Getting Things Done: Chapter 1

As I mentioned earlier, I am reading Getting Things Done in order to better my time management at work, and help a coworker. 

I first heard of this book years ago on the blog, The Simple Dollar (link to Trent's 1st chapter review).  At the time I didn't think too much more about it, but as time goes on, I find myself thinking back to Trent's articles and his opinion of the book.  He actually mentions it quite frequently even to this day.

So, now that I have extolled the virtues of The Simple Dollar (link to homepage), I thought it'd be helpful for me to also do a bit of a book review.

Chapter 1 is really a prep chapter, teaching the reader why people are so ineffective at getting things done.  Particularly in the professional field, most work is no longer physical - like plowing fields, or making widgets, it's about knowledge management and 'projects'.

In order to get things done, one must have a clear mind.  This means no niggling thoughts on what's for dinner, or what time the next meeting is at, etc.  To be truly productive, one must have these items out of there head and in a place they will regularly review.  When these things are no longer on your mind, a person is able to focus on the action at hand.

Pg. 11

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.  - Shunryu Suzuki

The following exercise is one David uses in his seminars:

1)  Write down the project or situation that is most on your mind.
2)  In a single sentence, write your intended outcome.
3)  Write down the very next step needed to move forward.

Doing so no longer makes this project large and daunting - suddenly there's a reasonable action to take that will move this forward.

Pg 18

[...]gather everything that requires thinking about and then do that thinking...

Once you have everything you need to think about out of your head, and thought about, and the next action defined, then you can start to be productive.