Start of day

Are you reading this message before breakfast? Is your smartphone or tablet the first thing you grab when you wake up?

More and more people use their smartphone as an alarm clock – apparently the friendlier wake up sounds make up for the risks – but does that automatically mean you need to look at your e-mail first thing in the morning? What’s the benefit of doing so? Is there anything you can do with and/or about it, while still in your pyjama’s? So what’re you doing with this here e-mail newsletter? Unsubscribe right away, because that dude is asking annoying questions?

Oh, so you’re just looking what has come in during the night. How is that knowledge going to help you, this early in the morning? Is that your idea of a great way to start the day, knowing what crises you’re going to face at work? Does that give you peace of mind during breakfast? Or are you going to skip breakfast now?

Start of work day

Or maybe you’re seeing this for the first time at the office. Is that how you start your day too, by diving straight into your e-mail? Come in, switch on computer, take off coat, grab some coffee, now let’s see what’s new in my e-mail?

You’re not the only one. Most people start their working day by checking e-mail. As if reading and  answering  e-mail is the most important thing there is! And so maybe there are two or three e-mails that need urgent attention; or maybe there are a few questions you can readily answer. Oh, but while answering those mails you recall that you have a few issues of your own that need someone’s attention, so let’s do those mails, now, too.

And before you know the morning’s mostly gone, and the rest of your day is taken up by meetings…

Start ritual

E-mail is seductive. Ding goes the computer, and the Pavlovian response is to go and check it out. We’re biologically programmed to take note of things that are new, or at least changing. But that doesn’t mean it’s wise to yield to that temptation. If you want to remain in control of your own work, you’d better learn to resist Outlook’s siren call.

The easiest yet most effective way is to not start your work day with your e-mail. Rather, use the first 30-60 minutes of your day to work on your own priorities instead of someone else’s. The two or three most important things you’d really like to have worked on today. If possible, determine and write down what those things are just before you leave at the end of the day.

You’ll notice that you can get a lot more done in these 30-60 minutes that during the rest of the day. Part of that has to do with still being fresh in the morning, but more importantly: your attention hasn’t yet been hijacked by whatever’s in your e-mail. Which means you can truly focus on the task that’s in front of you, and that means you’ll be way more efficient and effective.

Added bonus: once you’ve done those two or three things, whatever else happens: your day is made. After all, you’ve already done the two (or three) most important things for today.

A small change, but just try it. It’ll give a tremendous boost to your working day.

E-mail in the morning: it stinks!

But — how many projects is that? What is normal? How do you know you’ve got too many (or not enough)? How long should the list be?

Sixty plus or minus 150?

In his seminars David Allen mentions an average range of sixty to 120 projects. But, he also states that this can change from person to person. In my own GTD software, Omnifocus, I currently count 78 active projects, about half of them waiting on someone else. One of my coachees had more than 300 active projects.

How much can you handle?

But the question should not be: how long should the list be. Rather: what can you handle? How many projects can you help along at least one physical step, one next action, in the next week or two?

And that rather depends on the kinds of projects on your list. If the majority of the projects have small next actions that consume little time and energy you can take on quite a few. But if you have a large number of projects where each next action takes an hour or more, your eight hour work day is soon over.

Weekly review

During the weekly review (you are doing the weekly review, aren’t you?) you may notice that a number of projects haven’t moved in the past week or weeks. That”s a signal that you have too many projects on the list.

To avoid spending energy on things that aren’t as important and/or urgent you could then move a number of projects to the Someday/maybe list. Mind you, that doesn’t mean you won’t ever finish them. It just means you’re making a conscious decision to spend your time and attention on projects that have a higher priority.

Communicating vessels

During the next weekly review you can reconsider. Do you have the time and bandwidth to take on that project’s next actions in the coming week? If yes, move it back from Someday/maybe to your active Projects list.

In other words: Projects and Someday/maybe are communicating vessels. Someday/maybe catches the Projects that overflow, and, in turn, can be used to add to the Project list once there’s room for more.

How many projects are on your list, and how you do make sure there are not too many?

An empty e-mail inbox: for many busy workers it’s Utopia. Of course, that’s partly due to the volumes of mail we’re receiving, but there’s another reason as well: many people are using their inbox for other purposes. For instance:

To-do list

If you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nice. But: an inbox is an inbox, and a to-do list is a to-do list. Mail comes in into your inbox. If it’s actionable, you then move it to your to-do list. In Outlook this is easy: just drag & drop the message to the Tasks-button in the lower left corner. Once you’ve done that, you can remove or archive the message.

Filing cabinet

Reports, meeting notes, attachments: be kind to your IT department (or to your own Outlook PST file) and detach them from the messages and save them to your (network) disk. Then, remove the attachments from the message, and delete or archive the message.

Calendar

When’s that conference call? Where’s that meeting? Who’s giving that presentation? Date-and-time specific stuff should go into your calendar, not live in your inbox. In Outlook: as with tasks, simply drag & drop the message to the calendar. Then, lose the message.

Website links and other useful information

If you haven’t looked at it yet: turn it into an action. If you have looked at it, and wish to hold on to it: use the Outlook Notes function, or use something like Evernote. Then, delete it from your inbox.

Address book

Useful, having all those addresses and phone numbers. But not in your inbox: there’s Rolodexes for that, or address books, or the Outlook Address book. Drag, then drop the message to the Address Book button. Another message gone!

The right tools

If you’re not that familiar with Outlook (or whatever application or combination of applications you happen to use) learning to use it takes time. And wasn’t time just what you’re running out of? But that’s like saying you can’t afford to learn to work the chain saw because there are so many trees still to cut down. Yes, it takes time. But it’s definitely worth it.

Related article: As Simple as Possible: The Two-Folder Mailbox

It must have happened dozens of times to us: I’d go off to the supermarket and come back with stuff I knew for certain we’d run out of, and my wife would’ve already restocked. Or the other way around: my wife would go shopping and come back with a trunk full of foodstuff, only to have forgotten exactly those things needed for tonight’s dinner.

Well, I’m slow, but not too stupid. Here’s our lifehack salvation:

What you see here is a little A5 sized notepad with (and this is important) it’s own pen. The notepad is stuck on the inside of a kitchen cupboard door. With velcro, so the whole thing can be taken off when it’s time to think about the menu for the week ahead.

Anytime either of us finishes the last of the soy sauce, say, we only need to open the door and write down ‘soy sauce’. Anytime either of us goes shopping, we tear off the page and off we go.

Now, if only there were some way to sync that list to our respective iPhones …

The subtitle of the book is The Art Stress-free Productivity and that subtly hides the three essential elements of GTD: Productivity, Stress-free and Art. It’s this combination of ingredients that makes the GTD method so powerful.

Productivity

The word ‘Productivity’ means: getting done what you want to get done. Doing what you want to do. Finishing what you want to get finished. If you succeed in that, you’re productive.

That sounds very simple, and very simple it is. But there are a few associated issues that are somewhat less straightforward. First, it’s not just about your job. If GTD is to fulfill the promise of stress-free productivity you’ll need to employ it both at work and in your private life. The fact of the matter is that there is no real difference between you wanting to finish that sales project, and you wanting to repaint your front door. Or between you wanting to fire a dysfunctional staff member or you wanting to get rid of the president of the alumni association. These are changes to wish to see happen in the world; things you want to get done, and whether that’s between nine am and five pm, or five pm and nine am is immaterial. Productivitywise, the whole concept of a work/life balance is a farce. If you think you’re spending too much time working and not enough time having a life, there is a desire — possibly tacit — to change that. Using GTD only in your professional environment would be like a carpenter using his quality hammer only at work and mess about with a shoddy tool at home. It’s possible, but it is not smart.

Second, GTD is not just for the things you want to get done today, this week or even this month. The initial focus is indeed on handling the day-to-day time-wasters: how do I get rid of my e-mails? How do I handle those stacks of paper? What’s the best way to work my organizer or calendar? That will certainly improve your productivity, but an improvement is not an optimization. Fully implementing the GTD methodology means that you also use it for things you want to get done in the longer run. Another position, another job, another career. Run the 5K, run a marathon, adopt a healthier life style. Go on a trip with your better half, improve your relationship, find another partner. What do you want to get done?

And third, being productive doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re always chasing about doing things. Doing what you want to do might very well include a relaxing evening at home reading a good book or watching a dumb movie.

Stress-free

The phrase ‘stress-free’ has undoubtedly boosted the popularity of the GTD method. Who doesn’t want to live a stress-less life?

But living a stress-less life means you’re always in your comfort zone: you’re never challenged, and you’ll never grow from those challenges. A stress-less life, most of all, is a boring life. Read, for instance, Steve Pavlina’s article The Courage To Live Consciously.

The problem isn’t stress as such. The problem is that this stress is often keeping you from doing what you want to get done. Stress, in David Allen’s view, is caused by unresolved conflict. And unresolved conflict often goes with the verb ‘should’. I’m answering e-mails, but I should be preparing this morning’s meeting. I’m chatting with my collegues, but I should be finishing that report. I’m yes-manning this customer, but I should just dump him. I’m watching TV but I should be at the health club. I’m out shopping, but I should be building snowmen with the kids. I should be telling my colleague to use deodorant, but I don’t really know how to do it. I’m lying awake worrying about that performance review, but I should just ask about the criteria used.

While doing the one thing, you’re thinking of another. You’re writing an e-mail, but you’re thinking about the phone call you have to make before noon. And as a result, everyone loses out: the recipient of the mail, because you’re not paying full attention to writing the mail; the person you still need to call because you haven’t properly prepared the call; and you, because (a) it takes much longer to write that e-mail, (b) you haven’t sufficiently prepared that call, and (c) you very well know this and should be concentrating on one or the other. Stress. Maybe just a little, but all these little moments of stress build and build until a friend’s innocent remark causes an explosion.

GTD asserts that the main reason for the stress is that we’re trying to herd all these things in our brain. You try to remember what you want that e-mail to achieve, but you’re also trying to hold on to the message you want to convey in that phone call. And you need to pick up some groceries on the way home. And you need to get some new tires on your car. And you need to talk to your brother and sister about mom’s deteriorating health. But although your brain can hold on to tremendous amounts of information (just ask your mom about your first day at school!) it isn’t particularly well organized. It reminds you of the groceries when you look at the fridge, rather than in the car on your way home. It reminds you of the new tires when you’ve run flat. It comes up with the perfect e-mail when you’re having lunch, and with great ideas for that product innovation when you’re off on holiday.

GTD has a suspiciously simple solution for this problem: List your work. Then work your list. Write down what you want to get done. Then do what you’ve written down.

Most people already do this, to some extent. That’s the reason behind the “Doh! That’s it? That’s all??” reaction GTD enthusiasts tend to get when they’re explaining the system. Anyone who’s under pressure to get something done that’s bigger, more complex or has more impact than they’re comfortable with — a migration, an IT project, a new car, another school for the kids — automatically tends to create lists of things to think of. The GTD method has a couple of subtleties on how you create, process, maintain and execute these kinds of lists, but the mechanics are, yes, very simple. Where GTD defeats common sense list making is in its extremely thorough and consistent application. Anything you want to get done goes onto a list, and you organize and use those lists in such a way that you never, ever need to have a thought twice. That gives you the space and peace of mind you need to fully focus on what you want to get done.

Art

But it doesn’t come free. It’s not something we’re born with. Biologically speaking, we tend to go after instant gratification: the latest, greatest, most exciting thing we notice, without thinking of the consequences. That’s why we pick up the phone when it rings, even though we were busy talking to a colleague. That’s why you stop reading this article when you hear the ding-dong of a new mail arriving. That’s why you keep looking at the TV screen rather than take out your bike.

If you want GTD to fulfill its promise of stress-free productivity, you’ll have to make its techniques into a part of your life. Reading and processing mail then becomes a choice, rather than a way to start the day. If you think of something, you don’t just scribble it down on a post-it note and stick it onto your monitor, there to stay until eventually the glue gives way and your brilliant idea drops behind your desk; no, whenever you think of something you record it on some trustworthy medium, process it rigorously and systematically, and then act upon it at the right time. And you don’t wait until your mid-life crisis to work on your dreams: write them down now, regularly glance over them, and when the time is ripe, you take the steps necessary to learn how to fly / travel the world / meet the Dalai Lama / learn to play the piano / whatever.

That’s when GTD changes from yet another time management methodology into the art of stress-free productivity. You don’t have to think about it anymore; it has become a way of life. Whatever you’re doing, you’re fully focused. You have peace of mind, and traction in life.

It’s not easy to get there: internalizing GTD takes time, attention and effort. But it’s well worth it.

It’s pretty well known, of course. That’s why in The Netherlands, as indeed in most EU countries, you’re not allowed to handle a mobile phone while driving. The mental power needed to work your phone’s keyboard is deemed to be detrimental to your driving skills. Or, more emphatically, you’re a stupid idiot if you think you can safely pilot a ton of steel travelling at 55mph or 100km/h while handling a telephone. Go on, don’t believe me, then. [Beware! Video contains shocking footage of a car crash. You have been warned!]

Division of labour

Strangely enough, hands-free driving is still allowed. Some people believe that, since you can keep driving while talking on the phone (or indeed the person sitting next to you) means that multitasking is possible. But I suggest that you’re only doing one of those tasks consciously. When the traffic’s light and you’re on a known route, your subconscious is driving. Your conscious mind then is free to engage in a conversation, or just dream away. Surely commuters among you have had times that you arrived at the office or back home and can’t for the life of you remember anything that happened along the way?

The subconscious gives up

But if it’s an unknown route, or you’re diverted from your regular route, your subconscious mind goes ‘Ding! I can’t handle this!’ and hands control over to your conscious mind. Then try to drive and hold a conversation going. One of them is going to suffer.

Office multitasking

Ditto at the office, of course. Try to multitask two things that both require your conscious attention and quality and speed of either or both will suffer. Subconsciously, you can multitask. With focus and attention? Forget it.

Solution

The solution? Make sure that anything that requires your full attention to do well does indeed get your full attention.

Remove all internal distractions. Anything that bubbles up from the subconscious into your conscious mind while you’re trying to concentrate will keep bubbling up unless you take it out of your mind and into some external trustworthy system. A notebook will do fine for that purpose. If some unrelated thought comes up, fine: just write it down so you can attend to it later.

Remove all external distractions. Switch off your phone (hey, it’s only for an hour or so). Close the door to your office; or if you’re in cubicle-country, put on headphones and some noise-masking music. Close down all applications on your computer, especially those that tend to pop up messages and notifications all the time. Run just those apps that you need to complete your task.

It’s social behaviour

You may think that closing doors, switching off the phone and putting on headphones isn’t very social behaviour. But on the contrary: now that you switch off the world during tasks that require your full attention, you can then use your full attention to listen to people when you resurface, and goodness that’s a difference.

It’s more efficient. It’s more effective. It’s more pleasant. What more could you want?

De multitask mythe

‘Attentie multitaskers: je hersens hebben problemen!’ Met die tekst begint een onderzoek van de Stanford University naar het fenomeen multitasken. Als je probeert te multitasken — een e-mail tikken en een gesprek gaande houden, bijvoorbe

Confession

All right, I confess: I’ve been very creative folder-wise for years, too. At one point I counted 187 folders in my mailbox. Some had many messages in them, some one or two, and a sad few were like wall-flowers at a debutante ball, just waiting for me to go and find some messages for them. Filing the oodles of messages into the right folder took time and effort, a combination that conspired against actually doing it. The only time I actually did the filing was when I was procrastinating: I’d rather file than write that report.

So where were most messages stored? The inbox, right.

Two folders to rule ‘em all

These days I just make do with two folders: Inbox, and Archive.

All my mail comes into the Inbox. When I’ve processed them, they’re either deleted, or they end up in the Archive folder. As I tend to hoard virtually all business related mail, this folder has gotten pretty big, about 11,000 mails or so.

Oh, all right, there’s Sent, Draft, Junk and Trash as well, but they’re built-in. I don’t use them, in the sense that I spend any time there.

What I do use is a little bit of software magic.

Smart Mailboxes

As my main mail program, use Apple Mail. This has a functionality called Smart Mailboxes, which are basically stored searches. That is, I can tell Apple Mail to search for all messages with a subject line containing “GTD”, with a From email address ending in @davidco.com that were sent in the last six months. I can then tell Mail to store that as a Smart Mailbox. Whenever I click that Smart Mailbox, Mail simply performs that search and shows them in that Smart Mailbox.

So if there’s a project, I simply define a Smart Mailbox that allows me to pull up all the messages pertaining to that project. The messages themselves are, and remain, in the Archive folder. If the project is finished, I can simply delete the Smart Mailbox.

MailTags

Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out the search criteria for a project. There may be two or more different projects going on that could have “GTD” in the subject line and be from the David Allen company. For those cases I use MailTags. MailTags, among other things, allows me to attach one or more keywords to any message, and also enables Mail to use those keywords in the Smart Mailbox searches.

Tickle tags

But the main reason I use MailTags is that it allows me to attach a Tickler date to any message. Frequently there is a message that I don’t even want to see until, let’s say, next month. I put next month’s date as the tickler date, then chuck the message into Archive. I can also attach a Tickler date to mails I send out.

To see the messages that tickle me, I’ve defined a Smart Mailbox as follows: “MailTags Tickle Date”, ”is before“, “1 days from today” or “MailTags Tickle Date”, ”is past due“. I also tell the Smart Mailbox to search both in Archive, and in Sent.

Clicking the Tickled Smart Mailbox gives me all the messages that I received and now need to look at, and all those I sent out that I need to chase after.

So there you have it: simple, easy.

Other Apps

If you’re on Windows, the free Thunderbird has a feature similar to Smart Mailbox called Saved Searches. So far I know there’s no feature or plug-in (yet, I’m sure) that replicates the MailTags functionality. I’m not aware of any plug-ins for Outlook that replicate the behaviour of either Smart Mailboxes or MailTags, but then, I haven’t used Outlook seriously for ages. Anyone want to chime in on this?

The basics of GTD can be learned inside of two hours. Getting the methodology to stick, however, can be a bit more difficult. It’s partly a matter of discipline, but there are a number of things you can do to help.

The 5 I’s of GTD

In one of the podcasts available on the GTD connect website, David Allen refers to the five I’s of “getting” GTD:

• Information: learning about GTD
• Inspiration: deciding that GTD is useful
• Installation: getting the tools ready
• Implementation: learning to work the tools
• Integration: making GTD an ingrained habit

Information

The first step is to get to know the GTD methodology. Read the book, or the other book. Go to a seminar. Take a course or a personal coach. Use one of the many free introductions available on the internet. Whatever takes your fancy, however tight your budget is, whatever matches your learning style best.

In my case this took some finding out. Although a collegue of mine (hi Ard) introduced me to the methodology ages ago, and although I’d read the book soon after, I wasn’t really hooked until I came across one of David Allen’s recorded seminars. For the next few weeks, I’d listen over and over again during the 30 min drive to and from work until I could recite parts from it by heart. Extreme, yes, but apparently it worked for me.

Inspiration

The next bit often takes place subconsciously, but it pays to grab it and drag it into daylight. Why do you want to learn GTD? What is your reason for doing GTD? What, in fact, is your reason for reading this weblog article?

If the answer is “Because my boss told me to” and you haven’t found any innate enthousiasm for making this method work, don’t bother. The ship will sink before it has left the harbour, and there won’t even be an interesting sound track.

Imagine what it would be like if you were a GTD guru. What would your life be like? How would your day be different? What issues you’re facing right now would have disappeared? Would you be on top of your inbox mail queue? Would you have time to think? Would you spend more time laughing with your kids instead of being grumpy at them? Would you dare look at your financial stuff again?

If you really want to be thorough about this step, take out pen and paper (or word processor and keyboard if you like) and write down your wildest dreams. Save it, and retrieve it whenever the going gets though: it’ll inspire you to keep going. Go on, envision yourself as a black belt GTDer!

Installation

Once you know the why it’s time to learn the how. One question you should be asking yourself is: “Will I try and work the entire GTD methodology in one go, and or am I going do it bit by bit?

The answer to that depends on the amount of time and mental space you have. It also depends on how far you’re off the GTD track. GTD can be a pretty major impact on your life. If you’re working flat out trying to finish several major projects, now might not be the best time to change horses. A horse shoe here, and a bridle there, yes, but not a whole quadruped.

If you’re going to install GTD bit by bit, what bit should you do first? The question to ask yourself here is: “What is hurting the most right now?” In what part of your life would you most benefit from going GTD? If you can manage your email pretty well but your filing cabinet is a mess, go and apply some GTD tricks there. If your filing cabinet looks nice and shiny but only because the papers are distributed all over the building and that’s making you feel bad, go and apply the collect – clarify – organise – reflect – engage workflow there.

Installation is also about tools. GTD is rather ambivalent about tools. On the one hand, no tool is going to be the philosopher’s stone when it comes to either getting GTD to work, or getting it to stick. It’s the systematic approach that counts, not the system. There are souls out there, lost to GTD forever, because they’re so busy looking for the latest and greatest perfect GTD tool that they have no time left actually working their tool.

On the other hand, don’t underestimate the boost that a real cool quality tool can give you in getting the systematic approach to work. If it’s more fun, as David himself states, to toss your items in a US$128 Italian in tray than in a US$1.99 plastic thingy bought at the nearest Office Depot, and it helps you keep up the habit, go for cool.

Implementation

Work the tools. Use your lists. Do the weekly review. This is where, after all the preparation, you actually start working according to the GTD methodology.

This is also where you find out if you can make it stick, or not. If the magic doesn’t happen — if you find out you’re not writing things down as they pop into your head; you’re not working off your lists because you don’t trust them; you don’t do the weekly review weekly, or at all: the problem might be based in one or more of the four I’s.

• The information might be incorrect, or insufficient. Although the basics are pretty easy, I’ve found that there are actually a great many subtleties in the GTD method that you can glance over all too easily the first time around. For instance, most people have to have toyed around with GTD for a couple of days before they feel the real power of using project verbs for projects, and action verbs for next actions.My recommendation is that you work through the book (or whatever medium you chose) several times during the first couple of months. Alternatively, or additionally, try to find someone else who’s interested in GTD. The best way to learn any new skill is by trying to teach someone else.
• As said above, the inspiration for doing GTD often remains in the subconscious. You feel there might be value in the GTD method, but you haven’t really made explicit what that value could be. If you find yourself reverting to your old methods again and again, it helps if you can point out to yourself “I want to do GTD because I want to be able to leave at 5pm and play with my kids before they’re asleep”.It also helps a lot if you just get a taste of what perfect GTD might feel like: for instance, get your email inbox to zero just once, then pay attention to how that feels. You may not get there again for a while, but at least you know where you’re going.
• There might be problems in the installation, that is, your tools may not work as well as you’d hoped. Your shiny new smartphone certainly has the cool factor, but you find you trust your legal pad more. In that case, change tools. To avoid becoming one of those lost souls in search of the perfect tool, try to make each tool work for at least a month.Another installation issue might be that you’re trying to chew off more than you can bite. Again, it might not be possible to install the whole GTD method into your life right now: better try and apply the method to the areas that need it most.
• Then there’s the implementation. There’s a certain amount of necessary wastage associated with this phase. Even if you can recite the Book by heart, even if you’ve got your walls covered in inspirational messages, nay, even if you have the Perfect Tools for doing GTD: you will fall off the wagon.But that’s not a problem.Learning any new skill is a matter or trial and error, and GTD isn’t just a new skill, but also a pretty big behavioural change. It takes time and effort to unlearn the work habits you’ve used for years, and change them with new ones.The good news is that while falling off the GTD bandwagon is pretty easy, climbing back on becomes progressively easier, too. Once you’ve tasted what an empty inbox feels like, it’s easier to notice that your inbox is filling up again and feel like doing something about that.

Integration

The final phase is integration, which is when the GTD habits become ingrained into your life. You find you can’t stand having stuff rattle around in your head. You’re more likely to forget your wallet than your capture tool. Interruptions don’t disturb your workflow. You do the weekly review actually every week. People are putting up statues of you.

Well, maybe not statues.

But they will notice that you can keep a clear head in a crisis.

Got any tips to share on how to make GTD stick? Please leave ‘em in the comments!

Hoe kun je GTD volhouden?

De basis van de Getting Things Done methodiek is binnen een uurtje of twee wel te leren. GTD leren volhouden is heel andere koek. Voor een deel is dat een kwestie van discipline, maar er zijn wat dingen die je kunt doen om het jezelf makkelijker te maken.

I thought I was doing them a favour, but, strangely enough, they didn’t always see it that way. A few were genuinely interested, most people just heard me talk but didn’t listen, and a handful of people got angry with me. Stressed out? Them? Never! What on earth made me think so?

Now I wasn’t a very coherent or good salesman, and that might’ve accounted for the majority reaction. But why would people get angry?

Hot frog

You’ve probably heard of the boiling frog story. You plop a frog into boiling water and it’ll jump out, but if it’s placed in cold water that’s slowly, slowly heated it will not see any danger and the poor amphibian is cooked to death.

Happily the story isn’t true, which should come as a relief to all Kermits worldwide. But it’s still a useful metaphor.

Quoting the valiant Wikipedia author, “[t]he boiling frog story is generally told in a metaphorical context, with the upshot being that people should make themselves aware of gradual change lest they suffer eventual undesirable consequences.” In this case, the gradual change you should be aware of is growing amounts of … let’s call it pressure, rather than stress. Unfortunately, the undesirable consequence might not be very clear.

Yes, the boiling water end point is easily enough diagnosed: red eyed, short tempered, high on caffeine and lack of sleep, abusive of the self and the immediate surroundings. But along the way the tepid water might seem soothing, the warm water feels relaxing and the hot water invigorating. So why get out? It’s getting better and better!

Comfortable stress

Which is the way many busy people feel about stre–pressure. As the water heated up they got more work, more and bigger projects, more important clients to handle. More responsibilities. Yes, the pressure increased as well, but hey, that comes with the job, right? Anyway, I can handle it. It’s invigorating!

Then a whistle blower comes along and says, in effect, “Hey, you’re pretty stressed! But here’s something to help you out.” They’d just succesfully told themselves that they were doing all right when I ducked under their radar and told ‘em they weren’t. No wonder they got angry!

Readjust your comfort zones

You don’t plop a hot frog into cold water (unless, maybe, you’re a scientist). If you’re overweight and untrained, you don’t run a marathon from the get-go. Similary, if you currently eat stress for breakfast, you won’t get to the promised GTD land of stress-free productivity all in one go.

You’re used to the pressure of work. If you (or someone else) would magic it away today, by tomorrow you’d scramble to take on other and bigger and more complex projects. You want to get back into your comfort zone.

What you need to do is readjust your comfort zones. You need to slowly turn down the heat that’s boiling the water. From hot, back to warm, back to tepid, back to cold. Yes, it takes time.

If you’re trying to help someone who’s stressed out but doesn’t want to see it, first help them with a few productivity enhancing tips. For instance, create three folders Do, Delegate, and Think, and let them file any incoming stuff into either of these three folders.

Then use the time saved to step back and make them think about the work they still face. So they’ve divided work in Do, Delegate and Think. Grabbing the Do pile, which of the things in there can be done within two minutes? Which of the things in there require a phone call? A meeting? An email?

In short, make them see that there’s productivity in preparation. Thinking about the most efficient and effective way to do your work is work, too.

Once you’ve got your foot in the door this way you can start introducing other techniques that, initially seem non- or even counterproductive, like writing things down. But always, always make sure that you help them see the results.

How do you lead a horse to water and make it drink? Got any tips?

The summer holidays are upon us. For most employees that’s a busy time as they prepare for their absence: either for those staying behind, or for their replacements, or maybe even for themselves. What is funny is that during this busy time you tend to unwittingly apply parts of the GTD methodology.

Let’s see what most people do to prepare for a prolonged absence.

Collect

Your brain goes on holiday, too. So, anything rattling around up in that attic gets copied onto a list for the benefit of your substitute:

• Projects running but unfinished
• Projects that should be started
• Things you promised your customers or collegues you’d do
• Calls to make, mails to send, letters and memo’s that need to be written
• Documents to finish: reports, articles, minutes, instructions, weblogs, etc
• Meetings to attend, cancel or reschedule
• Financial stuff that needs to be done: accounts payable, budgets to adjust
• Plans, strategies to draw up; schedules that need rescheduling
• Customers and potential customers to massage
• Information and action results you’re waiting for; decisions that need to be made; tasks you’ve delegated, and so on

You also inspect the stacks on (and behind, and next to, and under) your desk for loose ends and actions that need to get done either before you move off, or during your holiday.

You write everything down, so that your stand-in knows what you were involved in. But if you want the essential projects to continue, you’ll have to do a bit more:

Clarify

You’ll have to distinguish between tasks and projects that just need to be nurtured until you’re back, and those that your replacement needs to take action on. For those, you need to write down:

• What’s the aim of the project (especially if your replacement isn’t from your team); and
• What needs to get done to move the project closer to the aim

Organize

Your replacement should be able to find and (re)file stuff, so you’ll have to explicitize the way you’re organised. Here are the documents needed for that project; this is the list of customers; here’s the list of important phone numbers; the filing cabinet is organised like so; you can share your calendar with your colleagues this way; and if you need help, she’s the best person to ask about the CRM system.

Again, it’s dumping stuff that you’re carrying around implicitly in your head.

Do

This is the last week before you’re off to the beach, so you only have a couple of days left. What, apart from the above, are you going to do before you leave?

• Stuff that only takes a few minutes to do; and projects you can quickly and easily get moving with little effort
• Projects and tasks that’re both important and urgent

But before you can do that you have to have made a distinction, either implicitly in your mind, or (better) explicitly on paper, between the two categories of work: this I’ll do before I go off, but I can leave that until I return.

Think

So now without any effort at all you’ve done four of the five phases that make up the GTD methodology: collect, clarify, organise and do. You also did step five, but you might not have noticed.

You didn’t just work. You though about your work. That is to say, you’ve been thinking not about the contents of your work, but about its form and its structure. Thinking about your work fundamentally differs from thinking of your work. Regularly spending some time thinking about your work in a structured way will give you the breathing space and peace of mind to focus on your work. At the right time, i.e. when you’re supposing to be working, as opposed to 2am, or on the fourth day of your vacation.

But why?

But why do you take these pre-suntan lotion-packing preparations? Because you feel responsible? Because you want to make life easy (or easier) for your replacement? Because you want your customers to be schmoozed in the right way and at the right times? Because you still want to have customers when you come back?

Possibly. Certainly

But you also know that if you don’t do this, you’ll be troubled during what should be your holiday. Either by your replacement, you haven’t handed over your work properly. Or by your own brain, which, as you prepare to go diving, happens to come up with the thought that you promised your most important customer to call back today—

Eternal vacation

Giving your brain a thorough cleaning once each year is very pleasant. But, just like it’s more enjoyable living in a house that is clean and organised (to your own standards) is more enjoyable living with a brain that’s clean and organised. Yes, it takes time to regularly think about your work. But if the result is that you can work more focussed, and that you always have the last-Friday-before-holiday feeling: isn’t that worth it?

Do you have any tips and tricks to share? How do you get to go on vacation with a light heart and a clear mind?