Stress Free Productivity
The best book I have ever read on productivity and planning systems is Getting Things Done by David Allen.
It changed the game for me in terms of how I look at tasks that need to get done and how I physically manage getting things done. The book shows you what is possible when you structure your life to get things done effectively. It’s extremely interesting to read and anyone can learn simple changes to make.
The Art of Stress Free Productivity
The system that David Allen introduces is simple but when implemented effectively completely change how you go about getting things done both professionally and personally.
So what is the system?
It’s a five part system that takes you from having all your lose bits and pieces of information to knowing exactly what you’re going to work on. There is also time built in for reviews.
(this is a very long blog post but stick with it and see if you can try out one or two things to begin with then come back to it when you want to add on strategies)
The five parts are:
CAPTURE
This about capturing your incompletes. Anything you consider incomplete is an open loop i.e. something that your brain will keep thinking about subconsciously. Obvious rubbish can be binned at this stage e.g. takeaway leaflets you don’t want etc.
How: Use capture tools: In-tray, notepads, digital notes/voice notes, emails or texting, integrated tech.
Every open loop must be captured which means get it out of your head and into a notebook or digital app. Each tool is a capture bucket that needs to be regularly reviewed and cleared.
Keep as few capturing buckets or tools as you can get by on and empty them regularly.
CLARIFY
In this part you take each individual item from your capturing bucket & decide on the ‘Next Action’. Once you decide on the next action for every item your capture buckets will be empty. This is because each item will move to a different place.
When looking at each item you need to decide if it is something actionable or not.
If it’s not actionable then it goes into one of three places:
Trash,
Someday/maybe list
Filing (reference items).
If it is actionable then you must decide: What is the very next physical action to take?
For example organise meeting is not a next action. The next action could be to send email to colleagues to ask availability. Organise meeting is a project made up of small steps such as email colleagues to ask for availability, book a time, add event to calendar and set up meeting agenda.
Is it a project with multiple steps that needs project planning then review of project actions?
Or is it a task? Can it be completed in less than 2 minutes? If yes then you can do it now. If it's longer than 2 minutes you can either delegate it to someone else (add it to the waiting for list) or defer it to a later time on the calendar or to your next actions list to do as soon as possible. Some tasks fit into bigger projects so I consider those under project thinking.
ORGANISE
The 8 items mentioned below from the Clarify section are the systems for organising just about everything on your plate or that could ever be added to it.
Project list (for project planning)
Review session notes
Waiting for list (things you are waiting on from other people) – could be a list per person.
Calendar
Next actions list – to do lists, master task lists etc
Trash
Someday list – thing you want to do one day
Filing system – cabinets are great for this.
REFLECT
This is about reviewing things at the right time. The calendar is a quick day-to-day review so that you know what is coming up. The someday/maybe list is something to review every once in a while. The ‘Waiting for’ list needs regular review to ensure progress is being made on delegated tasks.
The Weekly review comes in super useful for reviewing all your lists of open items.
The weekly review is the time to:
1. Gather & process all your stuff – make sure you have Captured and then clarified everything i.e no ambiguity on any task.
2. Review your system – your capture and organisation tools then tweak as needed.
3. Update your lists – to ensure that completed tasks are taken out.
4. Get clean, clear, current and complete – account for all open loops, clear up all miscellaneous projects and tasks and make sure that next steps are clear. It’s important to know what you will be working on between one review and the next.
The whole weekly review process is about having a regular clearing process. It’s like what you do before you go on holiday but a smaller more regular version. This then makes things less overwhelming. Having a complete system that captures, clarifies, organises and reviews EVERYTHING will help you be more present everyday of your life.
Block off at least two hours a week to do a thorough review where you will not be interrupted. It will be the best spent time of your week if done well.
ENGAGE
This section is about actually DOING the task and offers strategies for how to choose what task to do.
You can choose actions to do based on:
Context i.e location office/home. – less relevant in work from home world but relates to equipment around you. I.e doing computer work at your computer.
Time Available – this is important for when you have pockets of time between tasks and meetings and appointments.
Energy Available – note that there are going to be times when you should be thinking and times when your energy is at its lowest and you need to be resting. LISTEN to your body!
Priority (ie most important to least) – we are all good at doing things which demand our attention but working like this will create burn out. Advance planning stops this by bring things to your attention before you HAVE to do them (i.e firefighting)
Another way of choosing daily work is to engage in one of three types of activity:
1. Pre-defined work – i.e tasks already set out for your and you know what you are doing.
2. Defining your work - clearing your in-tray and breaking projects into actionable steps. Then selecting what to do based on context/time/energy/priorities etc. This is easy once you go through the Capture and Clarify steps.
3. Do work as it shows up - the well known phrase 'Ad-hoc' – you ideally want to avoid being in ad-hoc mode all the time. Once in a while this is fine but it is not an ideal way to work!
One further strategy David talks about is the 6 level model where there are six Horizons. These go from ground level of current actions and projects all the way up to horizon 5 which is your greater purpose and principles and goals.
This is a much more big picture down to daily tasks view and Horizon's 5 and 4 are more long term but still worthwhile to take a look at.
If you read this far then I want to say a huge THANK YOU! I find this whole system and concept of stress free productivity is fascinating. If you want to dig in to this whole process in chapter by chapter detail and change your life then I can’t recommend the book enough.