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Why ‘Next Actions’ Make Big Projects Easy to Tackle

One of the key ideas of Getting Things Done, is the ‘next action’. Like much of GTD it’s a simple idea that makes a big difference.

Next actions are the steps you take to complete a project. For example, your project may be ‘sell my old CD collection. That’s a typical to-do list item, but it’s not something that you can do in one go — so it lingers on your list. Forever.

To decide what the next action is, you need to think of the next physical step required to move the project forward. For selling your CDs, you need to decide how you are going to sell those CDs. On the Internet or at a store? Your next action is ‘find the phone number of local music shops’. After you complete that, your next action is to call music shops to see how much they pay for old CDs. Then you may want to ‘research eBay and Amazon auctions online’ to see if they are better options.

Next actions improve upon the idea of breaking down a project into small steps for two reasons. First, you’re only need to think of one next action at a time. This way you don’t get overwhelmed by trying plan every step from start to finish. Second, by thinking of the next physical step, you force yourself to clarify exactly what needs to be done — and don’t end up with a nebulous, undoable to-do list.

So take a look at one of your big projects, define the next action and get started.

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Header photograph by visualpanic

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Book Review: Getting Things Done

When I first read Getting Things Done four years ago, I didn’t know the profound impact it would have on me. I thought it was a good, though not extra-ordinary, book on organization. However, over time and through constant application of its principals, it is no hyperbole to say that Getting Thing Done has fundamentally changed the person I am for the better. I have become a better, more organized, more self-reliant, and less anxiety-prone

In his book, David Allen suggests several radical departures from traditional organizational planners. First, prioritizing is a waste of time. Listing your to-do’s with a ‘one’, ‘two’ or ‘three’ based on how important they are is useless. You end up spending a lot of time futzing over if an item should get a ‘2 — important’ or a ‘1 — vital’ next to it, rather than just doing it. Either you have a commitment to cross off that to-do and thus put it on your list, or you don’t and don’t.

Secondly, Treat your personal and work responsibilities in the same way. Don’t separate systems — it leads to needless inefficiencies. Your ‘Errands’ list should have both your personal and professional commitments on it so that you can get maximum use out of your time. All your obligations and responsibilities are filtered through the same system, and processed in the same way.

David Allen also suggests writing everything down — an idea he refers to as ubiquitous capture. You shouldn’t waste brain power trying to remember anything. Free your mental CPU cycles for creative and important work. As much as possible, set up paper and digital systems to remind you of what you need at an appropriate time.

In the Getting Things Done system, all projects must have their next actions defined. When you decide to go to the dentist about your tooth that’s been hurting, think about what the next physical thing is that you need to do. You have to make an appointment, but before you can do that you need to get the number. ‘Lookup dentist number’ is your to-do. It’s concrete, specific and the very next thing that must happen. ‘Look up dentist number’ is much clearer than the vague ‘visit dentist’, which you couldn’t do anyway until you made the appointment.

In addition to a description of David Allen’s ruthlessly efficient system, the book also serves as a productivity coach. A chapter goes through an explicit and step by step process of how to boot up into the Getting Things Done system, how to process all your current work, and how to migrate from your current system

My criticism of the book is relatively minor. Occasionally Allen’s examples of the kinds of problems that people need to solve are laughably upper class, e.g. setting up an Orchid or filling out paperwork for buying a company. The beginning of the book waffles a bit about ‘paradigm shifts’ and other content-less jargon along with the nature of ‘work these days’ and how that fancy-pants Internet will change everything — but compared to other books in the genre, it’s remarkably concise. The only real problem with the system is how to incorporate deadlines.

Nothing the book says is complicated or radically difficult: it’s mainly a collection of simple tips brought together in a well-tested, smooth system. But, more than any other book of its kind, this one can really change your life if you follow the ideas. I’ll admit that it took me about three years of on and off usage of the system before I really got it. But now I wonder how I possibly stumbled through my work before.

The book doesn’t do your work for you — no book can. There have been plenty of days when I haven’t gotten much done even when using the system — the only difference is now I know when I procrastinate that it’s my fault and I’m not missing something vital.

[Click here to buy Getting Things Done]

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Header photograph by racatumba

Weekly Review Secret: Allowing Productive Mess into Your Life

When starting with Getting Things Done, the weekly review is the most hassle and seems the least important. Why, if you are following such a perfect system, do you even need a weekly review?

The dark secret of the weekly review is that what you actually need is an imperfect system. Life isn’t perfect, life is messy. Many short-term projects work better with mess, e.g. in a perfect world, computer desktops would always look like this:

During the week, however, documents started or files downloaded get dumped onto the desktop, so that by the end of the week it’s covered with icons. It’s a mess. And that’s the way it should be.

The time spent organizing those files isn’t worth it — they have a small window of usefulness. Creating a folder somewhere for such ephemera is a waste of effort.

By dropping transient items in a prominent area like the desktop, they serve as reminders of the stuff you’re currently working on. The mess is a visible representation of temporary little projects and shows you when you have too much going on by growing too large.

However, if you don’t keep little messes in check, they will grow out of control. This is where the weekly review comes in. When it’s time for the weekly review, everything gets processed off the desktop. Everything. Each file is filed, deleted or sent. The desktop mess is kept on a tight leash — it exists only on the desktop and for no longer than seven days. This way the overall system is organized but can still take advantage of some of the benefits of mess.

This idea of limited mess applies to the overall GTD system. Don’t always be pristine with next actions and projects: keep odd scraps of papers and notes, leave files in a mess box. But, don’t let the messes grow and overwhelm you: reign them in during the weekly review.

While David Allen fundamentalists say this is heresy, even he says in The Book that there are times when the cost of running a perfectly smooth system is too great.

Allow some mess into your life, just keep it on a leash by reviewing it weekly.

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Header photograph by Ella’s Dad

Get Things Done on your Mac

The people at Macformat have made a handy little guide called ‘Get Things Done on Your Mac’ covering many of the apple-specific basics. A nice review for the already organized and great suggestions for those new to OS X, such as how to hide the dock, using spotlight, and the wonders of quicksilver.

[Click here to download ‘Get things done on Your Mac’]

[Click here to visit Macformat.co.uk]

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Photograph by arquera

How Merlin Mann Gets Stuff Done

There’s an interview on LifeHacker that details how the excellent Merlin Mann of 43 folders actually gets his work done. Many organizational gurus talk in broad principals of work in an ideal world, but Merlin gets down into the nitty gritty tactical details of getting things done.

[Read the LifeHacker Interview with Merlin Mann]