18 AMERICANWAY
JANUARY 1 2009
L I F E
ILLUSTRATIONBYFRANKCHIMERO
AS THE NEW YEAR
unfolds, wouldn’t you
like tomanage your
lifewithout always
feeling out of time and
overwhelmed? (Yes!)
Thenmeet DavidAllen,
grandguru of personal
productivity. His first
book,
GettingThings
Done
, has been a cult-
spawningbest seller
for years. Now, Allen’s
backwith
Making ItAll
Work:Winningat the
Game ofWork and the
Business of Life
(Viking,
$25).We asked for
enlightenment.
—Chris Tucker
Aren’t somepeople
just naturallymore
focusedandorga-
nized thanothers?
Some have a proclivity
oneway or the other,
but just as anyone can
learn to sell, anyone
can follow a process for
getting things done.
Youwrite thatwe
useourminds the
wrongway. Explain.
Toomany of us use
ourminds primarily
for remembering and
reminding.We’re good
at
having
ideas but not
at holding them. You
need a trusted system
thatwill hold your com-
mitments so themind
doesn’t have to do it.
Themore something
is on yourmind, the
less likely you’re really
getting anythingdone
on it.
But how canyoudo
somethingabout doz-
ens of commitments
at once?
You can’t, but you can
decidewhat the next
action is on them. You
can only feel good
aboutwhat you’re not
doingwhen you
know
what you’re not doing.
Shouldanovicebegin
by clarifyingbig life
plans andvisions, or
start bygettinghis
deskorganized?
One is notmore impor-
tant than the other, but
it’s usually easier to get
inspired “upward”when
you get control of the
moremundane levels
first.
GTD
doesn’t set pri-
orities for peopleor
tell themwhat they
should care about.
Whynot?
I give equal weight to
anything that’s pull-
ing on your psyche,
anything that’smaking
you feel out of control
—whether it’s your
sense of purpose in life
or buying cat food. You
have to pay attention
towhat has your at-
tention.
Howdoyou feel
about the
Getting
ThingsDone
“cult”
memberswho rever-
ently call you “The
David”?
Themyth is better
than the reality. I’m
just a regular guywho
needs
GTD
asmuch as
anyone.
TheOracle
ofOrganization
Startwith a
mind sweep
of all outstand-
ing commitments. Youmay be horrified
by howmany you discover, but an exhila-
rating feeling of lightnesswill follow.
Use aminimal number of in-baskets or
collectionbuckets,
and empty them
regularly. Never put anythingback into the
basket; make a decision anddeal with it.
Develop the
next-actionhabit.
Always
askwhat you coulddo to advance any
project, however small, toward completion.
Use the
two-minute rule.
If you
know you are going to do something
and it can be done in twominutes
or less, do it
now
. Don’t put it off.
Set up a
ticklerfile
with43 folders
— one for each day of themonth and
one for each of the 12months— to
hold things like party invitations, doc-
tor’s appointments, and things youmay
want to revisit on a certain date.
Get
a
labeler
for your file
folders. It’smagic.
Set a time for a
weekly review
of
all outstanding commitments and
progressmade during theweek.
“TheDavid’s”Pathto
Stress-FreeProductivity
