Congratulations! If you’ve made it this far then you’re probably more organized than you’ve been in a long time. All of those projects floating around in your head and on your desk have finally been roped in and tamed. You’re mind should feel a lot lighter and you should feel a lot more relaxed. Now it’s time to up the ante. You have two nebulous folders in front of you that say Defer and Delegate. We need to turn these folders into action plans to make sure the projects they contain get done. Let’s deal with the Delegate folder first.
Open up your Delegate folder and take a look at each project in it. Now think about who you’d delegate each one of those projects to. Start making separate stacks for each person you want to handle you projects. You should be looking at several stacks of paper and each stack should be labeled with the name of the person you’re going to trust with those projects. Take those stacks and place them each in their own folder labeled with the person’s name. On the outside of the folder, staple a list of the projects that the file contains so you can check them off as your project manager completes them. Now you have a way to track the progress of the people you’re trusting to complete these projects.
Next it’s time to tackle your Defer folder. The goal here is to give each project its own file so we can develop action plans. Let’s take “Build a Website” as an example. Your action plan may look something like this:
1. Decide on content and product
a. research feasibility and demand for product
b. research wholesalers/drop-shippers for product
c. decide whether to write my content or outsource it
i. research sites that offer article writing services
ii. write articles or post ad for a writer
2. Decide on a domain name
a. research domain name providers
b. reserve domain name
3. Research web store hosting sites
a. research credit card processing options
b. research web development software
c. purchase hosting and/or software
d. sign up with a credit card processor
4. Decide on site design
a. build site
5. Research other ways to monetize my site
a. adsense
b. affiliate programs
c. integrate into site
6. Find ways to advertise site
a. article marketing
b. adwords
c. banner ads
d. viral marketing
e. link trading
7. Implement, Review, and Refine
Once you have one of these outlines for each of your projects, take the first step from each project and put them all on their own list. Now you have a “Next Action” list for all of your projects. Every time you complete on of these tasks, go to the corresponding project folder and write down the next task. In this way you have a dynamic list that’s constantly moving you towards completing all the projects on your list and you always know exactly what the next step forward is!
Now all of your projects are happily on their way to completion. But what about the projects that keep coming back every week, month, or quarter such as inventory or washing your car? Read the next article on to The Perpetual Project War Board to find out how to deal with these persistent projects.
Now that you’ve decided to take control of your life and get yourself organized, the first step is to find out exactly what it is you have to organize. So here’s what you do: First gather everything you can that’s related to your work or personal life. Go get your emails, your bills, your memos, your to-do list, everything! Once you have all that stuff piled up high, break out a little notebook and start writing. What is it that you want to do or have to do? Do you need to get your car oil changed? Have you been meaning to build a website? What about that business plan you’ve been meaning to write? How about fishing with your kids? This writing phase can take hours! It’s a lot like pouring water out of a pitcher. First the tasks will come pouring out faster than you can write them, then the ideas will slow to a trickle. Make sure you write down everything! Once you capture these tasks on paper, you’ll free your mind from having to hold on to them. Just the knowledge that all of your tasks are written down somewhere will free your mind up to tackle more important tasks. When you finish writing down everything you need or want to accomplish, then the real work begins.
After gathering all of your paperwork and tasks, you need to implement the four “D’s”. Every time you pick up a piece of paper or consider a task you need to decide if you’re going to Delete it, Delegate it, Defer it, or Deal with it. If the task is something that isn’t vital to your success or to achieving you goals, delete it. Toss it, trash it, whatever! Just get rid of the dang thing. These tasks are draining your psychic energy for no reason. If the task is something that’s important to your success but you don’t necessarily have to do it yourself, put it in a file to be delegated to someone you trust. We’ll make a file for these tasks later so we can check up on their progress. Should you decide that the task is too important to delegate and it can’t be completed within two minutes, then defer it. Put these tasks in a separate file so you can turn them into individual projects or put them on your perpetual task war board. Later we’ll organize these items and turn them into action plans. Finally if a task will take you less than two minutes to complete, deal with it now. Get it done and out of your way forever! You’ll be surprised how many of your tasks can be dealt with now.
You’ve probably accomplished a lot at the end of this exercise but we aren’t done yet! Right now you’ve got two folders staring you in the face with the generic titles of Defer and Delegate. Now it’s time to turn these folders into actionable projects. Ready yet? Then go on to the next article: Powerful Project Management.
If you haven’t heard of it yet, you will soon. David Allen’s book Getting Things Done describes a revolutionary way to tie up all of the loose ends in your life that have been driving you insane! Allen is a personal coach for high level executives and specializes in helping them get their professional and personal lives organized to reduce the massive amount of stress that these people are under on a day-to-day basis. This process involves lists, folders, file cabinets, inboxes, and a variety of other paraphernalia to organize literally hundreds of tasks and projects so the executive’s mind remains sharp and uncluttered. But how can these powerful techniques be applied to the average Joe?
I must admit, I fell into the old “this stuff can’t work for me” trap that snares so many others who strive to develop themselves. But I forced myself to read on and as I did, I started thinking of ways that I could adapt Allen’s system so it makes sense for my life. The beauty of the system championed in Getting Things Done is that it’s flexible enough to adapt to any situation. For example, I’m no CEO with hundreds of employees under me and a multi-billion dollar company to run. However, I do have a lot on my plate! I keep two offices. One at a restaurant I run and the other at home where I work on developing alternate streams of passive and active income. At last count I had 67 projects in play. I’m sure you’ll agree that 67 projects is quite the load for anyone. Chances are, you have that many projects in your head or more! No wonder you’re so stressed out! The question is what can you do about it?
I’ve put together a series of articles that outlines how the average Joe can adapt David Allen’s system of personal organization to become more effective. The adaptation will describe how you can use the collection phase to organize your thoughts and then make project folders and next action lists to move yourself forward. I’ve also included ideas on perpetual project war boards to keep track of tasks that you face every week, every month, and every quarter. In addition, I’ll also show you how to use your maybe/someday list to keep yourself motivated and how to use notebooks and tickler files to capture your great ideas (and your not so great ones) so you can develop them. Are you ready? Then move on to the next article: Collect and Conquer!