By: David Allen

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Quick – think about all of the things you need to get done today. Now think about all of the things you need to get done tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day. And then next week.

Now, answer this question: Are all of those things written down somewhere? If not, join the club - the overworked and under-resourced club.

Here's the thing...this club is actually just a club we made up to make ourselves feel better about ourselves.

You see, when most people complain about the fact that they have too much work to do and too little time in which to do it, they are actually suffering from lack of control and organization in their life.

Fortunately, it is possible to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still feel in command of every situation you find yourself in.

In Getting Things Done, you’ll learn two critical things:

1. How to capture all of the things you need to get done (both now and in the future); and
2. How do discipline yourself around the amount of “inputs” you allow into your life so you can take the appropriate next actions to get those things done.

What'll you'll end up with at the end this summary is a system to get control back over your life.

And that, my friends, is priceless.

So buckle up and get ready to learn the five-step process to making it happen: Collect – Process – Organize – Review – Do.

Collect

The first step is to capture information on the things that you need to do. The goal here is to free your mind from holding on to the lower-level task of what you need to do in the future. Just think about all of the time you waste trying to keep the things you need to do at the forefront of your mind.

When we go out and collect things, we need a place to put them. We’ll call these places “buckets." We are looking to collect 100 percent of the things that are “incomplete." The goal here is not to make decisions about whether or not we’ll take action on them, or when we’ll do them, but just to put them somewhere so that we can come back to them later.

For instance, your email inbox is an example of a “bucket” that operates without you having to do anything. But what about the rest of the things in your life?

Here are a few other things that can function as a “bucket” for you:

• a physical inbox
• notepads
• electronic note taking devices
• a voice recorder
• email

There are a few factors that will determine the success of your collection efforts. First, everything that is incomplete must be out of your head and placed into one of your buckets.

Second, you’ll need to have as few collection buckets as possible. Pick the ones that you absolutely can’t do without, and then never put in “incomplete” anywhere else.

Third, you must empty them on a regular basis so that you deal with the items in a timely manner. For instance, I use email and a pre-determined spot in my project management software exclusively as my inboxes. It’s a struggle to only use those things exclusively at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be well on your way to peace of mind.

Process

The next step in the equation is to process the information.

Our goal in this step is to get those buckets down to zero. We won’t necessarily do all the work right now, but we’ll find a spot for all of the items.

First, we’ll ask a simple but important question: What is it?

This may seem incredibly simple, but taking a second to understand what the item is will greatly clarify what you can or should do with it.

Second, we’ll determine whether or not it is an actionable item.

If you answered no to this question, there are three possible choices.

• It could be trash and no longer needed – if so, get rid of it.
• It could be that no action is needed now, but that it might need action in the future – if so, incubate it in a “tickler” system that will tell you when you need to look at it again.
• It could also be potentially useful information in the future but you aren’t sure if you’ll need it – if so, put it in a reference pile that you can access later.

If you answered yes, a few things need to be determined:

• First, what project or outcome have you committed to? If it’s related to a project, you should have an open project list where you can place this item (more on this in the “organization” section). For instance, if you are planning a retirement party and you just got a call back from one of the catering companies you are getting a quote from, you’d put that information into the project bucket. 
• Second, we need to determine what the next action is. For instance, the next action for the retirement party might be “show quote to Bob and get his approval”.

Third and finally - decide what to do with that action. 

Once you’ve decided on the next action, we have three choices:

1. We can do it. The general rule is that if it is going to take less than two minutes to accomplish and we can act on it now – we’ll just do it now.
2. We could delegate it.
3. We can defer it. If it’s something that can’t be done now or if it will take longer than two minutes to complete, put it into your tickler system so that your attention is brought back to it at the appropriate time. More on this in the next section.
   
   

Organize

In order to create the next steps and put everything into the appropriate buckets, you’ll need a system of organization.

For non-action items, you can trash them, incubate them in a tickler system, or put them into a reference file. You should have separate buckets for each of these.

For actionable items, things get a little more detailed.

For this you’ll need a list of projects, storage areas for project plans and materials, a calendar, a list of reminders of next actions, and a list of reminders of things you are waiting for. How you structure these lists is up to you. You could use a software program – in fact, there are many options available that were built specifically using the “Getting Things Done” methodology. You could also use a paper based system like a leather bound planner. The key here is to find something you enjoy using and that works well for you.

Projects

You’ll be surprised to find out that Allen defines a project as anything that requires more than one step to complete. So, it’s likely that you are now the proud owner of many more projects than you previously thought you had.

These projects will range from writing a new book to cleaning up the garage and everything in between. Allen makes a great point about projects: You can’t “do” a project, you can only do one action after another. So, we need to start getting specific about what happens next.

Next Actions

As we discussed earlier, a less than two minute items you’ll do right now and anything you delegate will go into a tickler system reminding you to follow up. However, if you have a next action item that falls outside of that, we need to find a spot for it.

One of the places we can put a next action is on your calendar. This is appropriate when the next action needs to be done at a specific day and time (like an appointment), or even if it needs to be done on a specific day (i.e. shopping for a birthday gift). You might also want to put day specific information in there, such as directions to your appointments or birthday reminders. What else should go in your calendar? Absolutely nothing. This might run counter to other approaches you’ve been taught, but only the things that truly have to get done on a certain day should be put in your calendar.

All other next actions should be put on a list that you can refer to. If you have multiple projects and a lot of next actions to keep track of, they should go into separate lists so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Review

Now that you’ve got your system in place, you need to consistently review it in order for it to be effective. So, what should you review, and when should you review it?

Things to review daily

The thing that you’ll want to check most often – at least once per day – is your calendar. It will have the complete list of all the things that absolutely must get done today, and set your mind for the type of day you will have.

The next thing you will want to turn your attention to is your next actions list(s). This is where you’ll find the set of actions that must be completed if and when you have discretionary time during the day.

Lastly, the projects, waiting for and other lists should be reviewed only as often as it takes for you not to worry or think about them.

Things to review weekly

If you are like most people, by the time the week is over there’s a huge gap in what you thought would happen and what actually happened. No matter how good you are at getting things done, you’ll never rid yourself of this reality. To deal with it, the one thing you need to build into your weekly schedule (put this in your calendar), is a weekly review session.

All of your lists – including the ones above – should be reviewed at least once per week and at the same time. This will allow you to make sure you have your calendar in order for the week to come, and that you have cleared all of your potential todo items out of your head and placed them into the system.

This will only work well if your review is systematic and complete. If it’s not – like not checking different lists that you have – your review will be incomplete and things will fall through the cracks.

If you do your review session properly, it will feel a lot like the week before you go on vacation. You make sure that every loose end is cleaned up, and renegotiate any agreements that can’t get completed by the time you leave. Like Allen suggests, instead of doing this yearly, you should make it part of your weekly routine.

Do

As you are working through your next actions list, and you are deciding what you should do next, think about the following four criteria to make your choice, in the following order: (1) context, (2) time available, (3) energy available, and (4) priority.

Context

Context is important because there are certain tasks that can only get done in certain circumstances. For instance, if you are stuck somewhere and for some reason you can’t connect to the Internet, you’ll need to do work without it. By tagging your next actions with context-specific information, you’ll be able to pull-up lists of things you can do in that situation.

Time Available

Some to-do items in your next action lists will take 10 minutes, and some will take longer than an hour to complete. This becomes important when you find yourself let out of a meeting 20 minutes early, or if your plane is delayed by 30 minutes at the airport. Understanding what tasks you can complete in the amount of time you have available will make it much more likely that you’ll tackle one of them.

Energy Available

It’s a proven fact that your energy waxes and wanes throughout the day. Some tasks you need to complete will require a lot of mental focus and will only be possible when you have a high amount of energy. For instance, I find I have the most energy right after I go to the gym at lunch, so that’s when I tackle items from my lists that require my mind to be at its sharpest. Other times, such as nearing the end of the day, my energy is at its lowest and that’s when I tackle items that require less energy and focus like clearing my inbox.

Understand when you have the most energy, and pick items from your lists accordingly. You’ll get much more done.

Priority

Now, and only now, should you be looking at priority. Of course, nobody is suggesting that you ignore emergency situations that require you to ignore this advice and go and put a proverbial fire out. But when you truly have control over what you do, this is the approach you should take.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Everything you need in order to get started with your very own system to getting more done in your day, while lowering your stress levels as much as humanly possible. Go out and get it done!