Getting Things Done: Week 2 Redux

Getting Things Done: Week 2- Purpose and overview of the system of Getting Things Done

Purpose: Life, one may imagine, used to be simpler. In the past, one's activities were dictated to a large degree by time and location. If you had work to do, it was probably on the farm or in the factory and it had to be done either during daylight or else during your shift. Very few of us now, however, have jobs that fit so neatly into a 9 to 5 model where we can leave our labor behind at the end of the day. Rather, we have projects and obligations which could absorb our attention indefinitely without ever coming to a state of perfection. One thing this means is that we have a lot on our minds. Not just work, mind you, but all our obligations. In GTD, David Allen describes work as "anything that you want or need to be different than it currently is." This is a useful definition, in that it reminds us that if we're hungry, we're going to have to do work to change that. If we're not as close as we'd like to be with our friends or family, we're going to have to do work. Anything we want to change is going to require some degree of work. But as our lives become more complicated, with more and more demands being placed upon us, how do we keep up?
Getting Things Done is based on two objectives:

1. Capture everything that you need to get done in a “trusted system” outside of your head.

2. Create “next actions” for every single input in your life.

The reason we must capture everything in a "trusted system" is in order to keep us from having to think about it. Allen uses the metaphor of RAM in a computer. The more programs you have running, the more RAM is used up in order to keep everything functioning. We all also know the other thing that happens when you have too many programs running--the computer begins to function very slowly and things may ultimately start to crash. In the same way, if we allow our minds to become filled with ideas and obligations, our minds will cease to function as quickly and efficiently as we'd like them to. If you're busy remembering the four errands you have to run today, your attention cannot truly be focused on the task at hand or the person sitting right in front of you.
The "trusted system" described by Allen in GTD allows you to accept input (whether that's phone calls, emails, conversations, grocery lists, or whatever) without wasting brain power on those things. They go into the system where you know they're safely recorded and so you can forget about them and be fully present in whatever you're doing.

The reason for creating "next actions" is, quite simply" to make sure that if we're going to do something we actually know what it is that we have to do. It's amazing how much easier it is to complete a task when you know what it is. You might consider the example of planning a friend's surprise party. "Plan surprise party" is not an action, it's a project, or series of interrelated actions. Where on earth would you begin? Well, for this example, writing down a list of people to invite might be the "next action" for the party, or contacting your friend to find out what nights he or she is free. It's worth noting that next actions are always physical actions. Simply thinking about something is not a next action, but writing down a list of ideas is.

Overview: The system outlined in Getting Things Done will teach us how to get the many things cluttering our minds out of our heads and into a system where we can feel confident that the most important things all get done. This will leave us free to devote our full attention and effort to the things in our lives that really matter.

I'm going to put the homework and a few notes on tonight's discussion in the comments section to keep everything nice and orderly, so be sure to check them out.