll be okay, follow me.”
Initially, followers will be drawn to you because of
something you did that they respect. However, it’s important that you keep
earning this respect over time, and one way to do that is to loyally devote
yourself to their well-being.
For example, while Gandhi never employed violence as a means
of demonstrating, he continued to risk being hurt himself every time he led
another protest, which got him a lot of respect.
Being so loyal to your followers that you’re willing to get
hurt for them is rare, and that’s what makes the Law of Respect such a powerful
rule of leadership.
Lesson 3: Hating losing is a good thing if you’re a leader –
it keeps you focused on winning.
When you lose at Monopoly, does that make you mad? Does it
make you want to just take the board and throw it out the window? Well, today’s
probably the first day someone will tell you that’s a good thing. According to
Maxwell’s Law of Victory, giving up and losing are not valid options for a true
leader.
Take Winston Churchill, for example.
He failed in school, failed in politics (he was defeated in
every election except for the one that made him Prime Minister at age 62),
failed in war (losing most of the battles he led his troops into in WWI and
WWII), yet we remember Churchill as one of the best leaders in history.
That’s because he let none of these losses stop him from
continuing to find new ways to win, which eventually led him to partner with
the US and win WWII.
His, the ideal attitude of a leader, is summed up best in
one of his most famous quotes:
Success consists of going from failure to failure without
loss of enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill
My personal take-aways
The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership is a leadership classic. It’s a great read for independent artists and solo entrepreneurs building a tribe, startup founders creating a company and, of course, newly minted managers. It makes you think about how you interact with others and what kind of person you want to be, which is always worth ruminating about.
Leaders Eat Last teaches you where the need for leadership comes from historically, what the consequences of bad leadership are and how you can be a good leader in the modern world.
Simon Sinek’s TED talk is legendary. I’ve seen “Start With
Why” a few times, and also read the book summary on Blinkist a while ago.
Leaders Eat Last is his latest book and it tries to answer
the question why today’s world seems to be split into leaders and followers –
and what makes a leader worth following.
Here are my 3 takeaways from this summary:
Safety means progress.
Responsibility means actually caring about people.
Technology has turned us into performance addicts.
All of these deserve a thorough explanation, so here goes!
Lesson 1: Safety means progress. And leaders provide safety.
Think about the last time you made a lot of progress on a
fun little side project of yours. Where there was nothing to gain but the joy
of doing it.
Were you worried about paying that month’s bills?
Probably not.
The reason you could focus entirely on making progress on
something you care about, is because your basic needs were already secured in
that particular moment. Had they not, it would’ve been unlikely you could spend
8 hours playing guitar without worrying about them.
Our brain always defaults to safety mode, and the reason is
simple: it had to in the past, or we wouldn’t be here.
Today all of our safety problems revolve around money, but
our ancestors had tons of safety issues. They had to run away from saber-tooth
tigers, hide from enemies, avoid diseases, and oh, hunt and gather their own
food and find a place to stay.
Progress only started occurring once they moved around in
groups and delegated tasks. When John takes care of collecting berries, and
Jason hunts some wild boar, while Jenny finds a nice cave, Joshua can spend all
his time crafting a new spear.
That’s why a leaders job is to provide safety to his
followers, so they can focus on making progress towards their shared vision.
The bigger the circle of safety around the group, the faster the progress.
For example, Google draws a pretty awesome circle of safety
around its employees. Free food, ask-any-question meetings and 20% time for
your own experiments are a pretty safe environment to be in.
Once you’re not worried about avoiding threats, you can
start improving.
Note: For the same reason I’m working my ass off to get to
$1,000 in passive income per month 🙂
Lesson 2: Responsibility means truly caring about other
people, so don’t get detached.
Let’s say you manage the finances of your company. In that
case, your responsibility might be to “allocate the budget in a way that
maximizes profits”.
But in reality, it’s your job to make sure the money goes to
the people that will use it the best. Maybe you want to shut down a division.
If so, you’re not only shutting down a part of the company, you’re robbing
people of their safety, by firing them from their jobs.
This doesn’t mean you should try to save everyone, but you
have to be aware that the consequences of your actions as a leader directly
impact the lives of people.
That’s why empathy is the most important trait of a leader.
If you can really put yourself into other people’s shoes, you will truly care
about them, and thus be worth for them to follow you.
It’s easy to get detached when companies grow, and when that
happens the consequences of your actions seem less real. Often leaders will
then make decisions at other people’s expenses.
For example in 2009 the Peanut Corporation of America knowingly shipped contaminated peanuts to maintain cashflow, causing a nationwide salmonella crisis.
Lesson 3: Technology has turned us into performance addicts,
looking for the next dopamine hit.
Our ancestor Grok was really glad when that runner’s high
kicked in on the last few yards before the cave, so he could jump to safety and
not be eaten by a bear.
But today that’s not a big issue, which is why your dopamine
cells have decided to reward you for great performance instead. Companies’
reward systems often work according to the mantra “More is always better.”, but
sadly, each new sales record you set will make you feel less happy.
Instead of focusing on lasting value, we change the color of
our profile picture on Facebook, or tweet something with a human rights
hashtag, and feel really good for completing a task.
This is much easier than actually going out, for example by
volunteering, and doing something about it, so our brain will settle for the
“Like” on Facebook as a substitute.
This is addicting though and will only make you feel empty
inside. So don’t hope for the next funny cat video, but do something that’s
hard instead – you’ll feel a real sense of accomplishment afterwards.
Final thoughts
Lots of new insights here for me, and many great examples of both good and bad leadership in action. I loved the whole evolutionary standpoint the book took, explaining how leadership even became necessary, and the idea that safety means progress was a real eye-opener as well.
I want to learn more about the biological development of
leadership now and I’m really happy about the very human, normal and vulnerable
image of a leader this book summary created in my head, because it means I can
be a leader too.
A Year With Peter Drucker compiles 52 lessons with weekly exercises into one comprehensive, year-long curriculum for managers, leaders, and those who aspire to be one or the other, based on the teachings of the father of modern management.
If you don’t know who Peter Drucker is, just get yourself a
copy of Managing Oneself. I’ve read and re-read and listened to this book in
audio form countless times. It’s very short (the whole audio is just 45
minutes), yet incredibly life-changing. After reading a few pages, you’ll know
why Peter Drucker is often called the father of modern management.
The author of this book, Joseph A. Maciariello, used to be
one of Drucker’s close companions, before the latter died in 2005 (at the age
of 95, mind you!). Fed up with the fact that Drucker’s great management
practices have been watered down and gobbled up by talking heads in recent
decades, he decided to publish an all-encompassing compendium, based on
Drucker’s personal mentorship program.
If you’re a manager, hold a leadership position, or aspiring
to one or the other, this one’s for you. Here are 3 lessons from the book:
Start using feedback analysis to learn about your strengths
and weaknesses early on.
Work on your concentration and information literacy.
Take a sabbatical to develop your skills in the non-profit
sector.
Want to become an effective executive? Let’s do this!
Lesson 1: Start using feedback analysis right now, so you
can figure out your strengths and weaknesses.
One of Drucker’s biggest ideas is about a tool he calls
feedback analysis. Here’s how it works:
Every time you make a major decision in your life, you write
down the outcome you expect it will have 6, 12, and 18 months from now.
After those periods have passed, you simply pull out your original
assessment again and see how you did. Were you completely spot on? Did
something entirely different happen?
This simple exercise will help you to see patterns emerge
over the years, which will let you figure out what you’re good at, and what you
can’t do well. Only if you’re self-aware can you direct your career efforts
where they get you and the world the best results, which makes feedback
analysis the number one tool in your leadership belt.
Of course, the earlier you start this practice, the better,
because your early career choices will shape your entire professional future.
But if you’re already a few years into the game, don’t fret – it’s better to
start now than never. Just get going and see what positive changes this
practice brings into your life.
Lesson 2: Work on your skill to concentrate and information
literacy.
Drucker says there are just two crucial skills any great
manager must possess. That’s good news, but both are tough to master. They are:
The ability to concentrate your efforts.
The ability to understand and interpret data correctly.
Concentration has nothing to do with personal productivity
in this case. It means you have to get your company to focus on the areas where
it can generate the maximum results. Where is your company most productive,
with the least amount of effort?
For example, if you have a big engineering team, with lots
of nerdy developers, who love to tinker and come up with new, innovative
software, then don’t force them to fix customer service bugs all the time. Let
them roam, so your company can focus on its core competencies and thrive on its
strengths – or as Drucker said: “Don’t major in the minors.”
Also, leave sinking ships early. Don’t keep dying products
afloat. You’ll only dilute your efforts. It really only pays to be the best in
the world (The Dip, anyone?).
Skill number two becomes more and more important in our “Big
Data” age. Collecting data is easy. It happens on autopilot with most software
by now. Those who are able to read the data, win. During the 2007 financial
crisis, four outsiders made billions, just because they looked into housing
bonds, and saw the foul foundation the banks were set up on before the rest of
the world did (if you want to know the story, watch The Big Short, great movie).
If you can’t figure out what’s wrong if 15% of your
customers demand their money back, you won’t be around for too long.
Lesson 3: Take a sabbatical to develop your skills in the
non-profit sector.
Peter Drucker believed in leadership as a good for the
world, not just business. He thought leaders and managers are extremely
well-positioned to help governments and non-profit organizations as well.
For example, in 1967 the Californian government suffered a
public debt crisis and was forced to do several tax hikes. The situation only
turned for the better when some 200 managers took an executive sabbatical and
came in to kill a few inefficient, million dollar projects, allowing the
government to lower taxes again and even offer tax refunds.
If you want to broaden your horizon, train your skills
elsewhere and do some good, an executive sabbatical at a government body or
non-profit organization is a perfect way to boost your capabilities as a
leader.
The reason managers do so well in these environments is
because they can take abstract goals, like offering education for
underprivileged children, into specific, structured goals, like building 25
schools in Africa, with a concrete action plan and implementation process.
My personal take-aways
Joseph A. Maciariello has done the world a great service by
writing this book. It makes perfect sense that we need to be reminded of the
lessons learned from the greats sometimes, especially after they’re long gone.
In fact, I’d rather read something with a new perspective on old, proven, great
insights that work, than jumping at the latest trend, just for the sake of
change.
If you’re in a management position, or want to lead a team
at your company eventually, Drucker is the best guy to learn from, hands down.
Therefore, this book is 100% worth your time, go for it!
Getting Things Done is a manual for stress-free productivity, which helps you set up a system of lists, reminders and weekly reviews, in order to free your mind from having to remember tasks and to-dos and instead let it work at full focus on the task at hand.
Favorite quote from the author:
Use your mind to think about things, rather than think of them. Add value as you think about projects and people rather than remind yourself they exist.
This book hardly needs an introduction, it is the bible of
productivity. David Allen has sold over 1.5 million copies of his simple, yet
effective productivity system. The book has been revised and updated in 2015 to
reflect the changes in technology, since it was originally published in 2001 –
over a decade ago.
The GTD system has always been timeless, though. You could
do it on paper, online, or now on your smartphone, the second you put down the
book.
I won’t be able to portray the system in full detail here,
but since that’s been done all over the internet, I’ll happily take my top 3
lessons:
Use a “collection bucket” to store things outside your mind
and stay focused.
Create a “next actions” list for all your projects to avoid
thinking in the moment.
Do a weekly review of everything, or else!
Ready for productivity made simple? Let’s go!
Lesson 1: Use a “collection bucket” to store things outside your mind and stay focused
This one’s been a major game changer for me in 2015. There’s
a reason it made #1 on this list.
You know that horrible feeling you have once you remember
you have to buy milk?
You can’t seem to un-remember it and it keeps nagging you,
while all you’re trying to do is work.
Your collection bucket can be a simple piece of paper, a
notebook or note inside Evernote, a note on your phone, or even a physical
bucket in your office.
It serves as a means to collect all interruptions, whether
they come in the form of thoughts in your mind or to-do’s handed over to you by
coworkers.
Whatever lands in your brain or lap while you’re busy
working (for example during a Pomodoro time block), goes in there.
This lets you deflect interruptions as they occur and keeps
your mind from derailing, while you’re on a productivity roll.
Of course this system is only good if you empty your
collection bucket or buckets regularly, Allen suggests weekly.
Your brain will only get a feeling of relief from putting
something in your collection bucket when it knows that whatever lands in there
will be taken care of sooner rather than later.
Lesson 2: Create a “next actions” list for all your projects to avoid thinking in the moment.
Here’s the major problem with to-do lists: They trick you
into thinking you can know in advance how much you’ll be able to achieve.
The bad news is, you can’t.
Sure, you can make a list with 17 items, but none of that
accounts for interruptions, crises, delays, other people or, and this too
happens, a simple lack of energy where you’re just not able to do as much.
David Allen suggest you do this instead: Create a “next
actions” list, where you list out all the specific tasks (= takes less than 30
minutes) of your current projects.
That way you always know what to work on next, when you have
the time and energy to work, meaning you just pull out the list, pick a task
and go.
You can even have multiple “next actions” lists and sort
them by project or location of where you’re able to do the tasks on it.
For example you could make these lists: laptop with wifi,
laptop without wifi, phone, notebook.
Now, when you’re at the airport and your flight’s been
delayed, but there’s no wifi and your phone is dead, you can still pull out
your notebook list and do something on paper.
Note: The “next actions” list was a major part of the
beautiful productivity system for essentialists I described here.
Lesson 3: Do a weekly review of everything, or else!
These are just two of several lists in the GTD system and
the thing with all lists is this:
They’re only as good as they’re up to date.
Therefore, a weekly review is crucial to making the whole
GTD system work.
Empty your collection buckets on Friday afternoon, for
example, and then update all your lists. You’ll get a bird’s eye view and make
sure everything is complete.
This is the part that makes the whole system stress-free and
if you slack on it, you’ll pay the mental price.
For example I always plan to empty my collection bucket on
Fridays, but Friday is also publishing day on my blog, which means I often
don’t get around to it.
Then I end up doing the most recent tasks in it over the
weekend, but will leave older and less pressing ones in there (for example
cleaning out my Dropbox), which makes me wary of putting more to-dos in, as I’m
not sure when I’ll actually do them.
Obviously, this is something I need to improve, in order to
reap the full benefits of the system.
My personal take-aways
I share the opinion most people hold about GTD: it works
great – but only if you rigorously stick to its rules. It just might be the
best productivity system there is, but it’s also demanding and thus very easy
to fall off the wagon.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever use the system in full, but I want
to give it a go. For now I’m happy with using parts of it and adapting it to my
own needs.
Other productivity systems, like The ONE Thing or The Power
of Less appear to be a little more forgiving, but then again they’re probably
also not as powerful.
I do love GTD, otherwise I wouldn’t have written about it so
much, and I highly recommend you check it out. The summary on Blinkist is more
than enough to get you up and running – I’d then get the book once you start
seeing results and really want to nail the details.
Contents
What’s it about?
Change your perspective: achieve all your goals byfocusing on the six horizons
Plan your projects using the five simple steps of the GTDmodel
First make sure you have the tools and supplies you needin place
Acknowledge outstanding issues and record them for futurereference
Decide which of these pending issues to act upon
Sort your tasks and outline the projects they will be partof
Review your progress regularly, and reflect on it
Carry out the task according to plan, and set the wheels in motion
Change the focus of your actions, but be consistent
Final summary
Now read the book
Key takeaways
What’s it about?
While most people
enjoy an increasingly higher quality of life with each new generation, and the
nature of their jobs shifts from industrialized work to intellectual work, they
can become more stressed as they take on too much to handle with their limited
resources. Few have a system in place where they can manage their
ever-increasing personal and professional projects in a state of stability,
relaxation, and contentment.
However, leveraging
the momentum that comes with clearing the mind of distractions and operating in
a fluid, productive state is a skill that can be acquired with practice. If we
acknowledge the fact that our lack of organization stems from having too many
commitments that are not backed up by sufficient resources, we can work toward
putting those physical and mental resources into place.
To achieve our
dreams and goals, we need to focus, define our objectives and the actions we
must take, and then simply put reminders in place so that our projects flow
smoothly. We must train the mind to avoid procrastination, and set it on
“cruise control,” a state fueled by the momentum of our previous actions, which
yields unrestrained productivity.
The GTD (Getting
Things Done) model is a system that involves four major changes to the way we
do things: changing our perspective on goals; changing our approach to handling
them; changing the focus of our actions; and then applying a five-step plan for
each of our goals. If you’re willing to commit to the model, you’ll find it
will tick all the right boxes.
Change your
perspective: achieve all your goals by focusing on the six horizons
The way you perceive
your life and goals is a matter of context and perspective. Your “horizon” or
current stage in reaching your ultimate goal is something you should always
bear in mind when planning your next step or reviewing your achievements. It
keeps you on track, so that you don’t stray from your goals, but instead work
on your projects simultaneously in such a way as to facilitate (not hinder)
your goal.
There are six
horizons that you work towards every day, whether you are aware of it or not.
The ground level,
where you are now, is the level at which you conceptualize your current
actions. They can be mundane tasks, both tedious and numerous, and include
anything from running errands to making important business calls.
The first horizon,
slightly higher up, is made up of the projects you currently have underway,
with all those short-term outcomes you hope to achieve to get closer to your
goal, like moving your headquarters, setting up a trade-show stand, and so on.
The second horizon is where you reassess your current focus in both your
personal and professional life, whatever that may entail, from duties and responsibilities
to global commitments.
Higher up are those
horizons that truly matter to you in the grand scheme of things. There are no
clear boundaries between them, but the number of years it would take to achieve
them may serve as a reference point. For instance, the third horizon is where
you would like your life to be heading one or two years from now. The fourth
horizon is about projecting even further into the future, maybe up to five
years from today. This is where your career, aspirations, and other long-term
goals are assessed. Finally, at the highest level lie your principles and life
purpose. Reassessing your status as you try to fulfill these goals is crucial
to achieving them.
These horizons will
keep you focused on your tasks, however difficult or easy they may be. Make a
list of all your goals and assess which dimension they belong to. There are no
clear boundaries between horizons, and everyone perceives them differently. A
goal that may be trivial to some will be life-altering to others; one that
takes a decade to achieve by some may be achievable in less than a year by
others.
Keep track of your
goals as they switch from one horizon to the next, and outline your progress
through these horizons as you achieve each one.
Plan your projects using the five simple steps
of the GTD model
To master our professional and personal workflow, we need to
discipline our brain to physically take us from the moment a task arises to
engaging with whatever is necessary to bring that situation or task to fruition.
In a nutshell, you should apply five simple steps in dealing with each task to
move from inception to completion for any project:
Keep a
record of everything that requires your attention. Transcribe and store that
information in your “inventory” of pending tasks.
Assess
the importance of each record, identify those that constitute doable tasks, and
decide whether to act upon them.
Visualize
how you would coordinate your next steps, and decide which path to take.
Envision
the results and reflect on the outcome.
Take
action: tackle each task one by one.
The five-step planning model only brings you up to the point where
you engage in a task, and does not seek to assess the effect of this task on a
greater project or goal. It focuses on efficiency, not effectiveness. Before
you begin to apply this model, you must first understand its limitations, and
to accept the fact that you must also commit to a fresh perspective on handling
your tasks from this point forward.
First make sure you have the tools and supplies
you need in place
When people don’t prepare all the office supplies, stationery and
software tools they need before they begin sorting and assessing their tasks,
they quickly find themselves up the creek without a paddle. Yet, taking care of
this seemingly trivial aspect is half the battle.
For the first step of the planning system, where you collect all
the items and tasksx requiring your attention together in one place, you need a
fail-safe system to store them. This could include a dedicated tray on your
desk, a simple pen and paper, a voice recorder, email and texting software, or
any of the various time management apps and cloud storage services readily
available on the market.
How you choose to organize your filing system, either using
physical organizers or electronic solutions, is up to you. If you have a mobile
device and an app at work that you use for scheduling and communications, be
sure to sync it regularly.
To help ease you through your review stage—the fourth step in this
planning system—you could keep a dedicated folder in your email manager for
everything that needs your attention regularly, including proposals, bills,
receipts, emails concerning outstanding payments or pending tasks, and so on,
with associated reminders and alarms for deadlines.
Having these simple tools in place before you embark on a project
will ensure that your work runs smoothly and you operate as efficiently as
possible. Have as many as you need and are able to handle.
Acknowledge outstanding issues and record them
for future reference
The first step in completing all your tasks is to look around for
errands and responsibilities that you’ve postponed, that have drawn your
attention at some point but were left unfinished, that are long overdue, take
up space unnecessarily, or are otherwise outstanding.
Once they are all piled up together, you will need to start
keeping a record of every issue, big or small, that arises from then on. Since
it would be hard to drop physical reminders of everything that needs your
attention in that dedicated “to-do” tray on your desk, like storing your tennis
ball in there to remind you to renew your tennis club membership, it’s best to
transcribe the information and keep a physical or virtual record of what needs
doing. It can be as simple as an entry in your agenda, a vocal recording, a
line on a list, a scribble on a sticky note, or a memo in your mobile app.
This “inventory” of issues that may need to be dealt with should
go through a continuous reshuffling cycle. You can’t just leave things stashed
away in the recesses of a cabinet somewhere without turning back to them every
day.
With the GTD model, nothing is overlooked or left to chance. Once
you’ve drawn together everything at home or at the office that could even
remotely be turned into a task, you must commit to handle every new issue that
arises in the same way, and not to ignore even the most trivial of items.
Decide which of these pending issues to act upon
Once a pending issue has been acknowledged as something that
requires your attention, and recorded for future reference, it’s time to decide
on the best course of action.
If the issue you’ve picked up from your pile is not something you
deem as doable at present, it should either go to the trash can, the list of
things you’d like to do given the resources, or your reference list for future
actions. If you believe it’s something you can do in two minutes or less, then
waste no time in doing it. If it’s likely to take longer, you can either
delegate or defer it to a later time, but don’t forget to record it in a
calendar or on a list. Bear in mind that the two-minute rule is only a
guideline, and you can set your own time limits.
Some people like to scan for the fun-and-easy tasks first, and get
those out of the way before they tend to the more difficult items. Others apply
a last-in-first-out or first-in-last-out kind of approach to dealing with their
inventory. Whichever you prefer, remember to deal with one item at a time. Very
few people have the ability to be efficient when multi-tasking.
When you begin to sift through the pile of outstanding issues,
reading them one by one and deciding what could turn into feasible tasks,
remember the two-minute rule. If what you’re reading on a post-it can be done
now, do it. If not, you can either delegate or defer it to a better time. If
none of these options are applicable, take your pick between throwing it away
and keeping it for future reference, but try to be consistent in your
decisions.
Sort your tasks and outline the projects they
will be part of
When a feasible task can’t be fulfilled using the 2-minute rule,
it’s very likely that it should be part of a larger project, which may involve
delegating, coordinating with co-workers, etc.
Tasks you’ve classified as doable should go on a list of projects,
be it paper-based or electronic, and should be accompanied by supporting
material and reference files, all of which must be reviewed regularly. They
should also be stored using a system of your choice that makes them readily
available to you at any given moment. Letting your secretary have sole access,
for instance, is not the way to go.
Organizing is nothing more than making sure that everything is
where it needs to be, or where it matches your understanding of where it needs
to be. There are a few things to remember as you try to tackle your inventory.
The calendar is sacred, and you should resist the urge to make amendments to an
entry. Moreover, every stored reminder of a delegated task should come with a
phone number and/or a date alongside the note. That way, when you have your
regular review, a breather at work, or your official company “purge,” you won’t
waste time trying to remind yourself who you’ve assigned a task to, when it
should have been dealt with, or who needs to be in the loop if there’s a delay.
Digital software is easy to manage and portable, but it also tends
to prompt you at specific pre-defined times, rather than when you might
actually need it to, and even then the one-off alarm is easier to ignore than
if you were to have a paper in your tray staring back at you all the time. Many
people prefer simple checklists, or even the classic Moleskine notebook.
Having folders, calendars, check lists, and filing cabinets (and
their electronic equivalents) is a good way to classify tasks according to the
projects they should be part of, keeping track of them so that there are no
loose ends at your end. As you keep all of these task reminders organized and
within reach, you’re bound to minimize the time and effort you invest in your
projects.
Review your progress regularly, and reflect on
it
Managing the workflow effectively is a matter of how consistent
you are in your reflections, or, in other words, how you go from observing that
a task needs doing to completing it. Being highly organized and keeping track
of the deadlines and the time that has elapsed since you’ve delegated or
deferred a task not only gives you a visible edge over coworkers and business
associates, but also keeps you focused.
When you have a weekly review set in place, you can catch hold of
all your loose ends, and marry the important commitments with the mundane
tasks. It will also reveal any hidden projects, ones that you may stumble upon
as you handle your current tasks, ones that you could work towards to achieve
higher goals, and ones that just pop up out of the blue.
Some companies use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software
to help their review process flow smoothly, while others can only rely on these
tools to delegate and visualize their workflows. They’re easy to update,
dynamic, and they tend to keep track of a network of connected tasks, from
those involving customer interactions over the phone to sales data analysis.
Some are only useful in that they keep an updated contact list. However complex
the software, though, regular reviews need human brainpower to weed out the
redundant, inactive or inapplicable tasks. And for humans to be able to work
consistently with them, they must function as general reference systems with
virtually the same interface and functionality throughout the company.
Committing to a weekly review is the most efficient way to refresh
and update the list of ongoing tasks, but you can’t rest on your laurels after
you’ve had your review. Your review and reflection on the tasks at hand should
be an ongoing process, and you need to use every opportunity you have to set
reminders, alarms, and notifications for outstanding tasks.
Carry out the task according to plan, and set
the wheels in motion
There are various ways to engage with your tasks, and the one that
best suits you will be a matter of circumstance. You may choose to focus on
tasks that meet certain criteria in terms of priority or urgency, or you may
wish to focus specifically on those you have the resources to handle the
quickest. You may choose to handle tasks as they come along, or work according
to the strict guidelines of the five-step planning system—or a combination of
the two.
As distractions are a natural part of life, it’s important to
realize that it’s not the interruptions that really distract us but the fact
that we become aware that we have broken a commitment with ourselves the moment
we give them their due consideration. This balancing act between what we’ve set
out to do and what needs to be done regardless of our plans can only be managed
appropriately when we consider our “horizons,” or our perspectives, and what
that standpoint entails.
While the ultimate dimension is always the top horizon, every
mundane and tedious task we accomplish gives us a sense of empowerment and
freedom, and eventually gives us the resources to work our way up to the
greatest goal on the agenda.
Try to maintain a positive outlook on your tasks, however trivial
they may seem, and treat them with equal consideration. The order in which you
undergo your tasks and the actions that you take are yours to choose. What
matters is that you are consistent throughout the project.
Change the focus of your actions, but be
consistent
Whichever way you choose to go about getting things done, the
horizon metaphor will serve you well. There are two organized ways to do it,
namely from top to bottom, or the other way around.
The bottom-up approach is more common, and more in tune with the
needs of the typical businessperson juggling work commitments and family duties
each day. Start with mundane tasks and resolve them one at a time, until you
eventually get to the top, where you can focus on a single, life-changing
outcome. When this is done, you can always switch tactics and move back down
the horizon layers. Determine objectives and tasks, both large and small, and
come back down another level until they’ve been taken care of.
Top-down approaches usually best serve entrepreneurs on the verge
of launching a startup, or people who want to make a drastic career change and
need to let their attention trickle down to the very last task involved in the
process. In a sense, it’s more a matter of where you happen to be in life when
you commit to this five-step model.
The outcome of the five-step model will always be the same,
whether you choose the bottom-up or the top-down approach—to reach your goals.
But the way you apply it will influence those around you, and even your company
as a whole. It will reflect onto the company’s organization and into people’s
personal macrocosms, their family lives, and their office environments.
As you approach your goals based on the “horizon” method, you will
come to realize that a top-down or a bottom-up approach will be equally
effective, as long as you’re consistent in your choice. The tasks you undergo
will lead you to achieve your goals one at a time, and this, in turn, will help
you progress to other horizons.
Final summary
Getting things done is a matter of time, patience, perspective,
and having a systematized way of dealing with the world as you see it. As life
throws unexpected events at you, interruptions will only become distractions if
you allow them to. But when you view your goals as a set of horizons for you to
reach as you strive for that ultimate higher purpose or vision in life, the
stage at which you believe you’re in can be reassessed, and the interruptions
can become opportunities.
There are six dimensions for you to master: a ground level and
five “horizons.” These are simply the perspectives you have when you’re at
certain points on your journey to your goals. As you strive to complete these
goals and work your way through these dimensions or horizons, you need to be
fully involved in the task at hand, but still maintain a sense of awareness of
the wider aspects of your projects in order to work at full capacity. To do
that, you need your mind to work in unison with your external “brain”—that is,
your GTD system. It consists of only the most basic of office tools and the
most elementary of guidelines, but their conjunction powered by personal
decision-making skills are all you need to bring your mind to that state of
fluid, unfaltering productivity.
Reaching a state where all your goals and objectives match what
you envision for them and for yourself is a process that takes years or
decades, but one that will become more achievable with practice. Having a GTD
system in place, setting out every project via a five-step process that’s
thorough and consistent, all the while keeping the six horizons in your sights,
is a sure-fire solution.
Now read the book
There’s no shortage of books out there that preach on the topic of
improving work habits and behaviors. Many of them are a waste of precious
paper, and a drain on the reader’s valuable time. Still, every now and again,
you stumble across a book like Getting Things Done, which sets the
wheels in motion for you. This self-improvement book doesn’t have to be about
making radical leaps or setting ambitious goals—but it can, if you want it to.
You can take its teachings and apply them in any situation, be it a
life-or-death decision, or a simple errand.
Those who have a background in business studies will most likely find the book an easy read, and, as the author himself puts it, most of the solutions offered are common-sense propositions that don’t set out to impress with anything other than their practicality. If you’ve tried others and found them disappointing, this book could set you back on the right track, giving it all you’ve got and loving every minute of it. So, fasten your seat belt, prepare for “cruise mode,” and worry about what you’ll be doing when you finally get to that “mind like water” state where things start going your way.
Getting
Things Done by David Allen
Print
| Hardcover | Audiobook
Getting
Things Done Summary
The
Book in Three Sentences
If
we don’t appropriately manage the ‘open loops’ in our life, our attention will
get pulled.
Overwhelm
comes from not clarifying what your intended outcome is, not deciding what the
very next action is, and not reminding yourself of your intended outcome and
action.
You
need to transform all the ‘stuff’ you attract and accumulate into a clear
inventory of meaningful actions, projects, and usable information.
The
Five Big Ideas
Getting
things done requires defining what “done” means and what “doing” looks like.
Mastering
your workflow involves capturing what has your attention, clarifying what it
means, putting it where it belongs, reviewing it frequently and engaging with
it.
If
an action will take less than two minutes, it should be done at the moment it
is defined.
Anxiety
and guilt don’t come from having too much to do; it comes from breaking
agreements with yourself.
Your
mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.
Getting
Things Done Summary
A
basic truism Allen has discovered over decades of coaching and training
thousands of people is that most stress people experience comes from
inappropriately managed commitments they make or accept.
“Anything
that does not belong where it is, the way it is, is an ‘open loop,’ which will
be pulling on your attention if it’s not appropriately managed.”
“You
must use your mind to get things off your mind.”
“Most
often, the reason something is on your mind is that you want it to be different
than it currently is, and yet: you haven’t clarified exactly what the intended
outcome is; you haven’t decided what the very next physical action step is;
and/or you haven’t put reminders of the outcome and the action required in a
system you trust.”
Until
your thoughts have been clarified and decisions have been made, and the
resulting data has been stored in a system that you absolutely know you will
access and think about when you need to, your brain can’t give up the job.
“It’s
a waste of time and energy to keep thinking about something that you make no
progress on.”
We
need to transform all the ‘stuff’ we attract and accumulate into a clear
inventory of meaningful actions, projects, and usable information.
Getting
things done requires two basic components:
Outcome.
Defining what “done” means
Action.
What “doing” looks like
You
need to control commitments, projects, and actions in two ways:
Horizontally.
Maintaining coherence across all the activities in which you are involved
Vertically.
Managing thinking, development, and coordination of individual topics and
projects.
“The
goal for managing horizontally and vertically is the same: to get things off
your mind and get them done.”
“There
is usually an inverse relationship between how much something is on your mind
and how much it’s getting done.”
“There
is no reason to ever have the same thought twice unless you like having that
thought.”
The
Five Steps of Mastering Workflow
Capture.
Collect what has your attention
Clarify.
Process what it means
Organize.
Put it where it belongs
Reflect.
Review frequently
Engage.
Simply do.
The
Three Requirements to Make the Capturing Phase Work
Every
open loop must be in your capture system and out of your head
You
must have as few capturing buckets as you can get by with
You
must empty them regularly
Getting
Things Done Workflow Chart
Getting
Things Done Workflow Chart
When
you’re processing an item, ask yourself, “What is it?” and, “Is it actionable?”
If
it is not actionable, there are three possibilities:
Trash.
It’s no longer needed.
Incubate.
No action is needed now, but something might need to be done later.
Reference.
The item is potentially useful information that might be needed for something
later.
If
it is actionable, you have three options:
Do
it. If an action will take less than two minutes, it should be done at the
moment it is defined.
Delegate
it. If the action will take longer than two minutes, ask yourself, “Am I the
right person to do this?” If the answer is no, delegate it to the appropriate
entity.
Defer
it. If the action will take longer than two minutes, and you are the right
person to do it, you will have to defer acting on it until later and track it
on one or more “Next Actions” lists.
“Being
organized means simply that where something is matches what it means to you.”
Allen
defines a project as any desired result that can be accomplished within a year
that requires more than one action step.
Reminders
of actions you need to take fall into two categories:
Those
about things that have to happen on a specific day or time
Those
about things that just need to get done as soon as possible.
There
are three things go on your calendar:
Time-specific
actions. This is a fancy name for appointments.
Day-specific
actions. These are things that you need to do sometimes on a certain day, but
not necessarily at a specific time.
Day-specific
information. The calendar is also the place to keep track of things you want to
know about on specific days—not necessarily actions you’ll have to take but
rather information that may be useful on a certain date.
“It’s
useful to have a calendar on which you can note both time-specific and
day-specific actions.” (Sam: this has been a game changer for me)
“Next
Actions lists, which, along with the calendar, are at the heart of daily
action-management organization and orientation.”
No-action
systems fall into three categories:
Trash.
This is self-evident
Incubation.
These are things that require no immediate action but are worth keeping. There
are two kinds of incubation tools (i) Someday/Maybe lists and (ii) a tickler
system. Someday/Maybe items are of the nature of “projects I might want to do,
but not now … but I’d like to be reminded of them regularly.” A tickler system
is for items that you don’t want or need to be reminded of until some
designated time in the future.
Reference.
Reference systems generally take two forms: (1) topic- and area-specific
storage, and (2) general reference files. The first types usually define
themselves in terms of how they are stored. The second type of reference system
is one that everyone needs close at hand for storing ad hoc information that
doesn’t belong in some predesigned larger category.
“All
of your Projects, active project plans, and Next Actions, Agendas, Waiting For,
and even Someday/Maybe lists should be reviewed once a week.”
The
Weekly Review is the time to:
Gather
and process all your stuff
Review
your system
Update
your lists
Get
clean, clear, current, and complete.
Allen
believes you have to use your mind to get things off your mind.
The
Four-Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment
Context
Time
Available
Energy
Available
Priority
The
Threefold Model for Identifying Daily Work
When
you’re getting things done, or “working” in the universal sense, there are
three different kinds of activities you can be engaged in:
Doing
predefined work. When you’re doing predefined work, you’re working from your
Next Actions lists and calendar—completing tasks that you have previously
determined need to be done, or managing your workflow.
Doing
work as it shows up. Every day brings surprises and you’ll need to expand some
time and energy on many of them. However, when you follow these leads, you’re
deciding by default that these things are more important than anything else you
have to do at those times.
Defining
your work. Defining your work entails clearing up your in-tray, your digital
messages, and your meeting notes, and breaking down new projects into
actionable steps.
The Six-Level
Model for Reviewing Your Own Work
Horizon
5: Purpose and principles
Horizon
4: Vision
Horizon
3: Goals
Horizon
2: Areas of focus and accountabilities
Horizon
1: Current projects
Ground:
Current Actions. This is the accumulated list of all the actions you need to
take.
Horizon
1: Current Projects. These are the relatively short-term outcomes you want to
achieve (e.g. organizing a sales conference).
Horizon
2: Areas of Focus and Accountabilities. These are the key areas of your life
and work within which you want to achieve results and maintain standards.
Horizon
3: Goals. These are thing you’d like to accomplish or have in place, which
could add importance to certain aspects of your life and diminish others.
Horizon
4: Vision. What do you what your life and work to look like in three to five
years? Decisions at this altitude can easily change what your work might look
like on many levels.
Horizon
5: Purpose and Principles. This is the big-picture view.
The
key ingredients of relaxed control are:
Clearly
defined outcomes (projects) and the next actions required to move them toward
closure
Reminders
placed in a trusted system that is reviewed regularly.
“If
you’re waiting to have a good idea before you have any ideas, you won’t have
many.”
“Often
the only way to make a hard decision is to come back to the purpose of what
you’re doing.”
“If
you’re not sure why you’re doing something, you can never do enough of it.”
“One
of the most powerful life skills and one of the most important to hone and
develop for both professional and personal success is creating clear outcomes.”
“If
a project is still on your mind, there’s more thinking required.”
“The
big secret to efficient creative and productive thinking and action is to put
the right things in your focus at the right time.”
“One
of the best tricks for enhancing your productivity is having organizing tools
you love to use.”
“Until
you’ve captured everything that has your attention, some part of you will still
not totally trust that you’re working with the whole picture of your world.”
“You
can only feel good about what you’re not doing when you know everything you’re
not doing.”
Here
are the four categories of things that can remain where they are, the way they
are, with no action tied to them:
Supplies
Reference
Material
Decoration
Equipment
Processing
Guidelines
Process
the top item first
Process
one item at a time
Never
put anything back into “in.”
The
in-tray is a processing station, not a storage bin. There will be three types
of item in it:
Trash
Items
to incubate
Reference
material
“It’s
fine to decide not to decide about something. You just need a
decide-not-to-decide system to get it off your mind.”
There
are seven primary types of things that you’ll want to keep track of and manage
from an organizational and operational perspective:
A
Projects list
Project
support material
Calendar
actions and information
Next
Actions lists
A
Waiting For list
Reference
material
A
Someday/Maybe list
“The
primary reason for organizing is to reduce cognitive load—i.e. to eliminate the
need to constantly be thinking, ‘What do I need to do about this?’”
“Checklists
can be highly useful to let you know what you don’t need to be concerned
about.” (Sam: this is the basis for The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.)
Allen
on The Weekly Review:
[It]
is whatever you need to do to get your head empty again and get oriented for
the next couple of weeks. It’s going through the steps of workflow
management—capturing, clarifying, organizing, and reviewing all your
outstanding commitments, intentions, and inclinations—until you can honestly
say, “I absolutely know right now everything I’m not doing but could be doing
if I decided to.”
“Your
best thoughts about work won’t happen while you’re at work.”
“The
world itself is never overwhelmed or confused—only we are, due to how we are
engaged with it.”
Allen
recommends to always keep an inventory of things that need to be done that
require very little mental or creative horsepower.
“One
of the best ways to increase your energy is to close some of your loops.”
“It
is impossible to feel good about your choices unless you are clear about what
your work really is.”
“There
are no interruptions—there are only mismanaged inputs.”
“Do
unexpected work as it shows up, not because it is the path of least resistance,
but because it is the thing you need to do vis-à-vis all the rest.”
“Handle
what has your attention and you’ll then discover what really has your
attention.”
Allen
believes the most important thing to deal with is whatever is most on your
mind.
“If
you’re not totally sure what your job is, it will always feel overwhelming.”
“When
you’re not sure where you’re going or what’s really important to you, you’ll
never know enough.”
There
are two types of projects, however, that deserve at least some sort of planning
activity:
Those
that still have your attention even after you’ve determined their next actions
Those
about which potentially useful ideas and supportive detail just show up ad hoc.
“One
of the greatest blocks to organizational (and family) productivity is the lack
of someone about the need for a meeting, and with whom, to move something
forward.”
“The
sense of anxiety and guilt doesn’t come from having too much to do; it’s the
automatic result of breaking agreements with yourself.”
“Negative
feelings are simply the result of breaking those agreements—they’re the
symptoms of disintegrated self-trust.”
“Maintaining
an objective and complete inventory of your work, regularly reviewed, makes it
much easier to say no with integrity.” (Sam: this is similar to what Greg
McKeown suggests in Essentialism.)
“When
a culture adopts ‘What’s the next action?’ as a standard operating query,
there’s increase in energy, productivity, clarity, and focus.”
“Defining
what real doing looks like on the most basic level and organizing placeholder
reminders that we can trust are master keys to productivity enhancement and
creating a relaxed inner environment.”
“Without
a next action, there remains a potentially infinite gap between current reality
need to do.”
“Avoiding
action decisions until the pressure of the last minute creates huge
inefficiencies and unnecessary stress.”
“Defining
specific projects and next actions that address real quality-of-life issues is
productivity at its best.”
“Your
mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.”
“You
can only put your conscious attention on one thing at a time.”
“Providing
yourself the right cues, which you will notice at the right time, about the
right things, is a core practice of stress-free productivity.”
Recommended
Reading
If
you like Getting Things Done, you may also enjoy the following books:
7
Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Deep
Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Book by Cal Newport
Eat
That Frog! Get More of the Important Things Done – Today! by Brian Tracy
