Reddit reviews Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
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Getting Things Done The Art of Stress Free Productivity
Read this book, like yesterday:
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143126563/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_9FNDDbKFBSB1YEdit: apparently that's the new edition, I haven't read it, I endorse the original edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0142000280/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_OMNDDbEZQEPXN
It's not magic (nothing is magic) but it started my journey toward being more productive.
It sounds like fix #1 is more sleep.
Lame as it may sound, 8 hours of sleep is hugely different than 3 or even 5. Set the alarm for turning off the computer and just do it man. I'm sure there are auto-shutoff functions, but I say turn the computer off yourself. It's a sign of your own commitment to change. You can push one button to start a better life.
I find everything else seems easier if I get enough sleep. Without it, stuff seems difficult and unimportant and I drift back into a bad mindset. It took me a long time to recognize that those thoughts were a lie... just a lack of sleep in disguise.
From there, I'd probably recommend a simple calendar+task list system like Cal Newport recommends in the Straight A Student, though others like David Allen's more detailed Getting Things Done methodology.
But start with getting good sleep. Commit to it for a week and see how it goes.
I don’t really love advertising for certain things, but this has really helped me out with juggling life:
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563
Basically, get it all out of your head and into some thing better at keeping information. Software, planner, calendar. I am building a house, have a stressful software engineer job, have 4 kids under 7, and a wife with medical problems. I still fail a lot...but now not as often!
I see someone's familiar with David Allen. "Getting Things Done" for the uninitiated. Basically, 'do the easy stuff first, the stuff that takes little to no effort to clear off your plate, so that you're free to better focus on the priorities.'
GTD without a doubt.
I will recommend a couple general business books that helped me
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As a an intro to setting up and administering an office I would suggest
Get Things Done by David Allenhttps://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563/
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For the business of business I would suggest an old one
The Entrepreneurs Manuel... I have the 1977 edition and it is pretty brutally honest with some concepts that don't get talked about because they are ethically shady... or can generate so many ideas that a company can get overloaded. This is actually originally a Chilton Manual... and is now reprinted by a different company... and is apparently a poor reprint quality so try to get a copy off ebay
https://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurs-Manual-Start-Ups-Innovative-Management/dp/1626540225/
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https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=0801964547
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there's many others as I pick things up at thrift stores and random books will have a good idea or two...such as
I rate my clients
'A' : make referrals
'B' : pay on time and are normal clients
'C' : Have 'warning signs' but are otherwise 'B' clients. ie. Asks for discounts. Slow payer. etc
'D' : Drop. Demands discounts or asks for ethically shady work.
Your problem is being unorganized. First you need to educate yourself, read the following book (text, audio avail.). David Allen has been writing it for decades and he is definitely the expert on the subject. Made my life easier for sure.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by Amazon.com
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143126563/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_HRRBCbYP23V5R
The solution to your problems is quite simple: make a list of things that you need/want to do, then just fucking do it. Yep, there, I said it. I know it sounds harsh. But after years of reading, researching, and experimenting, I've found that precisely this is what it all boils down to: just. fucking. do. it. We end up building all kinds of mental scaffolds around the concept, with tricks and rewards and what not, but it all boils down to the same in the end.
Having a system in place to help you "just fucking doing it" can help tremendously, especially in the beginning. If you're willing to put in some time to work through them, I recommend The Now Habit, and Getting Things Done. Each of these books presents a different approach to productivity. You don't have to implement either system verbatim. Learn from them, try out things that sound interesting, and over time, build your own system.
Building and sticking to your system is a habit you will have to build. If that kind of thing is hard and/or interesting for you, please read The Power of Habit.
Don't just read them once and put them away. Read them, then take notes, then go over them again, and refer back to them every time you find something is lacking in your system. Don't read them cover to cover. They're quite long, and drag their feet through some sections. Skim them, check the index, and read through what sounds interesting, then go back and fill in the gaps if necessary.
> he can't switch off from work and that stress really affects his sex drive.
He needs to fix this. If it's destroying his sex drive to the point that it's threatening your marriage, it's undoubtedly harming him in other ways too. I mean, I completely empathize to a point... I'm one of those people who has an impossible time switching off from work, and it's had many negative and positive consequences in my life. And I've started multiple businesses. While none have specifically resulted in a drag on sex drive for me, the overload from doing this has caused me to neglect various important aspects of my personal life in different ways at different times.
Most of the rest of the sub may want to tune the rest of this reply out, but, /u/lonelybutinlove, please keep reading, digest, and relay this advice to your husband. If I'd gotten this figured out sooner it would have made a big difference for me. Again, not sex-related in my case, but it's a cure for that nasty problem of not switching off causing you to neglect important personal stuff.
I know this isn't the topic of this sub, but I'd bet a handsome sum it has a ton to do with your situation.
He needs to establish a system where his brain is only responsible for doing, not retaining. It depends heavily on the person, naturally, but as a group our brains are good at picking up our next task, solving a small problem, and checking it off. We're not (globally) good at retaining the pile of junk we have to do in order to accomplish the larger project that problem is part of. When we keep too much of that in our head, we suffer in multiple ways. First, the need to keep state causes us to need to stay focused on the project(s) even when we shouldn't. You're seeing fallout from that. Second, it makes us less effective at knocking out those individual tasks. Third, because we're not really that good at keeping accurate state, we lose track of some of those tasks and need to panic to complete them. It adds up to create a big ball of stress that detracts from work and personal stuff alike, though we usually compensate to make sure that work stuff suffers less because, y'know, we need to feed our families.
The way out of this soup is to put together a system you can trust completely for tracking what your next steps are and for getting them in front of you when they need to be. When you can trust your system completely for the planning crap, you can only be "plugged in" to the thing currently in front of you. Other things come up, you funnel them into your system and keep going with the thing at hand. Your system is better at handling the planning/tracking/prioritization than your brain is, and freeing your brain from maintaining that state makes you better at whatever's in front of you. Be that work, personal, etc. When your system is reliable, you can decide to switch off from work without stressing because you know that the next time you look at your system, you've got the next thing you need to focus on in front of you.
That's a hasty summary. The thing to read to really understand this point is David Allen's Getting Things Done. It's an easy read and not a new book. Practically any public library will have it available, and it's easy to find and not very expensive. This book explains the principles of the system and gives many practical suggestions. It's completely agnostic about what tools you might use to implement the system. For me, the thing that's really made it seamless was The Secret Weapon Manifesto which tells about how to use Evernote and your calendar, in great detail, to put the Getting Things Done system in practice.
It's not a hard system to implement. And once you have it to the point where you can trust it to keep track of the things you need to do so that you don't have to devote precious mental capacity to that, it's like a fog lifts. And with that a whole pile of stress just goes away. As a bonus you get better both at your job and at maintaining all those things you need to maintain in your personal life.
Sorry if this isn't directly responsive to your post. I just see some parts of myself in how you describe your husband, and having some system is the key to fixing those parts. It doesn't matter if it's this system... though this is a good and easy one. But it needs to be one he can trust. This will knock out a ton of stress. I bet that helps him prioritize things you and your family need. If it doesn't, there's something else going on too, but you'll both like the improvement you'll see if you can get him on board with this, and it'll free up brain power to tackle whatever else might be in the way. Getting a good system lets you keep the positive consequences of being driven but gain the benefits from being able to switch off.
Buckle up! In my teams, leaders are readers.
Here's a short list:
Oh and here is Lincoln Murphy's book list.
Getting Things Done
My fiancé read Getting Things Done. The difference in his stress levels before and after reading this book is night and day. Definitely recommend.
Adopt GTD:
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563
Be warned: it is not easy to adopt; the author is wordy & the book is fairly dense. However, the system is VERY easy to operate once you get it setup & running! The basic principles are:
So basically, you never drop the ball on any of your commitments. Now, that doesn't mean that you actually have to do everything; it simply means that you have to capture absolutely everything & then make a decision on it. Like if your garage is a hoarder's nest & needs to be purged, but you're busy or just don't want to do it, you can make the decision not to deal with it this month, but to revisit it in a month - your brain will then stop bugging you about it, because now you've answered the mail on "what're ya gonna do about that?" so that it stops pestering you mentally.
I don't remember many of them, but I'm quite sure you should start with David Allen's "Getting Things Done".
Not PM specifically, but generally a good book an keeping track of many things. Called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.
List of popular task managers:
Omnifocus is the most expensive, but also the app with the most depth, functionality and support. You appear to not have gone down the rabbit hole of GTD and more advanced task management, so a subscription based application might be more suitable for you at this stage.
I second /u/nathanaherne's list - especially E-Myth.
In addition, I'd recommend:
Just be careful, it's easy to fall down the rabbit hole of 'thinking you're being productive' but working ON things instead of "In" things. (Meta-procrastination is reading a book about getting organized instead of getting organized.) You should strive to have the simplest, most boring system that actually works for you. It's very easy to get caught up in the trap of researching the latest and greatest fad rather than actually doing the hard tasks that need to be done.
The 'classic' is "How to take control of your time and your life" by Lakein. This is the most generic, 1970s version of time management possible, but is helpful to understand as it is kind of 'responded to' by multiple other authors, even if they don't call him out by name.
Another frequently referenced work is "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Covey. This gets mentioned in a lot of places. It is a 'top down' style.
For a completely different perspective, try "Getting Things Done" by Allen. This will lead you to realize how many commitments that you have made. It is more 'bottom up'.
Finally, some of the most interesting stuff in this space that I have read is by Mark Forster. His latest book is here. And his blog is here.
At a high level, it is always useful to think about the utility of what you are doing - that is, making sure you are doing the right things, even if you are doing them slowly (working on your most important tasks), rather than doing low value tasks efficiently (man, I can read email quickly). Peter Drucker, Tim Ferriss (Four Hour Workweek), etc.
Other ideas/Books to research: JIT/Kanban, 80/20 'rule', "Eat that frog" by Brian Tracy. Smarter Faster Better by Duhigg, The Power of Habit also by Duhigg I also very much enjoyed. The Magic of Tidying up by Kondo might also give you some insight into cleaning out your commitments.
Hope this helps. I have read all of these so let me know if you have questions I guess...
You might want to check out [Getting Things Done](http://www.Getting.com/ Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143126563/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Mc4kyb5C05NBB), by David Allen. I found it very helpful in dealing with those exact issues.
I would start looking around for another job right now. Getting promoted makes you more hireable, and it seems that the job they've given you is impossible to do properly. You're overstressed now just trying to stay afloat, which is probably the same thing your former boss went through before giving up.
For now, your two best friends are prioritization and time management. Make sure you have a good idea of which tasks are most important and most urgent, so you're not wasting time on things that aren't important, won't be noticed, or which won't be important until a long time from now.
And learn to manage your time better. Almost everyone can and should get better at time management. Do you ever feel like you'd like to stop time for 2 hours a day, just so you could use that time to catch up on things? Better time management can get you those two hours a day.
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505388488&sr=8-1&keywords=getting+things+done
https://www.amazon.com/New-One-Minute-Manager/dp/0008128049/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1505388542&sr=8-7&keywords=one+minute+manager
I try to follow GTD https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563
Tool wise I use Trello, and Google Calendar.
Getting Things Done, in all seriousness, changed my life.
I can tell you that in a situation like you describe, not recording all of the various things that came up, so you can work on them later and be confident that you know all the issues are accounted for, will bite you sooner or later. It probably already has, at some point in your career. You spaced a request in the hall from your boss to look at an issue on a server because you were juggling a dozen other things and trying to keep them all in your head.
Get in the habit of recording tasks as soon as you discover them or are assigned them. When you have it represented as a list rather than trying to rack your brain because you know there was something really important I'm forgetting shit what was it you're a more effective person in general.
Feel free to PM me.
Read this book: Getting Things Done. It will change the way you perceive and interact with life!
Here's a good field manual.
I haven't personally had issues with time management, but after talking to some of my classmates that have and looking through the internet it seems that Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen is a good one as it seems to appear on multiple top lists for everyday productivity.
I highly recommend the book Getting Things Done by the inventor of GTD, David Allen. I listened to the book (which is narrated by Mr Allen himself) and found it to be very help- and insightful.
Have you read the book "Getting Things Done" by David Allen? It is a great read on how to organize your life.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143126563/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1523503958&sr=1-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=getting+things+done&dpPl=1&dpID=51phPkRksUL&ref=plSrch
Here is the mobile version of your link
Getting Things Done helped me in getting organized.
The newest edition of Getting Things Done is from 2015. There was a “Getting Things Done For Teens” that came out in 2018. There’s also a “Getting Things Done Workbook” with a release date later in 2019.
If you’re looking for the main book, the 2015 edition is the one to get.
Plenty of good, cheap options out there.
Time Management and Communication is a bit general itself. There's a ton of resources. I'd get a personal coach if I were you, but that's more of an investment. Start with books and online classes that are free / cheap.
Website - https://gettingthingsdone.com/five-steps/
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Book - https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563
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Do you know what the Eisenhower matrix is?
Of course! The core of this system is in a book by David Allen called Getting Things Done (surprise surprise). This system is so insanely helpful, I have about 80% of it implemented and it's life changing what managing your tasks allows you to do AND how much free space you get in your head to be creative. 10/10 would recommend.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143126563/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HKbZAbEC86RE3
It’s a book, that’s popular with a lot of managers and small business owners. It can be applied to a lot of people.
Thanks
Getting Things Done
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563
OmniFocus is a big beast, it's flexible enough to suit just about any workflow but confusing as hell for those new to the program. Best to search around and gather ideas as to what works best for you. I'd start with the following:
David Allen's' Getting Things Done
Asian Efficiencies OmniFocus Guides
A Fresh Take on Contexts
Take your time, enjoy the journey.
You may or may not find this helpful, but it pretty much changed the way I organize my life.
No problem , thanks for the input:). I meant ego in the sense that, I have lots of pride in what I do, but I always take constructive criticism seriously whenever its given to me, because most of my life I just had to constructively criticize myself to get by. In order to learn things and what not
I decided to actually write 3 books on these topics,
> I will say this though, those programs change a lot quicker than your book will pick up on popularity. If you made a book about note taking as a decent sized book that might work and then smaller book that could be updated on the uses of ON AND EN then you might be better off. But that's just strictly my opinion.
I agree with you on everything here, from first hand experience. Evernote (especially) more than onenote, decides to change UI things at random sometimes. The book will get outdated on evernote for sure, since its got BIG changes sometimes <1 year, whereas Onenote is about 3-6 years on average (Biggest change was 2010 to 2013 on its UI, some people reallly hated it)
> For clarity, I usually don't even like to read. I use audio books. I just say all that to get at the point of I think an in-depth manual is great just don't want it to not keep up with the times. If that makes sense. Hope I didn't offend especially since you said u have an ego. Cheers
I guess you are referring to audible.com. I thought people mostly did that for fiction books if they did audio books. Do people actually use that for short manuals in evernote / onenote or software tutorials? I haven't really explored audio books a lot
> in-depth manual is great just don't want it to not keep up with the times
On this thought, there are some things though, with evernote and onenote. I don't believe that ON especially will change much overtime (it really hasn't change a lot over the years imo), but EN will adapt to newer technologies, granted its UI won't change a lot. This book written now, won't be needing that many updates in the future. Even if evernote were to disappear one day, its had such a long lasting impact that many people have made EN clones off of it
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1463570836&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=getting+things+done
If you need an ebook version pm me.
Get Things Done by David Allen. Link is to the newer edition, don't know if that makes a difference.
I'd highly recommend GTD
There's also a shorter version but I'd recommend the book if you're serious. There are also a bunch of different subreddits r/gtd, r/productivity, etc that can help. Good luck!
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity was a huge help for getting my procrastination habits under control.
No, I do not wash clothes daily. How much water do you people spend?!
What things should I put away? Everything is in it's place already.
I am not sure what you mean by washing up, but when I eat, I wash my plate and fork or spoon. It takes like 2 minutes.
My wife wants to clean every week, even though the house is not dirty. I take it as if she has nothing to do.
You all need to calm down a little bit and take life a little bit easier. You are stressing yourselves(all the women in this thread) and your families.
You post here about the 'mind load'. You think men don't have things in their heads? You are right, we don't. Everything is categorized in lists and everything is planned. We don't have to keep everything in our heads.
A good start: Getting Things Done
Follow up: Trello (web-app and Android/iOS app)