This document provides guidance on getting things done and managing stress by following a process of collecting, processing, organizing, reviewing, and doing tasks. It recommends capturing all tasks and commitments in a single "bucket" to empty at least weekly. When processing items, the next physical action should be determined and tasks either completed if under two minutes, delegated, scheduled for later, or filed away. Organizing involves listing next actions, projects, and items waiting on others. Tasks should be reviewed at least daily and weekly to keep work moving forward in a stress-free manner.

1. GETTING THINGS
DONE
Leadership training series
Ruchhir Agarwal
Disclaimer
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2. There are too many
things on our mind
There is too much to do and too little time!
Work no longer has clear boundaries
Unfortunately, mind is like a computermore running thoughts, more overhead
As you move up, the air gets thinner - on a
career ladder too
There is always more to do than you can do

3. There are too many
things on our mind
You have more internal commitments than you
are aware of
From answering emails to taking out the trash,
from making a presentation to seeing an aging
parent, all of these are on your mind at any
given moment.
Every time you fail to do one of these or
leave one unfinished, it stays on your mind
and adds to your stress level.

4. There are too many
things on our mind
!
Why? Three things:
You haven't clarified exactly what the
intended outcome is.
You haven't decided what the very next
physical action step is.
You haven't put reminders on the outcome
and the action required in a system you
trust.

5. Your mind doesn’t have a
mind of its own

6. Your mind doesn’t have a
mind of its own

7. We think it is good
to be a multi-tasker
There is nothing like multi tasking. Your mind
can only do one thing at a time. All you are
doing is rapidly refocusing to different activities.

8. Solution?

9. Mind like water
In karate there is an image that’s used to
define the position of perfect readiness:
“mind like water.” Imagine throwing a pebble
into a still pond. How does the water
respond? The answer is, totally appropriately
to the force and mass of the input; then it
returns to calm. It doesn’t overreact or
underreact.
-David Allen

10. Mind like water

11. Mind like water
People say “I don’t have time to ____” and feel
overwhelmed by a particular project because they
keep focusing on how big a task it entails. What
you need to recognize, is that you can’t do a
project at all - you can only do an action related
to it. And most actions only take a minute or two,
in the right context, to move a project forward.
Most of the time, the real problem is not lack of
time, but the lack of clarity or definition about
what a project is, and what actions are required to
do it.

12. Focus
Collect
Process
Organize
Review
Do

13. Collect

14. Collect
Capture everything that you need to track
or remember or act on in what Allen calls a
'bucket'
Get everything out of your head and into
your collection device, ready for processing
All buckets should be processed to empty
at least once per week.

15. Process
Start at the top
Deal with one item at a time
Never put anything back into 'in'
If an item requires action:
Do it if it takes less than two minutes
Delegate it (waiting for)
Do it later (next action) or (calendar)

16. Process
!
If not:
File it for reference (archive)
Throw it away (trash)
(Someday) for possible action later

17. Organize
Next actions - For every item requiring your
attention, decide what is the next action that you
can physically take on it
Projects - Every 'open loop' which requires more
than one physical action to achieve becomes a
'project‘
Waiting for - When you have delegated an action
to someone else or are waiting for some external
event before you can move a project forward
Someday/Maybe - things that you want to do at
some point, but not right now

18. Review
Review your lists of actions and reminders
them at least daily
At least weekly, review all your
outstanding actions, projects and 'waiting
for' items

19. Do
Action choice criteria:
Context
Time
Energy
Priority

21. Managing emails

22. Stressssssssss

23. Relief!

24. Exercise
Write down the task that is lingering in your
mind right now (collect)
Determine the intended outcome (process)
Write down the very next physical action
required (organize)
review
do

26. Thanks
Ruchhir Agarwal