Quick thought: and only a quick thought! (that seems to have turned into 400+ words..)

I remember some time ago having a chat with a friend of mine, the subject of which was why I was having trouble reading “Getting Things Done” – at the time it was almost impenetrable to me. It seemed, I don’t know, easy, common sense-ish, and at the same time a bit obvious. My friend’s response was that it was written for someone of a different Myers-Briggs type to me (and maybe that’s true).

However, since starting to read the book in earnest this week I’m finding lots of really great and powerful advice in there. I’m about halfway through, and two of the biggest stand out things for me have been:

  • to put even one sheet of paper in a separate folder if it is unrelated to anything else; previously a folder would seem a waste for just one thing, you put projects and documents in folders, not one thing. And that kind of thinking leads you to just stack all of these one sheets up until you don’t know what is going on!
  • defining what the next physical action is for a project or piece of work; even if you don’t know when or how you’re going to get to it, what is the next thing to do? I think this is a great piece of advice – especially in the more speculative/creative/entrepreneurial line of things if you’re a bit, “Ooooh, what if…?” like I can be. What is the next thing you’re going to do? Not the whole plan, not every step, what’s the next step you’re going to take?

I also really like the idea of do it (if it will take two minutes or less), delegate it (if you can, and to the right person), or defer it (to the appropriate time and place). I’ve read about half the book so far, and don’t have time to set up in-trays and the like just yet (although I have a block of time being chiseled out). Even now the mental tools are doing wonders for me. It’s 10:30 in the morning and I feel like I’ve got loads done so far!

Is Getting Tnings Done simply “advanced common sense” (which is how the book describes it at one point)? Perhaps, but so far I can see it as a rigourous toolkit, lots of five star techniques for getting your productivity through the roof. And I’m eager to see what else the book has in store.