5 Stages, 4 Days, 3 jobs, 2 interuptions and 1 post.

That’s how long its taken from the first time I sat to write the next part in my progress through Getting Things Done by David Allen. The main problem i am having in reading this book is the lack of attention I suffer as my mind considers a recently discovered idea within the chapter and attempts to relate it to the current situation. The result of this distraction is a realisation that the concepts I am trying to consider are not sinking in. I need a GTD for reading Getting Things Done. Certainly im aware that there is a Audio book equivalent of this but I worry about the amount of distraction that would create whilst driving. So lets review the 5 Stages of mastering workflow.

1. Collect
2. Process
3. Organise
4. Review
5. do

Simple eh , yeah I thought that to , but every time I read the chapter my mind just goes , cool and off I go again missing what i am reading. Ironically blogging the chapter enables me to force the mind into a sort of serial mode. This book is like having Learning Perl or Ubuntu Hacks on your bookshelf its just useful to drop into and consider the chapters every now and then. One of the aspects I get from this chapter is that if you cant handle the steps in complete ways then your always going to have that spare process or thought hitting your mind when you should be focusing on the task at hand.

The key is “Get it out of your head” and once you do that you can move on, especially when you grasp the 2 minute rule for processes. Organising and reviewing lead on from that since they enable a constant return to the first step and a constant loop , with appropriate breaks, that enable processes to complete and be done . Calendaring is the hardest part to constantly maintain though since the tendency is to over tweak or over proscribe the use of the calendar. So im guessing this will need to be returned to regularly.

So why all this interest in getting or becoming better organised ? Well as your probably aware I run a business and im involved in the BNI and my local Linux User Group and finally I decided to commit to becoming more involved in the Open Source Community specifically through Ubuntu. I know that I have the time available to do all this and still have the quality time with my family and friends though what I need is to have a discipline that enables me to do it.Since life has been handing me 43Folders and Getting Things Done for the last few months I figure maybe I should take the hint and apply it. So here I am considering one chapter at a time and making a few improvements in my organisation each week.

Thanks for reading.

And Again dont forget that this Blog is moving to www.loudmouthman.com as of December.