A Great Stress Reducer

At the end of January 2010 I switched to a “smart phone” as my PDA began acting up and the cellular carrier price wars rage on. As I look to see how some of the time management tools I have used for years work on my new device, an associate asked if I had ever read “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. I must say with all the self-help and time management books I have read over the years, I have never heard of the book, or phenomenon sparked by Getting Things Done (GTD).

 

With a stormy weekend predicted a few weekends back, I purchased a copy of Allen’s new book “Making it All Work” and got started. One thing I really liked was his approach lays out a high-level strategic framework for organizing and controlling the things in your world. He doesn’t require you to throw away what you already do. But, it does point out holes in most approaches. Things that make us worry when we shouldn’t.

 

The real stress reducer I found with the method was getting all the junk out of your head and into a place that allows me to never forget it. As Allen points out, it’s all this junk rolling around in our heads that keep us up at night as business professionals. By getting it all in a place we can trust allows you to forget about it until you need to remember it. 

 

I haven’t completed the entire process yet, but I already find myself trying to create stress because I’m use to having the stress there all the time. But, with these new methods I don’t need to worry any more. This really opened my eyes to how much stress was created just by trying to keep everything straight in my head. Now, I need to talk to a therapist to understand how to stop trying to create the stress where it doesn’t exist any more.

 

Who out there is familiar with GTD and what has been your experience?  If you aren’t familiar with GTD, what method and tools do you to keep your life organized?

As we all know, time management is a key skill to personal and  professional success!  Share what has helped you in your success.