Getting Things Done

Many people today take on more projects than they can handle, David Allen argues, thereby increasing their stress. Continual change and fuzzy boundaries hamper many projects, he explains, so you may not be sure when you’ve even finished a job. This lack of borders creates added work and spurs unnecessary, frequent memos and discussions. “If it’s on your mind,” the author writes, “your mind isn’t clear.”

Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection bucket, that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through.David Allen

An author, lecturer and founder of his own management consulting, coaching, and training company, Allen has another bestseller to his credit, Ready for Anything. He is a popular speaker on personal and organizational effectiveness. He explains that to accomplish your projects effectively and efficiently, you need to reach two goals. First, capture everything you need to do, now or in the future, in a logical, organized, reliable system that records everything outside your memory, so you don’t have to think about these issues until you are ready. Second, discipline yourself to make advance decisions about how much information and instruction you need to facilitate planning what you’re doing and to change plans as necessary.