Tag Archive for 'gtd'

GTD day two: Letting it all out

Published by Sarah Bray on February 11, 2008 in Cleaning and Organization. 4 Comments

[Just now joining us? Be sure to start at the beginning!]

Yesterday I explained the concept of psychic RAM. “All well and good,” you’re probably thinking. “But where do I start?” Good question.

I suggest you start with the things that are the most urgent…things that you need to remember now. Be sure to include things you are waiting on other people for and things you need to delegate…write down anything that you feel responsibility or concern for. Here’s where I started:

  • Decide on how to present MMLC’s photo gallery
  • Follow up with Carol about FAQs list
  • Follow up with Lynn on the site design that I sent Friday
  • Finish coding Jocelyn’s main page
  • Post Craigslist ad
  • Start emailing school districts for Teacher of the Year lists
  • Write tomorrow’s blog entry
  • Go to optometrist to get receipt
  • Do finances/finish paying the bills for the month
  • Direct Nolan to clean the playroom
  • Do laundry
  • Edit newsletter for Back to Him Adoption Ministries

Looks like your typical to-do list, right? It’s a good start, but it certainly doesn’t encompass everything that my brain needs to remember to do. Let’s try something different to spur our brains into spilling this stuff. How about listing all the Things I Keep Procrastinating On? Sounds good.

  • Clean old leftovers out of refrigerator
  • Clean old stuff out of the pantry
  • Clean out my embarrassingly messy car
  • Clean out my horrifyingly messy purse (hey, I’m sensing a pattern here)
  • Finish secret sewing project (can’t post about it yet…it’s a surprise!)
  • Finish writing the rest of Lilah’s thank you cards
  • Cut Nolan’s hair

We’re making some headway here…I feel better already. Now what about those things that you have to do every day? You cross them off just to put them right back on. Here we go:

  • Shower and get dressed (with two kids, I have to remind myself to do this!)
  • Do the dishes
  • Practice the piano
  • Read/comment on my favorite blogs (yes, even include things you like to do)
  • Wipe down the counter tops
  • Take out the trash/recycling
  • Make dinner
  • Read the paper

What about things lurking in my email and on various calendars and pieces of paper?

  • Reply to JoeAnn
  • Write thank you card to the kids’ grandparents and great-grandma
  • Decide on a theme for Nolan’s birthday party
  • Decide if we are going out of town for Easter
  • Post discussion questions for my group
  • Put Devon’s jewelry show on calendar
  • Order Lynn’s hosting package and domain name

I think you get the idea. Go ahead and make your list as complete as possible. We will continue digging around over the next day or so to make sure that you’ve got everything. And I can’t stress this enough…getting every single thing down is the key to making this work. You have to be able to completely trust this system that you’re creating, or your brain will keep processing all of your “stuff” in an effort to keep from forgetting.

GTD day three: Got it all down yet? >>

GTD day one: Understanding “psychic RAM”

Published by Sarah Bray on February 10, 2008 in Cleaning and Organization. 4 Comments

[Here we go…day one! Aren’t you excited? If you’re just starting with us, be sure to start at the beginning. And by the way, don’t be intimidated by the length of this post. It might take a minute for your brain to wrap around what we’re doing here, but once we get started, I promise it will make a lot of sense!]

One of the most basic principles of the Getting Things Done system is the concept of what Allen calls “psychic RAM.”1 It’s not as new-age as it sounds. Basically, we take in all of this “stuff” every day — more stuff than we can possibly process at one time. We see the pile of laundry and think, “oh, I need to do laundry.” We see that flea market find from a year ago and think, “I definitely need to paint that chair.” We see that email from our boss and think “I need to get working on that project.” In this way, we are constantly making commitments to ourselves, whether formally or informally.

These are natural things. They’re not bad. But the problem is, our brains are not equipped to remember all of this stuff. It wants to, but it’s very inefficient at it. And when we don’t have a system to handle it all, our brains keep working on it in the background, processing it over and over again until it’s taken care of.

This principle is demonstrated in the simple test-taking skill that you’ve probably heard a dozen times — teachers tell you that if you find a question you don’t know, skip it. Your brain will be working on the answer in the background while you answer other questions. Psychic RAM.

In our practical, every day lives, this can be a problem because of the sheer amount of stuff that we are reminded that we need to handle daily. Not only are our brains inefficient at handling this volume, but it creates a vaguely uncomfortable feeling of stress that we can’t easily define. We just know we have a lot to do, and we’re afraid of forgetting some of it.

Now some people try and remedy this by using organizers or planners of some sort. This is a good thing. However, unless we have a system of capturing ALL of the “stuff” that comes at us every day, we are still going to have that mild feeling that something is going to fall through the cracks. If we can’t completely trust our systems, then we still have anxiety. We can’t just capture our “work stuff” or our “home stuff” or our “kid stuff.” It’s all part of our lives; therefore, we need to have a handle on all of it.

Not surprisingly then, the first step is to capture all of those commitments that we’ve made to ourselves. Take a loose blank sheet of paper, and start to make a list. Do not try to organize it right now. Just let everything come out. You might fill three sheets of paper. You might fill ten. The important thing is to capture it all — even the seemingly small, insignificant things.

As you might imagine, this is going to take some time. We are going to be doing this over the next several days, so don’t feel pressured to get it all right now. You are going to need to carry that list around with you everywhere while we empty our minds of the stuff that we’ve been holding in them for so long. Inevitably, you are going to see things that remind you of other commitments that you have made to yourself, and you will want to write them down.

Try not to make up new commitments arbitrarily, but if you see something that needs to be done (even if you don’t think YOU’RE the one who needs to do it — very important) write it down. Leave no stone unturned. It’s time to free up your RAM for more important things.

GTD day two: Letting it all out >>

  1. I told you this system was originally intended for nerdy, tech-y people. If you’re not one of them, RAM stands for the Random Access Memory in your computer. When your computer is making all of those funny grinding noises, it’s actually processing information stored in its RAM. That’s the simple version anyway. [↩]

Getting Things Done: What you’ll need to get started

Published by Sarah Bray on February 9, 2008 in Cleaning and Organization. 1 Comment

Now before we jump in to the good stuff, we need to get our materials together. Luckily, none of this is complicated. In fact, I’m sure you have everything you need lying around the house. If not, improvise. You will need:

  • Small notebook - I’m sure you’ve got several of these stashed around the house, and now’s the perfect time to use one of them. Keep in mind that this little baby is going to be your workhorse. If you’re going to be afraid of messing it up, get a different one. I’m all for trendy, cute stuff, but you’ve got to be able to get up close and personal with this thing: chicken scratch and all.
  • 3 ring binder - I got some seriously cute ones at Wal-Mart for cheap, cheap, cheap. I didn’t buy them for this purpose, though. They were already laying around the house. Use what you have.
  • Loose notebook paper - College-ruled is my favorite, but any kind will do. You can even get the cute colored stuff if you feel especially girlie.
  • Scrap paper - My favorite thing to use is 3×5 cards cut in half. That’s about the size you’ll need. This is a great way to re-use some of that junk mail that pours in your mailbox every day. Just cut the paper to relatively the same size, and use the back. You will need a good batch of these, so don’t be shy.
  • Box - Any medium-sized box will do. You’ll be tossing your little pieces of scrap paper in it, so it doesn’t need to be large. I have a treasure box that someone painted for me when I was a kid, and I use that.
  • Wall calendar - You probably already have one, and if you don’t, then you can get one right now for about 20 cents at Michaels if they haven’t run out. You do not need a pocket calendar or a PDA with this system. Your CAN use one of those in place of the notebook I mentioned earlier, but I don’t recommend it (I’ll get more into that later.)
  • Dividers (optional, but recommended) - These are for the three-ring binder. I would get at least five.
  • Sheet protectors (optional) - If you’re the kind of person that likes to have things “just so,” then sheet protectors are probably going to make you very happy.

That’s it! Now gather your supplies, and tomorrow I’ll start giving you the big picture. Oooh…I can’t wait! See, I told you I was a dork. This stuff gets me majorly excited. :)

Day one: Understanding psychic RAM >>

Friday’s challenge: Get ready to love me

Published by Sarah Bray on February 8, 2008 in Cleaning and Organization and Weekly Challenge. 3 Comments

I’ve mentioned several times before that I have a system. I love my system. My system makes it possible for me to live in the moment, to be free from the anxiety of having too much to do, and to be able to say no to things. It’s so beautifully simple, but it does take a little time to implement. It’s the thoughtfulness that you put into your life and the things that you need/want to do that makes it work so well.

I would like to take credit for my system, but I really can’t. David Allen wrote a book called Getting Things Done, and so many people have elaborated on it that there’s no lack of information out there. The problem is this: most (if not all) of that information is for nerds. I mean computer-hacking, pocket-protecting nerds. I am, unfortunately, a card-carrying member.

But just because you’re not doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get to reap all of the benefits of a stress-free, productive life. You need to Get Things Done, too, right? I mean, gosh…we keepers of the home do more than anyone out there. I challenge anyone to refute it. We not only run our homes in a way that cares for everyone who we let inside, we have jobs, children, passions, and goals. If we’re lucky, some of these things overlap. We are truly a phenomenal bunch of people.

But sometimes? We don’t feel like it. We know that we can’t squeeze an ounce more into our days, yet we have this strange persistent feeling of guilt that permeates every minute. Like maybe we’re not doing enough. Or maybe we’re not doing what we “should” be doing. It makes us tired and worn out and cranky.

And that realization makes ME cranky. We are AWESOME, gosh darn it. We don’t need to feel this way. We are hard workers. We are selfless (umm…I’m sure you are, at least.) We have cosmic multi-tasking abilities. It is a tragedy that we often go through the day feeling like none of it is enough. And when you do rest, it’s like you can’t really rest. You’re just thinking about what you have to do when your break is over (I know some of you are saying, “Break?! What break? Where’s the break?” :D ).

If there is one thing that I can promise with this system, it is this: after you complete the thorough analysis that we’ll go through together, you will feel a strange peace come over you. You will know that what you are doing Right Now is exactly what you should be doing. Your anxious, sporadic thoughts of the things that are coming up next will slowly start to fade away. You won’t think about them because you won’t need to.

You don’t need fancy equipment or computer software. We’ll go through what you DO need tomorrow. Anyone can do this. I hope that you’ll join us on this journey. I can confidently say it’s going to change your life.

What you’ll need to get started >>