A Very Organized Week
Posted by Chris
Well, had many passing thoughts this week that I felt like reaching over & grabbing my laptop & blogging about, but never seemed to make it to the top of the priorities list.
What I have been doing, however, is getting organized - and I mean really organized. I've been looking for a good solution/system to handling some of the new work loads that I have now that I've switched 100% over to Threads/LifeWay Young Adult work & misc web design needs at LifeWay. All of a sudden I have started having to have many deadlines, projects to manage, etc. and I was doing a pretty poor job of handling it all. I missed some deadlines (none that were too important, thankfully) and just generally was walking around feeling stressed that I was going to miss more important details/dates if I didn't get a handle on my work.
Started asking around at work & found that there was a good number of people recommending Getting Things Done by David Allen. So, I stopped by the bookstore & picked up a copy a week ago yesterday.
That's when the fun began... I read the first few chapters over the weekend. I knew I was going to like Getting Things Done (GTD) because it was really detailed and practical (What can I say? I'm a details guy!). Monday was spent catching up and then I blocked Tuesday off to 'working the system.'
The first step in the GTD process is 'Collection' - gathering your tasks, projects, errands, things to remember, etc. - basically anything you need to either remember or do something about. Allen makes no distinction between "work" and "home." He says that as long as there is something that needs to change from what it is now - it's work. Period.
So I spent all day Tuesday gathering my thoughts. Cleaned my office, thoroughly (including file cabinets & shelves). I printed out all my emails - both from my Gmail & from LifeWay. I gathered 'to dos' I was attempting to keep up with from several places. I went through meeting notebooks, etc. and gathered notes I had taken. I wound up throwing a bunch of stuff away, which is good & will help me stay on top of the things that really mattered.
I then took my stack (and it was definitely a 'stack') and started to process it all: set things aside to file if they were notes to be remembered; did things if they could be done quickly; delegated things that were dependent on someone else doing something; etc. After processing, I started organizing (we're on day two of the process at this point). Then after organizing Allen does a good job of helping you know how to work the new system to stay on top of everything.
I could go into a lot more detail, but the bottom line is that I'm feeling very much on top of things now and like the GTD system. It took most of my week (which is one reason nothing has been posted here), but it is going to have big paybacks, I believe.
I'd highly recommend the book to anyone wanting some organization on what they have to get done. It is really good.
What I have been doing, however, is getting organized - and I mean really organized. I've been looking for a good solution/system to handling some of the new work loads that I have now that I've switched 100% over to Threads/LifeWay Young Adult work & misc web design needs at LifeWay. All of a sudden I have started having to have many deadlines, projects to manage, etc. and I was doing a pretty poor job of handling it all. I missed some deadlines (none that were too important, thankfully) and just generally was walking around feeling stressed that I was going to miss more important details/dates if I didn't get a handle on my work.
Started asking around at work & found that there was a good number of people recommending Getting Things Done by David Allen. So, I stopped by the bookstore & picked up a copy a week ago yesterday.
That's when the fun began... I read the first few chapters over the weekend. I knew I was going to like Getting Things Done (GTD) because it was really detailed and practical (What can I say? I'm a details guy!). Monday was spent catching up and then I blocked Tuesday off to 'working the system.'
The first step in the GTD process is 'Collection' - gathering your tasks, projects, errands, things to remember, etc. - basically anything you need to either remember or do something about. Allen makes no distinction between "work" and "home." He says that as long as there is something that needs to change from what it is now - it's work. Period.
So I spent all day Tuesday gathering my thoughts. Cleaned my office, thoroughly (including file cabinets & shelves). I printed out all my emails - both from my Gmail & from LifeWay. I gathered 'to dos' I was attempting to keep up with from several places. I went through meeting notebooks, etc. and gathered notes I had taken. I wound up throwing a bunch of stuff away, which is good & will help me stay on top of the things that really mattered.
I then took my stack (and it was definitely a 'stack') and started to process it all: set things aside to file if they were notes to be remembered; did things if they could be done quickly; delegated things that were dependent on someone else doing something; etc. After processing, I started organizing (we're on day two of the process at this point). Then after organizing Allen does a good job of helping you know how to work the new system to stay on top of everything.
I could go into a lot more detail, but the bottom line is that I'm feeling very much on top of things now and like the GTD system. It took most of my week (which is one reason nothing has been posted here), but it is going to have big paybacks, I believe.
I'd highly recommend the book to anyone wanting some organization on what they have to get done. It is really good.
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