J.D. Meier has cracked the secret behind GTD [Getting Things Done] success.
Have you ever wondered why some things you can do on "auto-pilot" or without thinking, while other tasks are mentally draining? Your thoughtful tasks are using your working memory (prefrontal context), while your repetitive, familiar and routine activities are using your basal ganglia, which doesn’t require conscious thought.
From David Allen’s definition of GTD:
It [GTD] includes:
- Capturing anything and everything that has your attention
- Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps
- Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on
how and when you need to access them- Keeping current and "on your game" with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your
commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)The only "right" way to do GTD is getting meaningful things done with truly the least amount of invested attention and energy.
Simply put, David Allen created the technique of building checklists, task lists, outcome lists. He applied it in practice and proved it works while making bunch of money. J.D. Meier found out why it works. This how our brain works.
My examples of checklists that work for me:
- Shopping. When I go without a checklist to a supermarket I either forget buying something and then spend time to return and buy it any way or buy something I did not plan thus spending extra money I could save.
- Application assessments. I am consultant and big part of my work is assessing applications written by others. I have checklists for any case. It streamlines my work, creates expected results. Save a lot of time on warm-ups and context switches.
- Time management. My calendar looks like big checklist. I block time for daily tasks on weekly basis. Each morning I open my calendar I know exactly what I am to do today. That way I know what my weekly outcomes I can anticipate.
- Task management. My inbox is my pipeline of my tasks. It is organized in such way that I know exactly what to do next. Always.
- Project management. I manage simple list of projects I am involved with – work, personal, social. I see many people have hard times to answer simple question “What projects you are involved currently?”. I do not have that problem.
- Outcomes management. I see many people having hard times to answer simple question “What are you doing? What is the end result?”. It is because many of us are task oriented. I am not. I am outcome oriented. This helps me make sure I achieve results and not just complete tasks. How? I have simple finite checklist of outcomes.
When it is on the list the mind is free and not overwhelmed.
Yesterday I was at customer’s and one guy approached me by the end of the day and asked me seeking for support “Do you have sometimes a feeling that you have 50 tasks to complete but by the end of the day you look back and realize you complete nothing?”. “No, I do not” was my answer.
I plan my day with simple checklists and then stick to it. As simple as that.
What checklists do you have?
10 comments ↓
For tasks you could use the Tasks fields in Outlook- beeeeeeeeeecause Calendar is for meetings.
I like the CHECK LIST Idea and will assume it starting from today.
Off Top. I never use question: What you do now? Because (it’s human nature –nothing you can do) the kind automatic answer: Not your fucking business!( Even you not hear it , you could see it bolded in the eyes of your opponent) Avoid question in form like this.
Relax, take a deep breath, drink glass of water [sort of checklist for relaxation :)]
Imagine two situations:
1.Your boss comes into your cubicle and asks “Ehm, what projects you are in now?”. Your reply - “None of your f-word business”. Your manager - “Well, ehm ehm.. actually it IS my business….”
2.You step into your report cubicle and ask her “Ehm… say, what projects your are involved now?”. Your report’s reply – “None of your f-word business”.
Can you imagine this? I cannot…
Calendar is for time management tool – not meetings only. Meetings is one type of activities that consume time [mostly unproductively]. There are plenty other activities that consume time. Said that, it is valid to use Calendar to manage time for these activities too.
Making appointments with yourself is along the same lines of “pay yourself first,” and they’re both effective.
[...] How do you add extra value to your product, how do you add extra value to what you can offer? You practice personal development principles and techniques. You practice, practice, practice this until it becomes daily habit so that your thoughtful part of brain is available for creative work - The Secret Behind GTD [Getting Things Done] Revealed. [...]
How do you handle the unexpected? Several people I have talked to about personal effeciency like to quip: “By carefully planning my tasks, I do not have any unexpected events.” Well to be honest that is crap.
Anyone who has worked in this industry for more than 4 days has had events occur with little to no notice that they have to deal with. So what is the best way to handle that, without disrupting your entire carefully strucutred calendar and checklist?
This is a situation I often find myself in when my phone rings at 2am.
Rocky, it is not crap - it is pure crap.
When unexpected happens your know how to shuffle what you planned. You fail gracefully. It is one of the core principles in software performance - failing gracefully. Otherwise you get “Catastrophic failure” or yet “Unspecified error” stuff. Or even rebooting the system….
By planning you reduce the grey area of “I do not know what I do not know”. By planning stuff you get more aware of the areas of “I know what I know” and “I know what I do not know”. When you are in “I do not know what I do not know” your mind consumes extra cycles making the whole system work harder.
[...] Give it some time. You’ll be thanking me later. You will be thanking when it moved into your basal ganglia (credits go to J.D. [...]
[...] is a checklist. Your mind gets freed for doing more intellectual work. Mechanical work must not consume time. Checklists are of great help. Saved few [...]
[...] The Secret Behind GTD [Getting Things Done] Revealed [...]
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