Procrastination doesn’t make you blind – you just misheard the quote. But it does cannibalise more of your precious time than you probably think. And, you probably think it cannibalises most of your time.
Ironically, the solution is probably to sit down and waste a weekend reading a book. Not one of your own choice you understand – that wouldn’t get you anywhere. You’ve read that John Le Carre 4 times and if you don’t ‘get it’ by now, you never will. No, you’re going to read David Allen’s ‘Get Things Done’.
If you want a synopsis or review then I’m sure you know where to find Google, and most of you can spell ‘David Allen’ – what I want to do here is just give a few thoughts on why I used ‘GTD’ as it is known (under Federal law nothing can be called a ‘concept’ or ‘methodology’ unless it has been hacked down to a generic acronym. Your house may be at risk if you do not keep up repayments).
I have a house, a wife, and an eight-month old baby. I have a job that is very demanding and involves the management of complex projects. Basically I have a lot of moving parts which I need to track and monitor in my life. I have always been a To Do List geek, and I was pretty sure I was one productive ‘mofo’. Only I wasn’t. In the words of Master Yoda – “covering your desk in Post-it Notes does not constitute being organised”.
Random internet wanderings stumbled me across some people banging on about GTD so I bought the book, learnt the secret handshake, and only look back to wave the occasional digit. And why is this? How, as my wife constantly asks, can I get so excited by a book about to do lists? Here are my top 5 reasons:
Number one – Someday/maybe lists – there are loads of things I want to do, but won’t put them on a common-or-garden to do list as, well, I’m never going to get around to them. So they just fester. Eating me from the inside. A someday/maybe list however, gives you permission to not do the things you want to do. They are captured and there for you to look at when ever you want, but without the nagging “I must do that some time”.
Number two – The actual existence of a process/framework as opposed to just doing something because that is what you do is very underrated. It keeps you on the straight and narrow. You have something soft and cushioning to fall onto when you drop off the wagon every once in a while.
Number three – Whilst the ‘areas of focus’ are a generic product available in any personal development bible, Mr Allen has bent them so they tie seamlessly into the mundane ‘what I have to do today’ stuff – and this is genius. Traditionally, once you have defined your rason d’etre (world peace, global domination, freedom for penguins, etc), it is then a bit of disappointment to learn you still have to clean the oven and pay the window-cleaner – with GTD this all flows naturally.
Number four – Label maker. I have never had the justification for buying one before. They are lovely.
Number five – Finally, it legitimises and brings together a community of people who want to discuss the best hacks, techniques and ideas for listing out all the work that we are planning on avoiding the next week.
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