On my way to an oil change appointment this morning, I was listening to an episode from my favorite podcast these days, EO Fire (more on that later). The host, John Lee Dumas, was interviewing Brian Scudamore, the founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK as well as three additional businesses. It was a nice episode, as all of them are, and I took away some great little ideas. It was some of Brian's parting words, though, that really got me reflecting. When asked "what's a personal habit that contributes to your success?" Brian responded quickly and easily, "time management".
As soon as I heard those words, TIME MANAGEMENT, I mentally agreed that refining the skill of managing my time (with all of its facets) has been so important for me in attaining my own goals and successes thus far. And right on the heels of that thought, came the reminder of what spurred the growth for me in this area. Without a doubt this would have to be David Allen's extremely helpful book, Getting Things Done.
I was introduced to Allen's book and system through Power of Moms (powerofmoms.com), and will forever be grateful. I don't follow The Getting Things Done (GTD) system to a T and I'm certainly not an expert in it. There were two principles in particular, though, that hit home for me and have allowed me to springboard into higher levels of productivity.
The first would be getting all the things out of my head that I know I need to do, and placing those tasks/thoughts somewhere else. For me this started as recording all my to-dos (or whatever else I was trying to constantly remember in my overflowing brain) on my "Notes" app. It has since evolved into keeping a very detailed calendar on my Mac/iPhone.
The moment I think of something I really need to do (or even an item I have to buy at the store), I immediately put it on my calendar (or still my Notes app for my shopping list). This allows me to get all these floating tasks out of my mind, freeing up room for bigger thoughts and definitely leading to a lot less worry about forgetting to do all the important items on my agenda. Even if it's a task that doesn't have to be seen to for another month or so (or even six), I still put it on my calendar for the semi-appropriate time. Once the task gets closer, I may have to change the actual day or time I intended to see to the task, but at least it's out of my mind and documented somewhere. That way I can utilize my bustling brain with more important or more immediate items.
The second technique that has made a world of difference for me from GTD is the concept of a "next action item". I'm probably butchering the way Allen would explain all of this, but to me this has come to mean taking the next bite-sized step in a task/project and only focusing on that step. When thinking of a project, I try to really pin down what the next action item would be to move that project forward. Then I document that action item on my calendar for whatever time I have set aside to work on the project. When the day/time comes, I go to my calendar and know right away what specific action to get started on. This keeps me from sitting around wasting time wondering what to do next, or feeling like the project is so large that I'm too overwhelmed to begin working on it at all.
There really is so much more helpful information available through GTD than what I'm sharing. Not to mention examples and much better explanations! You can find much more information at gettingthingsdone.com.
So what's your "next action item" from this post? Decide what version (audio or paper copy) of Getting Things Done would be best for you. Then buy a copy online or check it out from your local library. And finally, get reading/listening!
I promise you will find yourself more productive almost immediately. Happy reading!
As soon as I heard those words, TIME MANAGEMENT, I mentally agreed that refining the skill of managing my time (with all of its facets) has been so important for me in attaining my own goals and successes thus far. And right on the heels of that thought, came the reminder of what spurred the growth for me in this area. Without a doubt this would have to be David Allen's extremely helpful book, Getting Things Done.
I was introduced to Allen's book and system through Power of Moms (powerofmoms.com), and will forever be grateful. I don't follow The Getting Things Done (GTD) system to a T and I'm certainly not an expert in it. There were two principles in particular, though, that hit home for me and have allowed me to springboard into higher levels of productivity.
The first would be getting all the things out of my head that I know I need to do, and placing those tasks/thoughts somewhere else. For me this started as recording all my to-dos (or whatever else I was trying to constantly remember in my overflowing brain) on my "Notes" app. It has since evolved into keeping a very detailed calendar on my Mac/iPhone.
The moment I think of something I really need to do (or even an item I have to buy at the store), I immediately put it on my calendar (or still my Notes app for my shopping list). This allows me to get all these floating tasks out of my mind, freeing up room for bigger thoughts and definitely leading to a lot less worry about forgetting to do all the important items on my agenda. Even if it's a task that doesn't have to be seen to for another month or so (or even six), I still put it on my calendar for the semi-appropriate time. Once the task gets closer, I may have to change the actual day or time I intended to see to the task, but at least it's out of my mind and documented somewhere. That way I can utilize my bustling brain with more important or more immediate items.
The second technique that has made a world of difference for me from GTD is the concept of a "next action item". I'm probably butchering the way Allen would explain all of this, but to me this has come to mean taking the next bite-sized step in a task/project and only focusing on that step. When thinking of a project, I try to really pin down what the next action item would be to move that project forward. Then I document that action item on my calendar for whatever time I have set aside to work on the project. When the day/time comes, I go to my calendar and know right away what specific action to get started on. This keeps me from sitting around wasting time wondering what to do next, or feeling like the project is so large that I'm too overwhelmed to begin working on it at all.
There really is so much more helpful information available through GTD than what I'm sharing. Not to mention examples and much better explanations! You can find much more information at gettingthingsdone.com.
So what's your "next action item" from this post? Decide what version (audio or paper copy) of Getting Things Done would be best for you. Then buy a copy online or check it out from your local library. And finally, get reading/listening!
I promise you will find yourself more productive almost immediately. Happy reading!
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