Getting Things Done (35 page)

I consider “work,” in its most universal sense, as meaning anything that you want or need to be different than it currently is. Many people make a distinction between “work” and “personal life,” but I don’t: to me, weeding the garden or updating my will is just as much “work” as writing this book or coaching a client. All the methods and techniques in this book are applicable across that life/work spectrum—to be effective, they need to be.

If, however, you were handling the celebration for your best friend’s recent triumph, the complexity and detail that might accrue in your head should warrant
at least
the back of an envelope!

You can also plan nonactionable projects and
not
need a next action—for example, designing your dream house. The lack of a next action by default makes it a “someday/maybe” project . . . and that’s fine for anything of that nature.

After hours is actually a good time to crank through a group of similar tasks that you wouldn’t normally do in the course of your typical workday, like filing a big backlog of papers, organizing photographs, surfing the Web about your upcoming vacation location, or processing expense receipts.

A great time to do this is Christmas Eve Day, or some similar near-holiday that falls on a workday. Most people are in “party mode” anyway, so it’s an ideal opportunity to get funky and clean house.

One of your extra stack baskets is ideal for this purpose. Use it temporarily during this initial processing to gather things to organize later. Afterward you can use it to hold pending work-in-progress papers and physical reminders of next actions.

Digital list managers (like the Palm’s) or low-tech papers in separate folders have an advantage here over lists on paper because they let you easily move an item from one category to another as the action changes, without your having to rewrite anything.

This approach can be dangerous, however, if you don’t put those “Bills to Pay” or “Receipts to Process” in front of your face as consistently as you should. Just having them “organized” isn’t sufficient to get them off your mind—you’ve also got to review them appropriately.

Microsoft Outlook allows users to copy or move e-mails into its “Tasks” context, which, if organized according to my recommended categories, could work equally well.

Many Lotus Notes users don’t even realize they can do this, but in fact it’s one of the program’s most powerful features. If you have Notes, check with your resident IT resource person and have him or her request system permission and show you how.

If you’re using a group-accessible calendar, you must maintain discretion about these kinds of triggers. Digital calendars usually have “private” categorization functions you can use for entries you don’t necessarily want everyone to see.

Also referred to as a “suspense,” “bring forward,” or “follow-up” file.

There are various ways to give it all up. You can ignore the physical world and its realities and trust in the universe. I did that, and it was a powerful experience. And one I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Surrendering to your inner awareness, however, and its intelligence and practicality in the worlds you live in, is the higher ground. Trusting yourself and the source of your intelligence is a more elegant version of freedom and personal productivity.

It has been a popular concept in the self-help world that focusing on your values will simplify your life. I contend the opposite: the overwhelming amount of things that people have to do comes
from
their values. Values are critical elements for meaning and direction. But don’t kid yourself—the more you focus on them, the more things you’re likely to feel responsible for taking on. Your values may make it easier for you to make decisions, but don’t think they’ll make things any simpler.

Of course, the people who are
most
attracted to implementing
Getting Things Done
are usually already on a self-development track and don’t assume that they’ll be doing the same thing a year from now that they’re doing now, anyway. But they love the fact that this method gets them there faster and more easily.