I'm reading a book at the moment called Getting Things Done (http://www.davidco.com/) by David Allen. His photo is on the cover of my highly abused copy, and he looks so organized and relaxed in the picture. He looks like someone I would both envy and yearn to emulate. As a result of reading this book, I think I finally have a real notion of what action management really means. Reading Getting Things Done has inspired me to think about the most highly productive people I know, who get amazing things accomplished before breakfast, and how paralytically unproductive I feel at the moment.
Allen suggests that it is imperative to get the list of projects, tasks, and unfinished ideas out of the mind and into concrete holding bins such as e-mail, inboxes, or voicemail so that each project, idea or task can be approached by determining the next action required. And furthermore, Allen suggests that everything in life be dealt with this way so that no energy is lost worrying about what isn't being done, or thinking abstractly about unfinished projects, plans, hopes and desires.
These ideas about organizing metal stuff have riveted me today, and it occurred to me that a lot of the time I spend feeling unsure of myself, or worrying about my performance is due to the fact that I have a bad habit of trying to keep everything in my head. I have an enormous mental list of projects, but no list of tasks. I have huge creative ambition, but I get blocked in taking the next step in obsessing about the end results.
So, I'm going to give this guy's method a try in hopes that it helps me feel better about my work and eventually my home, and consequently myself.
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