Organize IT

Action:

• Organized activity to accomplish an objective.
• The most important work or activity in a specific field or area.

Next actions are the next physical steps you need to take to move a project. When you look at a project it can often be difficult to determine where to start. That’s why you take time to define what the next action would be. Most projects can be vague and abstract, such as “tidy the house.” But where do you start? What do you do next? Without deciding on a next action, it can often be difficult to see how to move a project forward, or to even start it. Taking the house tidying project as an example again, it would typically be broken down into individual room mini-projects. Maybe on a to-do list you would simply put down to clean the bedroom. However, where to start with that? The next physical action could be to clear the floor of all rubbish and clothes. Next, it could be to dust and finally you would hoover up.

Next actions are not always immediately obvious. Putting down a next action of “ring John” might seem simple enough, until you realize you don’t have his number. You can’t action this task, it’s not the next physical step. The next action ends up being to search for his number instead. Though the GTD approach of defining your next actions can mean more thought and time with planning, when it comes to actually working on your projects your path to completing them is much more clear.

For detailed information on defining your next actions read my guide.

Context

• The circumstances in which an event occurs; a setting.
• That which surrounds, and gives meaning to, something else.

GTD encourages the use of contexts to break down long and expansive to-do lists. Without them where would you start? What would you choose to do at any particular time? By breaking down your lists according to different settings and situations, it becomes a simple matter of selecting a list and tasks appropriate to your current context. For instance, if you are near a phone, you only need look at those next actions that require you to make a phonecall.

Review:

• To examine with an eye to criticism or correction.
• Going over a subject again in study so as to fix it in the memory.

The weekly review in GTD is one of the most critical elements of the entire methodology, and also one of the hardest to implement regularly. While most aspects of GTD are open to individual interpretation, the weekly review is the one element that David Allen is clear and specific on. You need to do it weekly, you need to do it thoroughly and you certainly can’t cut any corners. Despite your best intentions, stuff always slips through holes in your system. Next actions go undefined, projects don’t get updated and loose ends pile up in your inbox. The review is the one clearly defined period in your week where your primary goal is to catch up on those leaks, get up to date and clear the decks of any loose ends.

Stuff:

• Property, as personal belongings or equipment; things.
• Worthless things or matter: to clean the stuff out of a closet.

Stuff is often used as a catch-all term covering everything from thoughts bouncing around our heads to letters, voicemails, notes and a multitude of other things that potentially require you to do something with them, but which are currently unorganized or unprocessed. A pile of unopened letters in your in-tray might as well be just stuff because until they are opened and you decide what to do with them, they are meaningless. They are not formed into something actionable and the desired outcome from them is far from clear. One of those letters could be a bill, which would need paying, or a bank statement, which would need filing. However, until you make that distinction, it’s all just stuff as far as your mind is concerned. And stuff – physically or mentally – is just clutter.

Organization:

• Something that has been made into an ordered whole.
• Conforming entirely to standards, rules, or demands.

Organization is a key aspect of being productive. An unorganized individual is not able to see what needs doing at a quick glance. If you have to waste time sorting through piles of paperwork or just generally trying to figure out what needs doing, then that is a massive drain on your energy. Many people assume this sort of planning and organization can be naturally figured out within the mind but this almost never possible. The mind is not an organizing tool, you can’t rely on it to remind you about things when you need it to (how many times have you been in a shop and completely forgotten to pick up items that you needed?). What’s more, your brain doesn’t put all your thoughts into neat little compartments for easy access. If you have lots of things going on in your head it will just be like a jumbled mess, leading to confusion and lack of focus.