How to Get Things Done

Capture and document the things that you are strugglng with.
This might be a project which maybe little or big, easy or difficult that you need to deal with all the time. Jot down information you want to remember, your dreams, the things you want to do and your future plans. This will clear the brain from the need to store and recall all the things, people, events, cues and details you need to recall. Keeping a journal will be helpful in storing all these as they may come in handy later on.

Clarify and clean your list.
After capturing process, go through each item and determine which entries requires immediate action or attention of which one can be phase in or put off. Continue to write new ideas that come your way.

Organize to have control
It simply means making sure you can find what you need when you need it. Knowing where to find your stuff.

Reflect of deflect failure. Reflecting is spending ample time to make sure things haven't fallen by the wayside or through the cracks. It is ensuring that you are on the right track with your project and that your data storage and management hasn't fallen apart. You have to review, review and review every step of the way.

Engage both heart and mind. In doing your project , it is clear that you are not doing this in a vacuum. You engage and affect other poeple as you perform all that, and as the series of action moves, you should consider the impact you create when you reflect on the choices you're making. A key part of the engagement process is putting to heart the true core values of your life. Distinguish the essential from non essential. It makes you manage the elements of control you have over your time with more effectiveness and efficiency.

Questions that will Guide you
What is your next step?
Whatever fire needs to be put out at the moment but at other times, the choice is profound.

What projects should give you immediate action?
It depends on the relative importance of the project. How you define the relative importance of the actions you have to take relies on your own "of the moment" perspective.

What facets of your life need to be protected?
Two things come into play here focus and responsibility. What are your areas of focus? What is you priority?


What do you want to achieve with your life? Assess what you have accomplished in the last 10 or 20 years of your life. Was it too much or too little? Was it extraordinary or commonplace? What mark are you going to leave in the world.

What and how much else can you achieve? What do you want to be written on your epitaph. Beyond your life goals, purpose and principles that will put you in the place where you actually want to be.

From the Book Making It All Work by David Allen