When I started working in 1987, the sources of work were minimal: phone, letter, customer or my boss. The output expected was precise and accurate – excellent customer service and good team working. But running a small medical history venue at a growing university in 2017 guarantees many more sources of work, with outputs beyond my 1987 mind’s imagination.
Emails, websites, meetings, visitors, phone calls, colleagues, events and boss to name eight of many inputs, can be overwhelming. David Allen’s system reduces these to one inbox for everything to be regularly processed from: do it, delegate it, defer it or ditch it. My working practice has resulted in more ditching than ever, and I have a new-found respect for my time.
It has been a year since I embraced the Getting Things Done system. I feel less stressed – I am hopefully more productive – and striving for Allen’s aim of “mind like water”.
The book’s terminology is well known in self-development circles, but it keeps on giving with multiple readings. An excellent flowchart enables a quick implementation for daily actions, and returning to the book, supported with blogs and podcasts from a variety of experts, is motivating me to stick with it.
Mark Macleod is the head of the Infirmary, University of Worcester
Emails, websites, meetings, visitors, phone calls, colleagues, events and boss to name eight of many inputs, can be overwhelming. David Allen’s system reduces these to one inbox for everything to be regularly processed from: do it, delegate it, defer it or ditch it. My working practice has resulted in more ditching than ever, and I have a new-found respect for my time.
It has been a year since I embraced the Getting Things Done system. I feel less stressed – I am hopefully more productive – and striving for Allen’s aim of “mind like water”.
The book’s terminology is well known in self-development circles, but it keeps on giving with multiple readings. An excellent flowchart enables a quick implementation for daily actions, and returning to the book, supported with blogs and podcasts from a variety of experts, is motivating me to stick with it.
Mark Macleod is the head of the Infirmary, University of Worcester
