The best way to make sure that no great ideas slip through your fingers is to make a tickler file. Tickler files can be pretty easy to set up. All you need is a card file and a bunch of index cards. I have a little black box that holds 3×5 cards. I also cut up a couple of index cards to make dividers with tabs to maintain some semblance of order to system that’s little more than a collection of random thoughts at this point. You can have as many or as few categories as you’d like and you can feel free to add or delete categories as needed.

Now that you have your tickler file set up, grab a stack of index cards and start writing! Write down every idea for every invention, book, or whatever you’ve been thinking about. When you’re done, go back to each card and write down the questions you have about that idea. Do you need to figure out how an invention could be put together? Do you need a more efficient system at work but haven’t quite figured out what it could be? Write these concerns on the card. Over time you’ll notice that so many questions and comments have accumulated that an action plan for your idea now seems clear. At that point you can take your idea out of your tickler file and turn in into a project. Your rock is now on it’s way to becoming a diamond!

Most people have ideas and think, “If only I could make it happen.” With this system, you have a way to make your ideas realities almost automatically! Make sure you review your tickler file every week. You’ll be surprised at all the new comments you can add!

There’s one more facet we’ve yet to cover: long term goals. What do you do with items like “renovate my home” or “buy a new car”? You can’t have a nebulous item like “get $25,000″ on an action plan. How do we organize these goals so that they can be achieved one day? Find out in Someday Lists for Fun and Profit.

By this point you’ve collected every piece of paper and task that’s been demanding your attention and organized them all into their own projects that each have their own little folder with an action plan attached to each one. You also have a “next action” list compiled so you always know what step you need to take to move your projects forward.

After following this system for a while, you’ll begin to notice that certain files get reincarnated ever week, month, and/or quarter. Every time these projects return from the dead you have to waste ten to fifteen minutes making another file and another action plan. How can these projects be organized so you still get them done without having to constantly replace the files? You create a Perpetual Project War Board.

What is a Perpetual Project War Board exactly? It’s a big white board that you use to collect all of your recurring projects. First you take a white board that’s large enough to contain all of your weekly, monthly, and quarterly projects. My white board is 3 feet by 4 feet. Yours may be larger or smaller depending on what tasks you’re facing. After you get your board take thin black electrical tape and make vertical lines from top to bottom that are space far enough apart for you to write in the white spaces. Next take thick black electrical tape and make two vertical lines to separate the board into three categories. Label the top line in each category “Weekly”, “Monthly”, and “Quarterly”. Finally, get your thin black tape again and make a vertical line close enough to the thick black tape so you have little boxes big enough to write a number at the end of every line except for you category labels. Here’s what your war board should look like:

Now fill in all of your weekly, monthly, and quarterly tasks. When you’re done, create an action plan for each and every one. These plans should to look like the ones you have for all of your other projects except all of the tasks in your action plan need to have a number associated with them. Once you have all of these action plans made, get a three-hole punch and put them in a three-ring binder that’s separated into three parts (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly). Make sure this binder is always with your war board.

Now go through all of the projects written on your war board and write down the number that corresponds with the next task you need to do on your action plan. Then add all of those tasks to your next action list. Every time you complete one of these tasks, change the number next to that project and add the next task to your next action list. Now you have a system to help you progress in all your recurring tasks!

Congratulations! You’ve tamed all of your actionable tasks. But what about the ideas you have that have yet to develop into actionable projects? Read the next article Tickle Your Way to Success to find out how to deal with these projects in the making.

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!