Getting Things Done (16 page)

Again, if some of these areas are out of control and need purging and organizing, write that on a note and toss it into “in.”

Anything on bulletin boards that needs action? Anything tacked onto the walls that doesn’t belong there? Any attention on your pictures, artwork, plaques, or decorations? How about the open shelves? Any books that need to be read or donated? Any catalogs, manuals, or three-ring binders that are out of date or have some potential action associated with them? Any piles or stacks of things on the floor? Just scoot them over next to your in-basket to add to the inventory.

Is there anything you want to do to or change about any of your office equipment or furniture or the physical space itself? Does everything work? Do you have all the lighting you need? If there are actionable items, you know what to do: make a note and put it in “in.”

Depending on the scope of what you’re addressing in this process, you may want to do some version of the same kind of gathering anywhere else you keep stuff. If you’re determined to get to a really empty head, it’s imperative that you do it
everywhere
.

Some executives I work with find it immensely valuable to take me home with them and have me walk them through this process there as well. Often they’ve allowed the “not so important” trap to ensnare them in their home life, and it has gnawed away at their energy.

Once you feel you’ve collected all the physical things in your environment that need processing, you’ll want to collect anything else that may be residing in your psychic RAM. What has your attention that isn’t represented by something already in your in-basket?

This is where the stack of plain paper really comes into play. I recommend that you write out each thought, each idea, each project or thing that has your attention, on a
separate sheet of paper
. You could make one long list on a pad, but given how you will later be processing each item individually, it’s actually more effective to put everything on separate sheets. You will likely not keep these pieces of paper (unless you decide that low-tech is your best organizing method), but it’ll be handy to have them as discrete items to deal with as you’re processing.

It will probably take you between twenty minutes and an hour to clear your head onto separate notes,
after
you’ve gathered everything else. You’ll find that things will tend to occur to you in somewhat random fashion—little things, big things, personal things, professional things, in no particular order.

In this instance, go for quantity. It’s much better to overdo this process than to risk missing something. You can always toss the junk later. Your first idea may be “Save the ozone layer,” and then you’ll think, “I need cat food!” Grab them all. Don’t be surprised if you discover you’ve created quite a stack of paper in “in” during this procedure.

To assist in clearing your head, you may want to review the following “Incompletion Triggers” list, item by item, to see if you’ve forgotten anything. Often you’ll just need a jog to unearth something lurking in a corner of your mind. Remember, when something occurs to you, write it on a piece of paper and toss it into “in.”

Projects started, not completed

Projects that need to be started

Commitments/promises to others

Communications to make/get

Other writing to finish/submit

Meetings that need to be set/requested

Who needs to know about what decisions?

Significant read/review

Financial

Planning/organizing

Banks

Administration

Customers

Marketing

Promotion

Sales

Systems

Supplies

Office/site

Waiting for . . .

Professional development

Outside education

Research—need to find out about . . .

Professional wardrobe

Projects started, not completed

Projects that need to be started

Commitments/promises to others

Projects: other organizations

Communications to make/get

Upcoming events

R&D—things to do

Administration

Waiting for . . .

Home/household

Computers

Health care

Hobbies

Errands

Community

Civic issues

If your head is empty of everything, personally and professionally, then your in-basket is probably quite full, and likely spilling over. In addition to the paper-based and physical items in your in-basket, your inventory of “in” should include any resident voice-mails and all the e-mails that are currently staged in the “in” area of your communication software. It should also include any items on your organizer lists for which you have not yet determined next actions.

I usually recommend that clients download their voice-mails onto paper notes and put those into their in-baskets, along with their whole organizer notebooks, which usually need significant reassessment. If you’ve been using something like a Palm PDA or Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Organizer for anything other than calendar and telephone/address functionality, I suggest you print out any task and to-do lists and put them, too, into your in-basket. E-mails are best left where they are, because of their volume and the efficiency factor of dealing with them within their own minisystem.

When you’ve done all that, you’re ready to take the next step. You don’t want to leave anything in “in” for an indefinite period of time, because then it would without fail creep back into your psyche again, since your mind would know you weren’t dealing with it. Of course, one of the main factors in people’s resistance to collecting stuff into “in” is the lack of a good processing and organizing methodology to handle it.

That brings us to the next chapter: “Getting ‘In’ to Empty.”

Processing: Getting “In” to Empty

ASSUMING THAT YOU
have collected everything that has your attention, your job now is to actually get to the bottom of “in.” Getting “in” to empty doesn’t mean actually
doing
all the actions and projects that you’ve collected. It just means identifying each item and deciding what it is, what it means, and what you’re going to do with it.

When you’ve finished processing “in,” you will have

To get an overview of this process, you may find it useful here to refer to the Workflow Diagram on page 120. The center column illustrates all the steps involved in processing and deciding your next actions.

This chapter focuses on the components in the diagram’s center column, the steps from “in” to next action. You’ll immediately see the natural organization that results from following this process for each of your open loops. For instance, if you pick up something from “in” and realize, “I’ve got to call Andrea about that, but I’ve got to do it on Monday, when she’s in her office,” then you’ll defer that action immediately and enter it into your calendar for Monday.