Post written by Marlon Ribunal.
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[Author's Note: This is Part 3 of the series  "Establishing The Habit Of Staying Productive"]

Series Outline:

Introduction

The Habit Of To-Do List

The Habit Of Getting Things Done

The Habit Of Celebrating Milestones

The Habit Of Getting Things Done

Man has been working his toil since time immemorial. Cessation of work is not likely to happen in the next century or so. What does this tell us? You’re right. Work will not go away. You might opt to retire from your current job, but guess what, work does not end with your retirement. Dictionary.com defines work as “something on which exertion or labor is expended“. Whatever you do that requires action is work. Money might be the number one cause of stress but that factor is closely associated with the lack of work.

Work has been a part of human’s life and so is stress. For as long as there is work, there is going to be stress intertwined with it. The underlying goal of work is productivity. In the workplace setting, your ability to deliver efficiently determines your productive output. Between efficiency and productivity is you – either you’re able to bridge the two or become the source of a disconnect.

Getting things done, and feeling good about it, means being willing to recognize, acknowledge, and appropriately manage all the things that have your consciousness engaged. Mastering the art of stress-free productivity requires it (emphasis mine). – David Allen in Getting Things Done

David Allen Teaches The GTD Religion

Obviously, to become productive, you have to eliminate stress or minimize it at least. Getting things done is not an option. What we’ve accomplished measures the outcome of our work. How can you deliver efficiency if you cannot manage stress? How can you bridge it with the expected metrics of productivity if you do not have control over the outcome? You want to eliminate stress associated with your work? In three simple word: Get Things Done.

I suggest that you go grab the book of David Allen,  Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, if you want to learn the GTD Concept in its fullness. The concept itself has become almost a religion for some. I do not want to desecrate it by trying to summarize the book in few paragraphs. Reading the book yourself is the only way you can fully grasp the concept of it. Stay away from those so-called complete reviews. To give an overview, the book underscores the pieces of truth that we are already engaged in in our workplace and wherever we need to do some actions:

Question Of Efficiency

• What To Do – What is your job description? What are the expectations you need to accomplish? What are your tasks?
• When To Do It – What is the deadline? It’s Friday, what have you accomplished? Have you completed the things that are expected to be done at certain time?
• How To Do It – Are you familiar with your company procedures? Are you following specification? Have you defined your objectives?

How To Be Effective

• Maximize Output – How does your company measure your output? What are the metrics?
• Minimize Input – What are the techniques? Have you avoided cutting corners?

What We Need To Be Effective

• Proven Tools To Help Focus Our Energies Strategically And Tactically - Do you have tested and proven tools in place? Have you developed patterns of doing things conveniently?
• Stress-Free Environment - Is your cubicle optimized for productivity? Is your time consumed in uncluttering your space?

What We Need To Know

• How To Process Information – Do you have a system in place? Do you know the bits and bolts of your job?
• How To Focus On Outcomes –  Do you have your mind set on the goals? Do you lose sight of your objectives?
• What Actions To Make Them Happen – What are you expected to deliver? What are your deliverables?

What We Already Know

• How To Focus – You already know how to focus, but you are yet to decide what to focus on.
• How To Write Things Down – You already know how to make a list of things except that you don’t know what makes the list.
• How To Decide On Outcomes And Actions – You know you have to make the decision and act upon things, but how?
• How To Review Options And Make Choices – You have your own perspectives and you can easily grasp the overview of your actions versus your goals, but what’s next?

So what exactly is the Getting Things Done concept? In the heart of this concept are the Five Stages Of Mastering Workflow: Collect, Process, Organize, Review, and Do. I am not going to discuss all those stages. Like I said, I don’t want to desecrate the religion built around it by trying to explain the whole thing. You MUST read the GTD book yourself.

The mission of Getting Things Done is to help the practitioner become highly productive by being in control, not stressed out, highly focused, and have a noticeable progress. It is “a guide to maximizing output and minimizing input.” In a sentence, GTD is the philosophy of “putting the essence of the dynamic art of workflow management and personal productivity into linear format (emphasis mine).”

Therefore the Habit Of Getting Things Done leads us to the the sure path of being productive. For us to stay productive, we need to master this art. “The trick is to learn to pay attention to the ones you need to at the appropriate time, to keep you and your systems in balance.”

Proceed To Part 4 And Final Part Of This Series: The Habit Of Celebrating Milestones