Black Belt Productivity

MAN…I need a yard sale…BAD!!!

As I look around my garage, I see a hopeless looking mess.

However, this is another real opportunity for a GTD^® application.
David tells us that sometimes we just need to rent one of those portable dumpsters, and start chunking stuff. And yes…its ok.

How do we apply GTD to a natural disaster like my garage?

Let’s recap. Michael reminded us a few weeks ago in Chapter 2 of the primer that there are five stages of processing.

1. Collect all of our actions into one place,
2. Process what the action is and what needs to be done,
3. Organize them,
4. Review what needs to be done for each before you
5. Do it.

First of all, you have this massive inbox, your garage. You may choose to put a lot if the “stuff” in a pile. Whatever works best for you is ok. Then comes the actual processing. Now we, of course, have to ask questions about our stuff. Obviously the first question is, “What is it?”. If the answer to question 1 is “I don’t know”, then questions 2 and 3 do not matter…It must be garbage. Instead of “Is it actionable?”, I ask, “Will I have any need to use this in the near future?” If the answer is “Yes”, then I need to find a good place for it. If not, it goes into another pile to face the second question in a moment.

The second question is, “Is there any value in keeping this item?” If the answer is “No”, then is is destined for the dumpster or the garbage. Obviously, we do not want to rid ourselves of things that are of sentimental value. So that is one of the values to take into consideration. However, the sentimental value assigned to something is a personal judgment. If you are married, include your spouse in the discussion when it comes to items that they might deem sentimental.

Of course, we want to organize the remaining items in a way that helps us access these items when we need them. Space dictates this to a large degree. But the point is, we do not want to take a mess, throw out some of it, and just leave a smaller mess. We want to organize it to serve us.

Once we have completed the new organization, we need to review what we have done to see if everything we have done makes sense. Do we have everything sitting in the most effective place? If so, then we progress to the next step which is doing.

If we have any projects that have manifested themselves in this process (like building a new set of shelves), then we need to put them into our system as a project and determine next actions. Then it becomes a part of our workflow under the @home or @garage context.

If we answer these questions above honestly, I think we will find that we will open a lot of space in our garages (or rooms, or kitchens…you get the picture). Guys, that does not necessarily mean you need to fill that space with a new motorcycle or boat. *grin*

Next time we face a cleanup in the house or garage, remember that GTD can actually help us in these efforts just as well as it does in desktop workflow.

Now where is that phone number for Waste Management?

- Jason