[ source ]This time it's the graduate package, or "level two" of getting productive. I'm assuming you've found the first part helpful, have started adopting most of the practices there and are feeling re-energized and ready to cram more stuff into your life... or just simply have more time for yourself to stare out the window, it's up to you.
Now we're getting a little more GTD'd although I deviate often from the strict rules of Getting Things Done as laid out by the master. A lot of the stuff below builds on part one in more details, but now it's also more important to do "all or nothing" since if you only, for example, create a lot of action items when you process your email inbox, but never go back to that list you could actually be worse off.
The goal of this all is not to spend all your time managing your time (what an oxymoron...) but rather to reach the nirvana of being completely on top of things; getting more meaningful things done and always knowing what's going on in your life, all while working less and enjoying life more, spending more time with your family and friends and truly realizing that time is the most precious thing there is. Really.
Turn inbound stuff into action items
No matter what your profession is or how you spend your time, we all have inbound stuff coming at us all the time. Emails about that presentation you need to finish asap, bank account overviews in the mail, phonecalls from friends about getting together for lunch, voicemails from your mom asking why you haven't called this week, spouses asking to change the light bulb in the living room... wow. It's easy to just dodge most of these things and still somhow just float along. But there's always something nagging when you do that. That's mental cycles you don't want to waste like that. So the key is to process these inbound items and turn them into action items (or toss away, but make that a conscious decision). Avoid using your memory at all cost, so write everything down!Shard your action item list
Your action list will explode, expect it to easily have hundreds of items, and understand that it's normal. The list will never disappear, you finish one thing and two more get added, and it's normal. So you have to create contexts and projects, and label each action item accordingly. The context is where you expect to do that action item (computer, phone, errands, etc), and the project is a logical clustering of related action items. And like action items, it's ok to have lots of projects; in fact, it's better to have more specific projects that actually finish ("change all light bulbs in the living room") than vague ones that never end ("maintain stuff at home") although you'll probably have some of both.Plan the week, prune the list
Now that you have your list of things to do figured out (right?) you need to get it into action. Every Monday morning (or Sunday night, or whenever you want, just be consistent) you should go through all things on your list of action items and decide which ones you want to get done this week. This is the key step in going from "lots of stuff", i.e. your hundreds of action items, to "I will do these now", i.e. your next action items for the week. Label these action items as such and feel good that you've decided what to do, and what not to do... this week. Just be careful not to put too much as next action items; just be realistic and rest assured that another week will follow with more next action items to be done.Live in the list, not your inbox
You have your list, you've picked the ones you want to focus on for the week, and feel confident that those are the ones that matter the most. It's time to actually do those things. So focus on using the list to figure out what you should be doing, not your email inbox or your Facebook homepage. Pick things according to your context (e.g. in front of your computer? pick next actions from the computer list) and just do them. You'll be surprised how effective this is, and how much more productive it is than checking email.Be specific...
...in your projects, action items and your reviews. It's better to have "figure out what kind of light bulbs", "buy light bulbs", "change the bulbs" as part of the "change light bulbs in living room" project than a single "change light bulbs" action item (which, btw, you'll never actually do, because it's in the "home" context, but you really need to buy the bulbs first but since you don't have an action item to actually buy them, this never gets done...)Be proactive
Finally, question everything that's thrown at you, everything on your list, be willing to throw things out and make sure everything you do is worth your time according to you. That last part is critical, never forget it.That's it. Do it and live happily ever after!
- Gummi
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