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One Item at a Time
October 20, 2014
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
-Henry Miller

In Getting Things Done, David Allen offers this advice on managing the tasks on your desk...

"You may find you have a tendency, while processing your in-basket, to pick something up, not know exactly what you want to do about it, and then let your eyes wander onto another item farther down the stack and get engaged with it.  That item may be more attractive to your psyche because you know right away what to do with it — and you don't feel like thinking about what's in your hand.  This is dangerous territory.  What's in your hand is likely to land on a 'hmppphhh' stack on the side of your desk because you become distracted by something easier, more important, or more interesting below it.

"Most people also want to take a whole stack of things out of the in-basket at once, put it right in front of them, and try to crank through it.  Although I empathize with the desire to 'deal with a big chunk,' I constantly remind clients to put back everything but the one item on top.  The focus on just one thing forces the requisite attention and decision-making to get through all your stuff.  And if you get interrupted (which is likely), you won't have umpteen parts of 'in' scattered around outside the tray and out of control again."






In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country.

Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential.

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Comments (3)

Displaying All 3 Comments
Kirsten Haugen · October 20, 2014
Eugene, Oregon, United States


Opened my email to look up an address related to the task at the top of my inbox. Then I saw this EED and stopped what I was doing to read it. Oops...

donna · October 20, 2014
SCAC Inc.
Huntington, WV, United States


Thank you, looking in my "in" box is a description of me in your article-:)
This helped me to understand taking one item out at a time and not shifting papers around in my "in" box.
Also, relaxing and de-stressing your mind before you start, I will try this(although difficult) ;)

Eve Sullivan · October 20, 2014
Parents Forum
Cambridge, MA, United States


Excellent advice for a Monday morning. Thank you!

On the same theme, I recommend Hamlet's Blackberry by William Powers. Subtitled 'a practical philosophy for building a good life in the digital age' and published in 2010, it presents views of seven historical thinkers, and doers: Plato, Seneca, Gutenberg, Shakespeare (therefore the book's title), Benjamin Franklin, Thoreau and Marshall McLuhan, as well as the author's own experiences with digital technologies. Each has valuable thoughts on how to focus and how to get things done.

One of my nephews -- he is 50 years younger then me… how did the years pass so quickly? -- formed a book club of two and are reading, in my case re-reading, the Powers book. The perspectives of digital natives are enlightening. I guess it is as short-sighted of me to say "I don't use Facebook" as it is, or would be, for him and his cohort to say "I don't read newspapers" or "I don't use the telephone."



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