Review and Renew

The first time I tried the techniques in Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.  I had some gains, but it wasn't the revolutionary change that other people say they experience.  I don't blame the book.  The techniques require about as much discipline as a strict diet, an exercise program, and giving up smoking, drinking, and all sexual thoughts.


OK.  That's a bit of an exaggeration.  But the techniques don't come easy.  As even the author admits, we aren't born thinking this way.  Humans aren't born with habitual thinking patterns that enable us to efficiently juggle multiple complex projects.  We're not born with pen and paper for making lists, let alone laptops with time management software.  The techniques described in this book are tough habits to develop.


But that's just the way it is.  If you don't make the lists, your brain doesn't quit trying "not to forget what I gotta do later".  If you don't regularly review those lists and get them up to date, they get stale within days.  They no longer meet your needs.  They don't reflect the life as it is now.  It may take time to do all this, time that I sometimes can't find, but I have no choice if I want all the benefits of the system.


One of those things I need to do more of to be successful this time is the "weekly review".  This is the weekly review, typically requiring 2 hours, of all to do lists and projects for work, home, traveling, etc.  It involves clearing the inbox of all loose notes, emptying the e-mail inbox down to zero by identifying and documenting every task implied by every e-mail or trashing the e-mail or filing it or--if you're really fed up with all your e-mails-burning it!   (I'm kidding).  There is a lot more to it than I'm describing here.  You have to read the book to get it all.  But trust me, it is a very thorough process, it requires effort and time, but it is worth it.  I don't do it every week yet, even though I know I should.  But when I have done it, it has felt refreshing.  Only at these times do my plans feel perfectly current, accurate, and relevant.  Only at these times do I fully trust my "To Do List" and feel motivated to act on it without hesitation.