A Procrastinator's Guide to Getting Things Done

So there we are, a week into a new job and my head is buzzing with trying to get a hang of all the things that have been done, will need doing (probably by me) and may be nice to do once I get that far into the job. If you wonder what I'm doing - that is a fair question and this post may hopefully illuminate a few things or then not, as the case may be. More on that later as I get around to updating my profile page on this blog and all that jazz. Back to this post - I thought that starting afresh with a new job would be a brilliant opportunity to start a crash course into the 'Getting Things Done' methodology avidly debated and evangelised the web over and originally devised by David Allen in a book bearing the same name. Doubtless this guy's made it big and it amuses me that he's done it simply by devising a system that supposedly is the enemy of all procrastinators: a tool to get stuff done.

My musings aside, new job - plenty to get my head around so plenty of potential opportunities to feel anxious and stressed about all the things that need doing - I feel like a textbook candidate for the methodology so I shall take you on a journey of my findings so far.

Apparently the great enemy to our peace of mind is collectively defined as 'stuff' -  anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn’t belong where it is, but for which you haven’t yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step. [pg. 17]. Sounds fair enough and if you are anything like me your mind is a zoo of ideas that like to wander up and down the pathways of your mind, collide with each other, create strange new connections and generally think about anything and everything all at the same time. The difference is of course that over the years I have got quite used to this and certainly, as things became more predictable in my old job - I also learned the ebb and flow of demand, tasks, deliverables and that sort of thing. My coping mechanisms weren't very elaborate, merely a diary with a page devoted for each day, so I could keep a running to-do list - things I would get done I would cross out and things pending would get moved to the next day. Not too complicated and more over, quite beautiful in its simplicity.

However, a new situation prompted potentially changing this simplicity, because I have been inundated with project outlines, time-lines, facts, figures, contacts, FYIs and all that sort of thing and because I'm still new to it all, I struggle to decipher which of the information is pivotal to me right now and what is more 'nice to know' and something I can refer to later. So how does Getting Things Done work then? Quite simply:

1. identify all the stuff in your life that isn’t in the right place (close all open loops)
2. get rid of the stuff that isn’t yours or you don’t need right now
3. create a right place that you trust and that supports your working style and values
4. put your stuff in the right place, consistently
5. do your stuff in a way that honours your time, your energy, and the context of any given moment
6. iterate and re-factor mercilessly

Sounds straight forward enough, but then there is an awful lot of talk about folders and in-boxes and categorising stuff - something which the geeky side of me didn't quite warm to. Instead, there are a number of solutions to this same dilemma available in program-form on the web, so as to allow for the same recording and categorising of information, but devoid of all the papers. I'll get back to those in a moment. To recap on how the system works MineZone Wiki have created an excellent set of notes from the book, summarising the methodology in beautiful simplicity:

1. collect things that command our attention (anything personal or professional, big or little, that you think should be different than it currently is and that you have any level of internal commitment to changing)
   1. get it all out of your head
   2. minimize your collection buckets
      • physical in-basket
      • writing paper and pads
      • electronic note taking
      • auditory capture (answering machines, voicemail, dictating equipment)
      • email
   3. empty the buckets regularly
2. process what they mean and what to do about them
   1. what is it?
   2. is it actionable?  YES or NO
      • No
        1. trash
        2. incubate
           1. someday/maybe list
           2. tickler file (suspended or follow-on file; a 3D calendar)
              • 43 folders:
                • 31 Daily Files
                • 12 Monthly Files
                • Tomorrow's Date at the front
        3. reference (reference should be information that can be easily referred to when needed)
      • Yes
        1. What is the next action?
           • do it
           • delegate it
           • defer it
           • Project (anything requiring more than one step to accomplish the desired outcome)
        2. actionable tracking
           1. list of projects
           2. storage or files for project plans and materials
           3. calendar (time specific actions [appointments], day specific actions, day specific information)
           4. list of reminders of next actions
           5. a list of reminders of things you're waiting for (only review as often as they have to be in order to stop wondering about them)
3. organise the results
4. review the options
5. do
   1. choosing actions in the moment
      1. context
      2. time available
      3. energy available
      4. priority

Six Level Model for Reviewing Your Own Work

1. current actions
2. current projects
3. areas of responsibility
4. 1-2 year goals
5. 3-5 year vision
6. big picture view

• projects: clearly defined outcomes and the next actions to move them towards closure
• horizontal focus: reminders placed in a trusted system that is reviewed regularly
• vertical focus: informal back of the envelope planning

Five Steps to Accomplish Any Task (Project Planning)

1. defining purpose and principles
2. outcome visioning
3. brainstorming
4. organizing
5. identifying next actions

Five Phases of Natural Planning Techniques

1. purpose / guiding principles (Why are we doing this?)
2. mission / vision / goals / sucessful outcome (What would wild success look, sound, or feel like?)
3. brainstorming (How would we accomplish it?)
   1. view the project from beyond the completion date
   2. envision wild success (suspend "Yeah, but. . .")
   3. capture features, aspects, and qualities you imagine in place
4. organizing (identify components, subcomponents, sequences, events, and/or priorities; what must occur and in what order? When do we do these things?)
5. next actions (Where do we start?)

"If the project is off your mind, your planning is sufficient. If it's still on your mind, keep applying the model until it's clear."

Sounds straight-forward enough and as the picture of everything going on gets clearer I'm sure I can apply this system to all of it. Right now. however, I'm in a situation where many descriptions of things going on are things I have received from other people and relying on notes seldom gives the complete picture. Thus it feels a bit odd or let's say, uncomfortable, to be putting in projects in the plan above, because they don't feel completely 'real' yet. This will no doubt change as I gather greater insights to everything, but equally - the sentiments mentioned above are things that are making my use of on-line Wikipedia-style Getting Things Done systems slightly cumbersome. I would like to scribble in the corners of things in an informal way, but of course with Wikis you can't - you can of course edit later, but typing feels so much more formal than just scribbles.

Anyhow - I have done some investigations into what systems work best and there are a range of solutions out there. My investigations started with TiddlyWiki, which if you are familiar with Wikipedia is basically your own portable, editable Wikipage. You can save the Tiddlywiki on a USB stick and use it as a repository for ideas, information, contacts or even like a journal, cataloguing things on a day-to-day basis. It takes some learning to get used to initially, but it is very flexible and more importantly, it scales to your needs so many have begun using it as the backbone for their websites etc. Of course as you delve into the Wikiexperience, you soon realise that you may have forgotten your USB stick and thus your Tiddlywiki, so having an on-line version would be very handy.  Organisations like TiddlySpot offer the familiar Tiddlywiki interface, but hosted online - giving you the choice to sync things on-line and off-line so you always have the most recent version to hand.

Sounds simple enough, but initially I struggled with password-protecting the site and limiting access to it - you get given a password, but this is only used for saving changes to the Wiki - anyone can come and read your notes if you store them on-line. However, thanks to some helpful comments on this blog, I have now learned that if you go to the Tiddlyspot FAQ section - they explain how to use the newly added control panel feature to block all unwanted access - which is great news!

Peanut Butter Wiki or PB Wiki for short, also give you a password protected site - but their trade-off is less choice of types of Wikis and interfaces compared to say, Tiddlyspot. What a pain in the neck. So what did I end up doing in the end? Well, there is a version of TiddlyWiki, by Simon Baird, called MonkeyGTD which is a happy marriage of the best of both worlds - the flexibility and beauty of TiddlyWiki, but combined with the ruthless efficiency of the Getting Things Done - thinking. Hence a number of built-in scripts for time, reminders, do next, done, waiting and that sort of thing - a great way of creating a digital dumping ground for all that stuff cluttering your mind.

You can find MonkeyGTD on Tiddlyspot and have it hosted on-line for free, and now password protected, or download the MonkeyGTD onto the USB stick and have it living there permanently.
I'm sure you have deduced I'm a total anorak from this post, and you are probably right - but then I must be a happier-than-average anorak as it means I can think about a lot of stuff without being unduly daunted by it all. Procrastinating about doing things has become harder too.

Some links:
GTD Tools for PC and Mac
Blinklist GTD + Wiki
MonkeyGTD
PB Wiki

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