海角大神

This is the fourth entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16.

, we discussed how exactly to plan a project and fit it into the context of focusing entirely on the next specific action. Prior to that, we of a task and information management workflow (collect, process, organize, review, do).

But how does all of this work in a coherent system? This chapter 鈥� and the five that follow 鈥� break it all down into incredibly simple steps. Along the way, I鈥檒l show you (often visually) how exactly I implement all of this stuff.

Right off the bat, though, Allen makes the point that implementing such a system is a lot about 鈥渢ricks.鈥� On page 85:

If you鈥檙e not sure you鈥檙e committed to an all-out implementation of these methods, let me assure you that a lot of the value people get from this material is good 鈥渢ricks.鈥� Sometimes just one good trick can make it worthwhile to range through this information.

If it all sounds too overwhelming, just focus on picking out the specific bits that work for you.

I鈥檒l say this from my own experience. Switching over to this system as a whole takes quite a bit of time, and it also takes some maintenance time as you go along. What I鈥檝e found, though, is that the time it saves you every single day is tremendous.

Without this system, I would have never been able to launch The Simple Dollar. I just would have never had time for it. I wouldn鈥檛 have the time I have each day to spend with my family. I wouldn鈥檛 be able to juggle the fifty different activities I鈥檓 involved in and the fifty different interests I have. It just wouldn鈥檛 work 鈥� I wouldn鈥檛 have the time.

So, let鈥檚 walk through what you need to get started one step at a time.

Time
I鈥檒l be blunt. If you want to set this up in your life, the best way to do it is to simply set aside a whole weekend 鈥� or two to three full weekdays 鈥� to do it. For many people, it鈥檚 tricky to find that kind of a block of time, but it鈥檚 really worth it. In Allen鈥檚 words (p. 87):

I recommend that you create a block of time to initialize this process and prepare a workstation with the appropriate space, furniture, and tools. [...] An ideal time fram for most people is two whole days, back to back. (Don鈥檛 be put off by that if you don鈥檛 have that long to spend, though: doing any of the activities I suggest will be useful, no matter how much or how little time you devote to them. [...]).

For me, the time invested wasn鈥檛 spent just getting a 鈥渟ystem鈥� set up, it was getting a bunch of the mental backlog of things I had to do done so that the system wouldn鈥檛 immediately fall apart. I wound up spending maybe half a day getting the system itself ready, then the next day and a half mostly tackling tasks that had just built up over time: going through my accumulated papers and tossing the trash and filing the stuff that needed to be kept, taking care of lots of miscellaneous tasks in my life, coming up with plans for some of the big projects in my mind, and so on.

The reason for this will be addressed in more detail in the next article, but one big portion of 鈥渟tarting up鈥� is simply doing a brain dump. You just write down everything that鈥檚 on your mind 鈥� all of the stuff you鈥檙e thinking about doing 鈥� and then you process that big list of stuff. For many of those items, that simply means doing it.

So, in the end, a weekend spent getting GTD set up is a weekend getting a lot of the stuff built up over time finished.

Space
You have to have a bit of room to get started, too. You鈥檒l need just a bit of space, but it鈥檚 space that you should devote to this. A small table with room to write and space for a basket will suffice. From page 89:

A functional work space is critical. If you don鈥檛 already have a dedicated work space and in-basket, get them now. That goes for students, homemakers, and retirees, too. Everyone must have a physical locus of control from which to deal with everything else.

If you have a desk at home that catches the mail, that鈥檚 a perfect place for this. Most of us have such a place in our home 鈥� a little corner table that serves as a desk or something like that. Often, it has a computer on it. All you need space for is a place to write and an inbox.

Stuff
Allen suggests a long (unnecessarily long, in my opinion) list of supplies you鈥檒l need to pull off his full system. From page 92:

Let鈥檚 assume you鈥檙e starting from scratch. In addition to a desktop work space, you鈥檒l need:
= Paper-holding trays (at least three)
= A stack of plain letter-size paper
= A pen/pencil
= Post-its
= Paper clips
= Binder clips
= A stapler and staples
= Scotch tape
= Rubber bands
= An automatic labeler
= File folders
= A calendar
= Wastebasket/recycling bin

That seems like quite a list 鈥� until you realize that most people already have at least some of this stuff lying around their home. Even better, you can often find a lot of this stuff on sale at various places if you look around 鈥� and, to tell the truth, you don鈥檛 really need at least some of it.

Here鈥檚 a walkthrough of the stuff on this list I actually use.

Paper-holding trays I actually have three of these, two of which you can see in the picture above. One is an 鈥渋nbox,鈥� one is a 鈥渟tuff I鈥檓 currently working on鈥� holder, and one is a 鈥渟tuff to be filed鈥� tray.

A stack of plain letter-size paper On the rare occasions I need a full sheet of paper, I steal it from the printer (which you can also see above). Usually, I just use some Mead Cambridge pocket notebooks, a stack of which you can see in that picture. These each have 70 sheets and I buy them in groups of twelve for $5 at Sam鈥檚 Club. I like these because they fit easily in my pocket along with a pen, so I can take it everywhere.

A pen/pencil Just something to write with. Anything works. I really love my , but it鈥檚 pretty expensive for a pen that you just carry around in your pocket all day (and plus, I鈥檓 prone to losing them). I usually just keep one or two cheap ones in my pocket and a few more in a pen holder in my desk.

Post-its I usually get the 4脳4 lined ones that you can see on my desk there, at Sam鈥檚 Club in bulk. At first, I didn鈥檛 really find these useful, but I find myself often sticking them to documents and other things as a reminder of what I intended to do with them.

Paper clips Again, I didn鈥檛 think I鈥檇 use these 鈥� and you might not ever need them 鈥� but I do find myself using them to keep small piles of loose paper together at times.

Binder clips Never bought them. Never used them. Don鈥檛 waste your money.

A stapler and staples I have been picky about my staples for a very long time. Currently, we have a Swingline high capacity stapler () that we鈥檝e used for years. Again, I don鈥檛 use one that often, but when I do (for taxes, for one example), it鈥檚 incredibly handy.

Scotch tape We have some in the kitchen for wrapping gifts. Never used it for anything organization related, though.

Rubber bands Nope.

An automatic labeler My technical term for such a device is a 鈥減en.鈥� Sometimes, I upgrade this with 鈥渕asking tape.鈥�

File folders I do have quite a few of these 鈥� again, bought in bulk and used regularly. In fact, we have a home filing cabinet which resides in the closet in my home office (which is a converted bedroom).

A calendar I abandoned using a paper one a few years ago. Instead, I now use and I keep an electronic copy of it on my iPod Touch for offline use. Even if I didn鈥檛 have a 鈥減ortable鈥� version of the calendar, I鈥檇 still use an electronic one and just print off any pages I needed to have with me on the road.

Wastebasket Of course!

Filing
One big part of this system is getting the stuff you want to keep but don鈥檛 need out of the way, but in a place where you can easily find it if you need it. In other words, get a filing system. From page 96:

A simple and highly functional personal reference system is critical to this process. The filing system at hand is the first thing I assess before beginning the workflow process in anyone鈥檚 office. As I noted in chapter 2, the lack of a good general-reference system can be one of the greatest obstacles to implementing a personal management system.

What does that mean? It simply means that when you have something you want to keep and look at later, it should go into some sort of system where it鈥檚 out of your way, but you can easily find it when you look for it.

I just use a simple A-Z filing system for everything. I just name folders with the most logical name I can think of at the time 鈥� Joe 鈥� Artwork is one, for example, that contains a few highlights of my son鈥檚 artistic output. That way, it鈥檚 out of the way, but I can retrieve it later on if I need it. Everything is simply A to Z based on the name at the top of the folder.

I try to keep all of the shelves in my filing cabinet balanced (except for the top shelf, which I handle differently 鈥� but I鈥檒l talk about that later on). Right now, all of the files I have fit on two of the shelves 鈥� A to M and N to Z. If the shelves start to get out of balance, I move a letter to the other drawer to keep them in balance. If either one starts to get full, I鈥檒l just annex another drawer (which is empty right now and, honestly, is my spot for hiding gifts).

Whenever an item comes in that I need to save, I file it away. If I don鈥檛 need to save it, I chuck it. If I need to retrieve it, I pull out the file, look it over, do whatever I need to do with it, and toss it back into my 鈥渢o be filed鈥� basket when I鈥檓 done.

I also keep plenty of fresh folders nearby so that I never feel bad about starting a new one. If I need a new folder, I usually know it right off the bat and it鈥檚 pretty poorly effective if I鈥檓 trying to hedge my bets over a simple folder.

One final note: the best time to do this is over a holiday weekend where you won鈥檛 be interrupted anyway. A holiday like the daytime portion of the Fourth of July is a great time to do this.

Next time, we鈥檒l look at chapter five, which focuses on the 鈥渃ollect鈥� portion of this system.

------------------------------

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link above.