Karol Krol

Some projects can be a real pain in the you know what. Not all of them, of course. But there are some that just keep us awake at night. There can be many reasons of such a situation. Sometimes the tasks that need to be done are simply difficult to perform. Other times it’s the amount of time required that frightens us.

But sometimes the most frightening thing of them all is that we don’t know what’s going on in a project, and can’t seem to find a way to plan everything out and get a clear picture of what needs to be done.

In the previous parts of the series we were discussing what to do once everything is perfectly laid out. Once we’re clear about the exact tasks that need to be done, and once we even know when we want to take care of them. But there’s one part missing, and that’s of course the part of planning your projects and selecting your priorities.

Most projects we decide to execute should be defined and planned according to five main steps. These are:

1. Setting goals and rules.
2. Defining your vision for the end result.
3. Brainstorming.
4. Organizing.
5. Selecting next tasks.

Of course, not every project requires such an elaborate sequence of steps. Some projects are really simple, and defining things like goals or visions would be a complete overkill.

If you just want to get your car fixed then you don’t need any smart rules to be able to get it done … you probably know what needs to be done without any additional help.

However, GTD was designed to be able to handle any kind of project, no matter how big or small.

The steps mentioned above are doing just that. They can be applied to anything. And after you go through all of them you can be sure that your project will be clear and understandable. This, in the end, will improve your chance of executing the project successfully.

To explain this whole thing we’ll have to leave our simple examples and take on something a bit more complicated… So imagine that you’re buying a new apartment for you and your family.

1. Setting goals and rules.

This is the part where you answer the questions of why and what for.

For our example the question is: Why do you want a new apartment?

Some possible answers: you want to live closer to your workplace, you want your kids to live closer to school, you want to have more space for yourself and your family, you want to live in the city center because all the interesting things are happening there, you want a more modern environment, and so on.

The reasons behind every project are of course different. Furthermore, personal projects are entirely different in nature from business-centered projects. But they still have a lot in common. If, for example, instead of buying a new apartment you’re starting a business then the question remains – why do you want to start a business?

So no matter what you’re thinking of doing you always need to start with your goals and rules. Goals we have covered (it’s the why). Rules are even easier to grasp.

Going back to our example; some rules: what is your budget? where do you want to live (what neighborhood)? do you want to get one room for everybody? do you need a garage? and so on.

Once you have all these things lined up you can go to the next step.

2. Defining your vision for the end result.

This is where you’re answering the question of what.

Create a complete vision of what you want to get as the end result of the project. The more details the better.

Your vision reflects the goals and rules you’ve set in the previous step. The goals are the main guidelines on what should and shouldn’t be done inside a given project. So now, you’re using these goals to come up with your vision for the final result of the project.

A possible vision for our project:

I want a 4 bedroom apartment in the city center. At least X square meters of space. Large kitchen. It must have a garage. The price should be less than X. Modern furniture.

This sounds like a good vision. Of course there’s a lot more things we could include here, but for now it’ll do.

The next step is to take this vision and do some brainstorming around it.

3. Brainstorming.

Brainstorming is probably the most creative activity for any project. You’ve been doing it many times, I’m sure. However, brainstorming has very little point when done prior to executing the two previous steps.

A brainstorming session always has to be created around a strongly defined main idea, so we have some guidance and know where we’re going with it. And this is exactly what defining goals and vision gives us.

The brainstorming session itself is a very simple thing to do. Essentially, it’s the answer to the question of how.

Some people like to set some restrictions, for example, time constraints. This is good if we’re working on a given project at work, and more than one person is doing the brainstorming. But if it’s just you then you can spend as much time as you want. Of course, within reason.

Start by taking your goals and visions and placing them in a visible place. Then simply let your creative mind loose and write down every idea that comes to mind about the things you might do in the project. And I mean EVERY.

This is not the time to assess the ideas and erase the bad ones. Not now. This is the time to write everything down, no matter how stupid it sounds at first.

Our example: call the real estate agency, go to IKEA, hire a contractor, ask around and find out if it’s a good neighborhood or not, choose paint colors, get a full-size Elvis sculpture, get an internet connection, get a bank loan, hire a van, check all the installations (electricity, etc.), and so on. The list for such an example can go on and on, so we’ll just stop here.

Once you reach a point when you can’t think of anything else it’s probably a good moment to stop brainstorming and go to the next step.

4. Organizing.

Yes, this is where you get to select the good ideas and remove the bad ones. Brainstorming should give you a lot of both.

Why brainstorming and organizing at the same time is not the best choice? Because these activities are opposing to one another. On one hand you have to be creative and invent stuff, but on the other you have to get back to the ground and be reasonable while assessing it. Doing this at the same time simply doesn’t work. That’s why organizing is a separate step.

The process is simple. Just look at your brainstorming list and remove everything that doesn’t have much to do with your goals and visions, or is simply stupid (like the Elvis sculpture … or is it?).

Once you spend some time on looking through all those things your brain will automatically start to arrange things according to their priorities and what needs to be done first. You should use this state of mind and quickly shift to the final step.

5. Selecting next tasks.

This is where our old friend – the Next Tasks List – comes back into play.

At this point selecting the next task for your project should be easy. After the phase of organizing all ideas you should have a nice set of actionable things that are in tune with your goals and visions. Things that are absolutely crucial for implementing the project. Now, simply select your next task for the project.

Everything you have at this point goes into your Projects List. And the next possible task goes to your Next Tasks List. From that point on you can go back to your usual work (GTD style). This is where everything ties together.

What’s next?

Basically, that’s it. All you have to do now is use the system to help you get more organized and execute your projects more effectively. Both in personal life and in business.

Just to recap, and point you towards the specific parts in this series.

• Start with the brain dump exercise.
• Create your first Next Tasks List, and remember about the rules of choosing which tasks to handle at any point in time.
• Plan your projects according to the strategy in this post.
• Put all seven main elements of productivity in place.
• Remember to work according to your daily graph of activity.

I admit, there’s a lot to do if you want to have GTD fully implemented in your daily life. But would you rather be running around like a chicken with its head cut off because you don’t have a clue what to do next? Probably not.

One final encouragement for you: if you think you don’t have time for playing around with such methodologies then suspend your disbelief for a moment and have a little trust because after you implement GTD you will find time for everything.

Feel free to share how GTD is working for you. I’m curious to know. I, for example, have been using it since 2009 and it truly works like a charm.

(Photo credit: Productivity or Motivation via Shutterstock)

Just like the five elements (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood), GTD has its own elements. Only there are seven instead of five…and not nearly as epic.

In the previous parts of this series we were talking about things like how to select what to do next, and how to compile your projects list (and your next tasks list). Today it’s time to get deeper into this topic, and explain the main elements a little more in detail.

Not to keep you hanging any longer…let me tell you what the seven main elements of GTD are:

• Projects List
• Next Tasks List
• Future/maybe List
• Calendar
• “Waiting for” List
• Resource Files
• The Intangible One (wait for it…)

Being familiar with these elements, knowing how to use them, and understanding their purpose is key to implementing GTD successfully.

I know that it sounds like a lot of work, and that some of the elements are not clear at this point, but I assure you, it’s much easier than it seems.

Let’s take it from the top, and talk about the first element on the list:

Projects List

We briefly talked about this one in the previous post – Selecting What to Do Next with GTD. Feel free to check it out if you haven’t already. The post also explains the meaning of projects as defined in GTD.

In essence, your Projects List is where all of your current projects are listed.

Each project has its own section in the Projects List. Each section is a somewhat complete collection of various things regarding a project.

Such a project section usually contains things like:

• A short description of the project. This is helpful when you want to come back to a given project after a while of inactivity, and you can’t remember what the project was about exactly.
• A list of tasks that need to be done to complete the project.
• References to other materials that might come handy when working on the project.

The first element is pretty self explanatory. The second one has been explained in the previous post. So we’re left with the last one – references to other materials. The truth is that whenever you’re working on something, you need a set of different things for reference (or other information that will help you to get the project done).

Let’s use the simplest of examples just to explain this briefly – our car fixing example. Some references to other materials might include: listing of all professional garages in your area, phone numbers, important paperwork for the car.

Of course, every project has different characteristics, so there’s no universal template for those references, but I’m sure you get the idea.

Next Tasks List

Like I was saying in the previous post, this is where you spend most of your time when working with GTD.

Essentially, Next Tasks List contains only one task from each of your projects. Not more, just one single task.

Again, the previous post (Selecting What to Do Next with GTD) explains the purpose and the construction of the Next Tasks List in detail.

Future/Maybe List

This is a new element. We haven’t talked about it yet.

The purpose of this list is very simple in nature. It contains everything that you know you won’t be able to take action on right now ( Future), or things that you’re not yet sure if you’re going to take action on them ever (Maybe).

The purpose of this list is to give you a place to store all your ideas, possible projects, things that simply seem interesting, things you don’t want to forget about, etc.

The construction of the list is not defined exactly, so anything you want can find its place there. In particular, things like:

• Short descriptions of new projects.
• Single tasks you’re thinking about doing.
• Random, yet actionable thoughts on anything.
• Things (requests, projects, tasks) other people have sent you.
• Summaries of interesting articles/posts you might want to take action on in the future.

Virtually, everything that’s worthy of keeping for possible future actions finds its place in the Future/Maybe List. There are no other rules more important than this one.

Calendar

A calendar seems like a pretty obvious thing. But it’s not. Many people fall into a trap of putting everything in a calendar. It’s a habit. And it’s a bad one.

The biggest problem with a calendar is that we often use it to list some things we think we’re going to be able to do on a given day. So we end up with tens of tasks, one on top of the other, each not done on the desired day. This also makes it really easy to overlook some tasks that absolutely need to be done on a given day.

Your calendar is sacred. The real purpose of a GTD calendar is to let you know that if you put something in it, it means that this specific thing can only be done on the exact date you’ve picked…or NEVER.

I’m serious. It really is your only chance of doing the thing. After you miss it, it’s lost for eternity.

What’s the purpose of all this? It’s simple. It’s for so that all of the truly time-sensitive tasks don’t get overlooked.

Let’s say you’ve got a doctor’s appointment. Such appointments are always set to a specific date and hour. If you miss it, well, you missed it, and you have to make another appointment. You can’t just show up the next day and say “Sorry, I’m late.” This won’t work.

The doctor’s example is actually perfect for explaining the purpose of a GTD calendar. It really is a sacred place. If something gets put into the calendar there’s no way of rescheduling it, or postponing it. It’s like it’s been written in stone.

What’s the main benefit? You’ll be amazed how little things you’ll have in your calendar once you implement this.

“Waiting for” List

This is a new element too. Quite simply, this list contains all the things you are waiting for.

“Things you are waiting for” is a vague explanation so let me give you some examples:

• Emails you’re waiting for other people to send you.
• A call your real estate agent was supposed to make to you.
• The price of Mexican Peso to go down so you can buy some currency for your vacation.
• Your car to be fixed so you can pick it up.
• Your post to be published on Lifehack.org.

This list is a place for all things that are somewhat independent of your actions, yet you are still waiting for them to happen.

What’s the purpose? Simply not to forget about the fact that someone was supposed to do something for you, and they’re late. It’s so you don’t wake up one day and say, “Wait a minute, my article was supposed to be published like 2 months ago!”

Resource Files

Resource Files contain every piece of information you might need to get on with your projects, work, and…essentially…life. ”Resource Files” isn’t the best name in the world, so let’s show some examples:

• Articles that might come handy.
• Blog posts you’ve read (or written).
• Your directory of tabs and notes (if you’re a guitarist, for example).
• Your notebook of contacts.
• Your list of the best restaurants in the city.
• Certain books you want to review.
• Every piece of important information that’s stored on your computer’s hard drive.
• Pictures from your last holiday.
• and so on…

I guess that the only rule is to store everything that isn’t actionable in any way, but you want to keep it nevertheless.

As you’d imagine, this is probably the biggest element in volume of them all. Nothing else comes even close to your Resource File. Thankfully, these days we’re doing most of our stuff on a computer, so we don’t have to play around with tons of paper.

The Intangible Element

This is the final and most important element of them all. It’s the intangible one: Trust.

If you don’t have trust for GTD then nothing else can make the system work for you. If you want GTD to help you make your life and work more organized you have to trust that GTD can indeed do that for you.

Trust is not that important for other, simpler methodologies. But GTD is different. It is somewhat complex. It hasn’t been invented overnight. It’s a result of years of work and experience of its author – David Allen. It is not accidental. And that is why it works.

But to make it work you have to trust it, or – as some like to call it – suspend your disbelief while you learn GTD. It will pay off soon.

There have been three parts of the Productivity Made Simple series already. At this point, do you trust that it can change the way you work? Share your thoughts in the comments.

(Photo credit: Tutorial or Advice Concept via Shutterstock)