Get It Out of Your Head

How many times have you heard the advice to empty your bladder frequently? It’s not a holding tank. Sound familiar? It cannot do it’s job when it’s too full and plus, it’s darn uncomfortable.

Turns out, the same goes for your brain. As our lives get more and more complicated simply by the society we live in, our brains are being taxed unnecessarily by the sheer amount of information we need to store. Just think about the numbers alone that are rattling away in your head. Phone numbers, addresses, social security, alarm codes, passwords, logins, etc. Add to that your appointments and commitments, daily tasks, birthdays, car maintenance, optimal heart rate, that book you really want to read, the idea for that new business and BANG! You’re going to explode. Mark my words.

One of the underlying principles of GTD is to get things out of your head and into a system where you can actually make some progress. Not only that, when we clear our minds of all the clattering details, the brain gets to work on it’s real job: creating and imagining.

Don’t waste your brain remembering things. Write them down. Buy the book, buy it now!

Keep Sacred Thy Calendar

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I had been working on some tips for getting things done (GTD for short). As summer is quickly approaching (as in – I have two whole kid-free days left) I’m going to try and be a little more intentional about how, when, where (maybe even why) I get things done. I’m going to try for GTD content on Mondays again, but don’t hold me to it. It’s summer after all!

I had a question back in April from a reader, Jennifer, about the Someday/Maybe list. First off, I apologize for taking this long to respond. But better late than never. Jennifer commented:

Lela, you’ve left us hanging with vague ideas of someday/maybes and no idea what to do with them! Does this mean someday will never come? Is this the secret to never having to grow old?

I suppose part of the reason I haven’t responded yet is that my personal Someday/Maybe list has been accumulating all kinds of fun items, but I haven’t dared to take a look at it yet. Let’s peek at a few of my line items:

• build a new website for girls hockey
• organize recipes
• learn to write white papers
• put together anthology of proposal stories
• create pet blog in the voice of my Italian Greyhound

See – I’ve got ideas! The beauty of this list for me is that I can have an idea, get it on my list, and forget about it, knowing that it’s captured somewhere. It won’t be lost to the winds. For me, this has been enough so far. And yes, seeing in black and white the vibrancy of all those great ideas prevents me from feeling old!

Here’s the kicker – for the Someday/Maybe list (for any of your lists) to really be effective, you’ve got to have a review schedule. This means that – depending on your list – once a day, week, month, a quarter. For the Someday/Maybe list, this practice serves to keep reminding your day-to-day self of your big and small ideas. Even if it’s just a quick look down the list, you’ve prodded your subconscious into working on the idea. At least that’s how I imagine it works.

So off I go to add ‘review Someday/Maybe list’ to my @Computer list. I’ll date it for the July 2nd, look at it then, and then change the date to August 2nd. And so on.

Someday… maybe… do it!

GTD For Moms and Other Homies: The Lists

If you’ve been following the tips for getting your life organized you’ve already cleaned out your email inbox, started organizing using the dump it, do it, delegate it, or defer it rule, and created both reference and tickler files. Have you done all that? Any of it? If you have questions or need help, I’m so here for you. This may be hard to beleive, but I actually LOVE to organize stuff. But I want these articles to be useful for YOU. I want you to get organized so you’ll feel better and have more time to do really fun stuff. Because as crazy as I am for organization, I’d still rather drink beer and eat nachos.

Also, if you think these posts are lame and you have no use for them, tell me that too. I’ll stop, really I will! But barring a revolt, I shall persist! Here’s the biggest revelation of all: the lists. This ain’t your ordinary To Do list!

GTD For Moms and Other Homies Tip #4: The Lists

First off, I hope I’ve made it clear that all this GTD stuff is not mine, but the brilliant ideas of one Mr. David Allen, whose book Getting Things Done I sucked down in one weekend.

List Love
I’ve always been a big list keeper. I love the satisfaction of marking things off my list as I go. And I know I’m not alone in the habit of occasionally writing something I’ve already completed on my list just for the sheer joy of drawing a line through it. That’s a bit sad to admit.

The problem with To Do lists is that you can get a little ambitious. That’s not a bad thing, except that you don’t always have enough time or energy to complete everything on the list. Then you end up either holding onto an evergrowing and sloppy looking lsit, or transfering everything onto a new list each day. As Mr. Allen points out, both scenarios are highly demoralizing because in both instances you’re basically telling yourself you’re a failure. You didn’t finish your list, you big loser.

A New Kind of List
So what’s so different about GTD lists? They are organized differently. Instead of having one big list of all the things you have to do, you keep several context specific lists. For example, you have calls to make, errands to run, etc. My work involves creative writing time, so I have a list of drafts to create. One very important list if you work with other people is the Waiting For list. I go into some detail about this over on Busness Pundit. Basically, it’s a running inventory of things you’re expecting from others. It’s invaluable in making sure things don’t slip through the cracks.

One of David Allen’s site bloggers has created a nifty Excel version. I use the second option, with separate tabs for all your contexts. In addition, I wrote a macro to sort by date, because I’m always changing due dates around to accommodate new priorities. And because I’m a geek.

The beauty of these lists is that you can tackle action items based on where you are, what you have access to, and what your energy level is. I may not have a lot of mental muscle in the evening, but I can knock off things like ‘look up current refinance rates’ or ‘remind Angie about fundraiser Friday’. That way all my little annoying tasks don’t build up. The whole idea is to empty your mind of nagging thoughts of all the stuff you have to do, confident that it’s all on the lists.

Someday…
One of the more fun lists is the Someday/Maybe list. Every time you think of something you’d like to do someday, maybe – add it to your list. So far mine has ‘orgnize recipes’, ‘learn to write white papers’, and ‘publish an anthology of stories about outsiders encountering the Bible Belt’.


Let me know if you try the lists and how they work for you. Next week I’ll talk about the difference between actions and projects, and how you can improve your odds of actually starting and maybe even finishing some of those Someday/Maybe dreams!

GTD For Moms and Other Homies: Tickler Files

Did you set up your reference files? You’re going to want to get that done before you start going through all your stuff to get super organized. The next step is easy. You’re going to set up a tickler file. This is where you’ll put things that need an action at some point in the future. Remember, you only want to handle it once from your inbox. You don’t want to say, Here’s that birthday card for Mom – I’ll send it next week, and then stick it back into the inbox. That’s how everything build up and then you have to start all over from scratch. Your tickler file is a holding space that lets you relax in the knowledge that when you need to send the card, your system will remind you.

GTD For Moms and Other Homies Tip #3

You can use anything you want for a tickler file, as long as it works. I use a three-ring notebook with pocket tabbed folders. I label them by day and file things accordingly. For example, Monday is bill paying day. When I check the mail, I open the bills, discard the envelopes and junk, and put the bill in the Monday folder. I don’t have to think about it again until Monday when I go online and pay the stack. This week I had to collect money for the hockey team’s year-end party. I knew I’d see the team manager tonight, so all the envelopes of money went into the Monday folder too.

In Getting Things Done, David Allen uses a 43 folder system – one folder for each month, one for each day of the month, 1-31. It’s a perpetual system where you rotate the folders so that you always have a month’s days folders in front of you. Anything that’s furthur out goes into the folder for that month, and you put it into a date folder as the month approaches. Say you find out about a great summer camp when you’re visiting family at Thanksgiving. They don’t take reservations until March. You could write yourself a note, or print their website information, then put it in your March folder to remind you when the time is right. Then you can forget about it, knowing your system is in place to remind you in the future.

This kind of system frees your mind from all the pesky things you need to do. Your powerful brain is now free to figure out more important things, like what kind of bathing suit is going to hide the effects of all those cakes you ate last Christmas!

Not started Getting Things Done yet? It’s never too late:

Getting Started
Reference Files

Check back next Monday for the most powerful tool of all – the list! This ain’t your ordinary To Do list. I promise!

GTD For Moms and Other Homies: Reference Files

Have you run out and bought Getting Things Done by David Allen yet? It’s okay if not, because I’m here again to give you more tips for getting more things done at home, work, or wherever with more focus and WAY less stress.

Last week I talked about how to get started by employing a simple method of deciding what to do with an item in your ‘inbox’. As Allen puts it: do it, delegate it, defer it, or drop it. But what if it’s something you just need to (or want to) hold onto? That’s where reference files come in.

GTD For Moms and Other Homies Tip #2:

You are going to need to set up reference files for all the pieces of paper that you need to either act on later, or just may need to refer to later on. Most of you probably already have some sort of filing system at home. In fact, the problem may be that you have too many places you ‘file’ things. You have important papers in the office, a kitchen drawer, under the bed, and on a bookshelf in the family room. Consider making a single filing system. Do not categorize it by areas of your life like school, financial, work. Just get one system going. Make it alphabetical and print up nice labels.

Do you have to use a label maker? I’ll say yes. It’s $20 well spent. There’s something deep in the human psyche that responds to neat typeface. Your labels tell your brain you’re serious.

As you go through your ‘inbox’ (which is really just anything that doesn’t belong in it’s place permanently) and you find something that you need to keep for future reference, make a file. Who cares if there’s only one piece of paper in the file? If it has a neatly labeled home, you will always know where to find it.

Do it. Go to the store. Buy a labeler and some manilla folders. This week as you find things that don’t belong, make a file. Try it and tell me it’s not fun!

GTD For Moms and Other Homies: Getting Started

I wrote last week about my new trick for keeping on top of email. That was nothing! I was so excited about the relief I experienced with an empty email inbox that I started poking around for more tips. I read stuff at sites like The David Allen Company and 43 Folders. It was not long before I was at Barnes and Noble buying the book, Getting Things Done, by David Allen. This guy’s got tricks on tricks. It’s not the lightest reading, unless you’re a total nerd (like me). I have been racing through it, clearing clutter from my office and my brain, and labeling like mad. I’m going to try to pass on some tips here on Mondays. That’s the plan. So here’s a little something to get you started.

GTD For Moms and Other Homies Tip #1

Start somewhere, anywhere. It could be a room, a bookshelf, a drawer. Determine how much to tackle by the amount of time you have available. Take absolutely everything out that doesn’t belong there permanently. Now take your pile and pick up one piece at a time and decide what to do with it. You only have four choices:

1. Throw it out.
2. Take care of it IF it will only take 2 minutes or less.
3. Give it to someone else.
4. Put it on a list. It’s now a project.

David Allen calls this something like dump it, do it, delegate it, defer it. You will be utterly shocked at how fast you can clean things out when you’re not obsessed with doing the whole thing at once. In other words, you don’t have to fear your office computer armoire (as I did!) because you’re not going to do anything that takes longer than 2 minutes for any one thing.

It is a miracle I got my entire office under control yesterday. I’m talking bookshelves, desk, armoire, and storage units, created files, etc. PLUS – I got all my projects and other items organized into very effective lists. But we’ll talk about that next week! Just do it – then come back here and comment for moral support!

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