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In last month’s posting, I introduced the impact of our mental state about doing tasks, how that influenced our effectiveness and its impact on time management. Our mental state is a critical element, when it comes to decreased effectiveness. Your ability to generate efficiency and effectiveness is directly related to your ability to relax.
So how can we decrease our anxiety and stress levels, keep a “Mind like Water” (the mental state referred to last month) and become more effective at time management. Well, according to David Allen (the productivity guru introduced last month), it requires small changes in the way we clarify and organize all the things that command our attention. These changes can provide a significant shift in the way we approach of our day-to-day work. The changes he recommends have two primary objectives:
- Capturing all tasks or things that need to be done (that includes now, later, someday, big little, or in between) and place them into a logical and trusted system outside your head and off your mind. (Remember the goal is to get the “mind like water” mental state and have a relaxed mind ready to respond appropriately to input, and return to stillness.)
- Disciplining yourself to make front-end decisions about all of the inputs you let into your life so that you will always have a plan for the next actions you can implement at any moment.
With these two objectives in mind, Allen offers specific requirements to get a grip on it all, stay relaxed, and get meaningful things done with minimal effort. The requirements needed for managing commitments with minimal effort are:
1. If it is on your mind, your mind is not clear. Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, that you know you will come back to regularly and sort through.
2. You must clarify exactly what your commitment is and decide what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling the commitment.
3. Once you have decided on all the actions you need to take, you must keep reminders of them organized in a system you regularly review.
It’s a simple yet effective model to follow. It will free your mind of the clutter of trying to keep up with everything and it will reduce your stress. It allows us to achieve that “Mind like water” state of mind.
In his book “Getting Things Done – The Art of Stress Free Productivity”, he offers the specific steps that meet these general requirements. At their basis is applying the “do it”, “delegate it”, “defer it”, “drop it” rule. He offers a way to assess or reassess goals and an methods to stay focused in changing situations, and more importantly overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety and being overwhelmed.
I encourage you to check out what he has to share about “getting things done”. It can transform the way you work and live without wearing yourself out.
Contributed by Keith Engelhardt
Keith has been teaching Stress Management and Yoga for over 25 years at Dayton Ohio area institutions including Montgomery Co. Career Technology Center, the Dayton Heart Fitness Center and Samaritan North's Well Being Center. He has also taught Yoga to the touring cast of CATS(tm).
Resources:
Getting Things Done – The art of Stress Free Productivity
Penguin Books
ISBN 0-14-200028-0
Ready for Anything - 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life
Penguin Books
ISBN 0-670-03250-6
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