Get Things Done

We often get overwhelmed with so much going on around us and this has been an issue for me recently. So I looked into a book called Getting Things Done by David Allen. The book is long and hard to read so to help I have written an article with my learning from the book.

The Power of Stress- Free Productivity.

When you throw a pebble into a puddle of water, what happens, how does the water react.

Answer : completely appropriately to the mass of the pebble and the force with which it was thrown, The water does not over-react or under-react. Which is often what we do.

The book teaches that we often encounter stressful events in our lives, we often let them control us by provoking a reaction that can be disproportionate to what is required in that situation. Eg, you are buried under a mountain of tasks to get through and you get an email/text from someone, adding yet another task to your ever increasing list, you feel overwhelmed and respond brusquely. Imagine if you had a state of mind like the water. Not over- or under-reacting to the email/txt or any other events that you may encounter, but always respond appropriately.

In order to achieve this you need to attain a sense of control over all your work and this is where the Getting Things Done (GTD) method comes in.

Built on simple principles like maintaining a comprehensive system of external lists and always defining clear and tangible next actions for your undertakings. GTD frees up your brain to concentrate on solving problems rather than remembering lists. This ensures you keep all your projects – both personal and professional moving forward.

Having this sense of clarity and control has helped me not only to be more productive but my stress levels have also plummet as I have felt calm and in control of my work and arrive at some fundamental questions about my purpose in life. I realised that I was misusing my brain with long term ideas and dreams and being exhausted is no excuse for not being productive.

Your brain is great at thinking but terrible or remembering things

My days are hectic and a typical day used to be something like this :

I am sitting in front of my 28inch computer monitor with various programs open on my screen, my email inbox in the top left corner, Google web browser with Facebook open on the top left hand corner of my screen and in the middle the document or spreadsheet that I was working on. Notifications clicking in the bottom corner or my screen for all sorts of stuff. Mobile phone next to my landline on the desk. Desk with various files open. WOW - just remembering that is giving me a headache….

So I am working on a spreadsheet for an appraisal on a land deal that we are looking at, someone calls asking for me to email them some info on a project that we are looking to sell as its nearly complete, so I click into my emails to send them the info, A whatsapp message comes through from a funding client asking for some advice so i start to type up a response to them as I need more info before I can advise, notification comes through from another email address from a friend needing me to confirm dates for a meet up. So I open my calender, the mobile phone rings and I answer the call, its from a client looking for some help. I spend 15 mins on the phone and then I go back to what I was doing. BUT WHAT WAS I ACTUALLY DOING ??? ( I can see you smiling, as you recognise that feeling)..

We spend our days juggling dozens of tasks and projects all at once while we are constantly bombarded by even more. In order to survive we cram everything into our heads, trying to keep important information, appointments and upcoming tasks “on our minds” Unfortunately this approach will squander our brain’s brilliant capacity to think by cluttering it up with a jumble of information. 

Furthermore trying to remember everything eventually leads to an inability to concentrate fully at hand, because your brain will still try to work out all the unsolved problems and undone tasks that you have stored in it. These will be open loops in your brain – as they haven’t been brought to closure - so your brain will constantly remind you about them, whether you want it to or not. This will be distracting and you cannot possibly focus properly on all the things that you need to do if thoughts like “send that sale info to a client “ keep interrupting your flow.

So what do you do to master the modern workplace web of tasks, meetings, messages and information so that you can truly focus on what you are doing?

This is where the Get Things Done system comes in.

Through a specific and powerflow 5 stage workflow you can get back the control or everything on your plate.

If you would like more info and the full details on what the 5 stage workflow process is please send me a message with your email address and I will send you the PDF. This post is already too long.

Thanks Kal