Anecdotally Speaking

The superfluous, a very necessary thing. --voltaire

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

 

Getting Things Done, Again

If anyone is looking for evidence that I am certifiable then let me oblige. I have incontrovertible proof that I am loosing it. Let me explain.

An ongoing effort of mine lately has been looking for a way to improve my life by becoming more organized. In evaluating the perpetual backlog of onerous paperwork I amass so easily about me, my personal coach pointed out that I tend to define the hideous paperwork in my life with negative terms. Am I that transparent?

The point being that people are more likely to do tasks that they see as positive and postpone tasks that they see as negative. It makes sense. He suggested that if I could frame ghastly paperwork in a more positive way, turn it around, say, and make it into an adventure, I would be less likely to procrastinate and more likely to get it done.

So, this past week I was looking for a way to put a positive spin on doing dreadful paperwork. A very interesting blog caught my eye. It is called Mindmap of "Getting Things Done" by David Allen, and it has this cool diagram created by some software by a kidney doctor and used by him to organize his thinking. This caught my eye, of coarse, because I am very visual, and I am thinking maybe I can make unbearable paperwork into an adventure with this kind of a visual Mindmap organizing tool thing.

This blog had a link to the book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen, which really looked like it was right up my ally, so much so that I ordered a copy.

Still on the lookout for ways to make repulsive paperwork appealing, I found another blog that caught my eye latter in the week. Dr. Maria on her blog "intueri: to contemplate" puts up a post where she mentions that she increased her productivity by shifting how she measures her tasks. Rather than looking at a task as a project and pursuing tasks by project, she now measures tasks in units of time. The switch is working very well for her. I am thinking that since I look at tasks as projects, maybe the switch would be just the thing I need too.

She refers to a thing called GTD, or G.etting T.hings D.one. I clicked the GTD link and it takes me to a wikipedia website that explains this really cool system of organizing things, taken from this book by David Allen which really looked like it was right up my ally, so much so that I ordered a copy!

But wait, you say, didn't I already order a copy of that book? You noticed, huh? Well, I didn't notice, not until both books, both identical books came in the mail, oops. Can you believe it? I guess I really do need to get organized. Absolutely amazing. Nothing to be said about it really. I started reading one of them. It really is pretty good and should be good for me, hmmm.

I certainly must be loosing it. If someone wants to call the guys from the loony bin to come haul me away, I would consider it an act of kindness. Thanks.

Comments:
I certainly hope the book was worth it.

I certainly hope the book was worth it.

(insert laugh here)
 
For your interest, I've updated the map and included a printable PDF file. The new link is here.
 
Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]





<< Home

Archives

December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]