Reading Getting Things Done
I haven't been doing a hell of a job producing stuff lately. The Scrapbook was just a repackaging of code I had laying around. I have a grand plan, some code written, now I need to sit down and do it... but I'm always finding other things to do or reasons not to get the crap I want to done. It's frustrating. I'm losing time and not living up to my motto (found at the top of this page).
So, I'm reading David Allen's Getting Things Done. It's title sounds exactly what I'm looking for and now that I'm getting into the book, I'm finding it IS exactly what I'm looking for. I figured I'd share with you some of the discoveries I'm making while reading this book. You need to buy a copy for yourself, it's that good. I can feel it literally changing my life.
The main idea, and it's amazingly slap-yourself-in-the-head obvious (but I've never realized before) is that for the most part you can't control the tasks in your life. The only thing you can control is your actions. Simple stuff, huh? Organize the tasks and get them out of your head somewhere you trust. But if you write down a "to do" item, don't just write down the item, write down THE FIRST STEP you need to make towards completing that task. This concept alone is blowing my mind...
Here's some cool quotes:
Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax
"The ancestor of every action is a thought." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"This constant unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do is the single largest consumer of time and energy." - Kerry Gleeson
We need to transform all the 'stuff' we're trying to organize into actionable stuff we need to do
"Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs." - Vaclav Havel
There is usually an inverse proportion between how much something is on your mind and how much it's getting done
"Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are the most active." - Leonardo da Vinci
You have more to do than you can possibly do. You just need to feel good about your choices.
"When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." - Will Rogers [LOL]
"We must strive to reach that simplicity that lies beyond sophistication." - John Gardner
"What lies in our power to do, lies in our power not to do." - Aristotle
"Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it." - Buddha
"The best place to succeed is where you are with what you have" - Charles Schwab
"Luck affects everything. Let your hook always be cast; in the stream where you least expect it there will be fish." - Ovid
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." - Mark Twain
Very good stuff. And that's just the stuff in the margins...
-Russ