Making It All Work  ## Metadata - Author: [[David Allen]] | [[3. Resources/Authors/David Allen|David Allen]] - Full Title: Making It All Work - Category: #books - Kindle: [Open in Kindle](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001AO0GRC) - Document Tags: [[GTD]] ## Document Notes ## Highlights - What we have, in short, is a desperate need to learn how to manage—not information but rather what things mean and how they all relate to each other. ([Location 365](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=365)) - Tags: favorite - You can’t really manage time; time just is. What you can manage is yourself— your focus and your actions. ([Location 385](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=385)) - When you are fully and optimally self-managed, time actually disappears. You’re just engaged. There’s no sense of lack, conflict, or imbalance in your experience. ([Location 387](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=387)) - The Mastering Work Flow model consists of five stages:1   Collect Process Organize Review Do ([Location 485](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=485)) - Our mind naturally advances through a five-stage process to take an intention into reality, no matter how large or small the event:2   Purpose and principles Vision Brainstorming Organizing Next actions ([Location 508](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=508)) - Your mind will remind you of all kinds of things when you can do nothing about them, and merely thinking about your concerns does not at all equate to making any progress on them. More often than not, it seems that people are having thoughts, though not really thinking about what they’re thinking about—at least not in an effective way that resolves, advances, or manages the content. But understanding how to work with this relatively reactive and mechanical part of our mental process holds a huge key to winning at this game. ([Location 599](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=599)) - The way most people seem to operate is by entrusting only their psyche to manage what’s incomplete. But the mind then tries to keep all the agreements simultaneously, which is impossible. The result is the paradox that by continually attempting to relieve the stress of unfinished work, more stress is created. ([Location 707](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=707)) - In order to relieve the pressure of broken self-agreements, you must know that: • You have captured, clarified, and organized your commitments, at all horizons, and • You will consciously engage with them as often as you need to. ([Location 711](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=711)) - Tags: favorite - It’s likely that you already have experienced the freedom in your mind from the risk of broken agreements, by virtue of the appropriate use of a trusted system, and the negative results that accrue if you don’t have one. Is there any difference with respect to your agreements with yourself for all the other commitments in your life and work that are not calendared items? None at all. ([Location 724](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=724)) - Tags: favorite - “Finish your thinking” simply means to decide what the next physical thing to do is to move them forward from where they are. This is a prime example of not putting the appropriate attention on what has your attention. You need to think about your stuff more than you think, but not as much as you’re afraid you might. ([Location 762](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=762)) - Control without perspective is micromanagement, and perspective without control is crazy-making. ([Location 871](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=871)) - Loss of control and perspective is the natural price you will pay for being creative and productive. The trick is not how to prevent this happening, but how to shorten the time you stay in an unsettled state. ([Location 918](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=918)) - The two keys ingredients for making it all work are:   Control Perspective ([Location 987](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=987)) - There are five stages to achieving control and six Horizons of Focus that lead to the gaining of perspective. ([Location 999](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=999)) - This is the state of flow, of being in your zone, of being “on.” You are guiding your ship through the waves, wind, and water with a light touch on the helm and a keen eye on the horizon. You are committed to a course and prepared to make the slightest corrections that may be required. When you achieve this state, there is no sense of overwhelm, no distinction between personal and professional, no dilemma of a life/ work balance. You are doing in a state of being, and can simply be in an active and dynamic way. ([Location 1122](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1122)) - The secret lies not so much in what you’re doing, but in how you are engaged with what you’re doing. And the optimal way to be engaged is to learn to walk the thin line between function and form, vision and implementation, stretch and structure. ([Location 1129](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1129)) - But the point is, we can often seem to be in a state of fully integrated flow, let ourselves get lax, and be thrown out of it because of some negligence. The relief and contentment of having your current situation in proper control and perspective can easily seduce you into believing that you don’t need to be thinking about the future. ([Location 1151](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1151)) - Tags: favorite - you may have certain areas and projects under control, but not others. ([Location 1158](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1158)) - If you want to advance to the level of Captain and Commander, or ensure that you stay there, it is important to understand that there will be different strategies to adopt, depending on the situation in which you find yourself and your relationship to it. You may need more control, or more perspective, or both. And to achieve either of those, you may need to focus on different components of the prescriptive models. The secret to accomplishing all of this will be to notice what is most noticeable to you. ([Location 1174](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1174)) - Identifying what’s on your mind is the core practice in the first of the five stages of getting control—clearing—which I will describe in more detail in the next chapter. ([Location 1187](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1187)) - If you don’t pay attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves. ([Location 1192](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1192)) - We want our minds to be clear—not so we can think clearly, but so we can be open in our perceptions. —Mary Caroline Richards ([Location 1229](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1229)) - Before you try to change something, increase your awareness of it. —Tim Gallwey ([Location 1232](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1232)) - When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun with nettles. —Horace Walpole ([Location 1234](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1234)) - Capturing is the first of the phases of gaining control and creating a sense of positive engagement with your world. I have used various words to describe this initial stage, and it could as easily be called “collect,” “clear,” or “corral.” The fundamental principle is identifying what’s true, now—the information that is potentially relevant in the context in which you’re focused. It describes the real parameters of the playing field, so you can engage in the game on a firm footing, without wondering where all the edges are. ([Location 1236](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1236)) - The first thing to do, when you are feeling in any way out of sorts, is to clear the air by grabbing hold of whatever is pulling on your focus. If there is a lack of clarity, it is necessary to identify anything that might be the source of that discord. ([Location 1255](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1255)) - A wonderful way to begin to experience an increase in control during this first phase of capturing is to journal. Often the incomplete energies and loose edges of our lives are manifested only when we are willing to drop back into a more reflective mode and take note of what seems to want to express itself only through a more stream-of-consciousness modality. ([Location 1402](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1402)) - Capturing and objectifying what’s true, especially when it involves an issue that is affecting your thinking in any way as a matter that needs tending to, is a simple but often profound technique to acquire and practice. ([Location 1481](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1481)) - Taking notes while you’re engaged in tasks can serve a tremendously valuable function in enabling you to keep track of where you leave off. ([Location 1538](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1538)) - No Bad Ideas ([Location 1612](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1612)) - Overcapture ([Location 1618](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1618)) - Stream of Consciousness ([Location 1622](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1622)) - No Commitment ([Location 1628](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1628)) - Capturing as a Lifestyle Factor ([Location 1635](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1635)) - If you aren’t yet at the point of clarity, then make that your first goal. It’s a big waste of time to go through life being unclear about what you want. Most people wallow way too long in the state of “I don’t know what to do.” They wait for some external force to provide them with clarity, never realizing that clarity is self-created. The universe is waiting on you, not the other way around, and it’s going to keep waiting until you finally make up your mind. Waiting for clarity is like being a sculptor starting at a piece of marble, waiting for the statue within to cast off the unneeded pieces. Do not wait for clarity to spontaneously materialize—grab a chisel and get busy! —Steve Pavlina ([Location 1664](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1664)) - you get the opportunity to focus your attention on what has your attention, ([Location 1673](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1673)) - Although many people may have gained the constructive habit of capturing on the front end, they still seem to resist this all-important decision-making stage ([Location 1681](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1681)) - In the first phase of capturing, a best practice is to avoid doing analysis and decision-making, so you don’t constrain the gathering process. But the second phase is where you put on your self-consulting hat and determine how to relate to what you’ve identified. ([Location 1740](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1740)) - The Visionary part of you operates best with few constraints—it likes to have all sorts of ideas, thoughts, and inspirations wherever and whenever it can. ([Location 1749](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1749)) - In brief, you just need to decide whether something is actionable or not, and then determine the outcomes and actions required for those things you’ve committed to move on; for those that don’t have an action tied to them, decide what’s trash, what’s to be reviewed later, and what’s to be classified as reference. ([Location 1805](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1805)) - There are two possible answers here—“yes” and “no.” “Maybe” is actually “no, but the item might require action later,” with the assumption that you are clarifying meaning at this moment in time to you. ([Location 1815](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1815)) - What’s my desired outcome? What am I committed to accomplishing or finishing about this? • What’s the next action? What’s the next thing I need to do to move toward that goal? ([Location 1845](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1845)) - good 10 percent of my own active projects start with “R & D,” which is my shorthand for “Look into.” ([Location 1883](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1883)) - Half of the secret to achieving clarity in any situation is asking, “What are we trying to do here?” The other half, and at least as critical, is, “What’s the next action?” ([Location 1916](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1916)) - Is everyone involved in agreement about the subsequent actions that need to be taken, and who’s going to be responsible for them? ([Location 1926](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=1926)) - Capturing and clarifying what has your attention is a pivotal step to getting things under control. ([Location 2051](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2051)) - Being organized simply means that where things are suits what they mean to you. ([Location 2092](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2092)) - Although they are often used interchangeably, “neat” and “organized” are not necessarily the same thing. ([Location 2101](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2101)) - determine whether it falls under the heading of outcomes, actions, things incubating, support material, reference, or trash. ([Location 2182](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2182)) - OUTCOMES ([Location 2188](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2188)) - From time to time you will need a broad set of reminders to keep you focused at various horizons. ([Location 2189](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2189)) - Purpose ([Location 2207](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2207)) - Principles ([Location 2214](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2214)) - Company principles and values are most often maintained as a list, ([Location 2215](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2215)) - a list of personal affirmations or a written personal “credo” ([Location 2218](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2218)) - Goals and Objectives ([Location 2226](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2226)) - Where do you keep your own performance goals now, ([Location 2228](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2228)) - Areas of Focus ([Location 2233](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2233)) - Projects ([Location 2239](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2239)) - Because projects should be reviewed at least weekly, ([Location 2246](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2246)) - Outcomes You’re Waiting On from Others ([Location 2248](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2248)) - ACTIONS ([Location 2254](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2254)) - It’s easy to feel out of control in this space because of the speed and volume of items that need to be tracked. It’s also where you can get a tremendous sense of relief and positive flow once you get the chaos tamed. ([Location 2261](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2261)) - Calendar The calendar is the most basic focusing tool on the runway. It charts your next actions specific to particular days and times, and therefore provides critical pinpoints around which you’ll manage most of the rest of your work. ([Location 2272](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2272)) - The calendar is the best place for three things—appointments, day-specific things to do, and information I need or want to be aware of on that day. ([Location 2279](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2279)) - Appointments are self-evident, ([Location 2281](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2281)) - These two types of activities—appointments and other to-dos that have to be handled that day—should be the first things you take note of each morning to let you know how much discretionary time you have for other things, if any. ([Location 2286](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2286)) - The third type of entry on your calendar should be any information that you might need or want to be aware of on that day—notices of events taking place that might be meaningful, due dates or start dates, support data for appointments, and so forth. ([Location 2288](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2288)) - Your calendar should contain only those three items—appointments, day-specific actions, and information. ([Location 2291](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2291)) - Actions to Do as Soon as Possible ([Location 2296](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2296)) - CALLS ([Location 2302](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2302)) - COMPUTER ([Location 2304](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2304)) - OFFICE ([Location 2306](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2306)) - HOME ([Location 2308](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2308)) - ANYWHERE ([Location 2310](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2310)) - ERR ANDS ([Location 2312](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2312)) - AGENDAS ([Location 2315](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2315)) - WAITING FOR . ([Location 2322](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2322)) - CUSTOMIZING THESE CATEGORIES ([Location 2327](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2327)) - INCUBATING ([Location 2356](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2356)) - Items for Regular Review The first category—things you want to reassess regularly—should be put into some list or bucket that you review as frequently as necessary. ([Location 2362](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2362)) - having a well-oiled, refined personal system that can capture and feed back tasks that have different levels of meaning will become more and more critical for balance and control in an increasingly complex and ambiguous world. ([Location 2385](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2385)) - Calendared Later Starts ([Location 2387](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2387)) - Your intuition or simply the state of your current data informs you that you don’t yet have enough context, understanding, or confidence to make a judgment call. ([Location 2393](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2393)) - determine precisely when you want to be reminded of these projects again, and set up triggers accordingly in your system. ([Location 2397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2397)) - But if your support materials on a project include your active plans, which themselves should be reviewed regularly, you need another trigger to remind you to look at them, such as a weekly assessment of the status of all of your projects, so you’re not dependent on the plans themselves to alarm you. ([Location 2419](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2419)) - REFERENCE MATERIAL ([Location 2425](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2425)) - GTD is not a moral judgment or a vote for seamless and totally clear organization being more important than the creative process and what it can produce. ([Location 2468](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2468)) - We must try to keep the mind in tranquility. For just as the eye which constantly shifts its gaze, now turning to the right or to the left, now incessantly peering up or down, cannot see distinctly what lies before it, but the sight must be fixed firmly on the object in view if one would make his vision of it clear; so too man’s mind when distracted by his countless worldly cares cannot focus itself distinctly on the truth. —St. Basil the Great ([Location 2526](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2526)) - The best criteria to determine whether or not you’ve actually thought something through sufficiently to act upon it is how clearly you can answer these three questions: • What has to happen first? • What does doing look like? • Where does it happen? ([Location 2706](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2706)) - Typically, some of the most strategic next actions you’re likely to have may require a solid chunk of quiet time. ([Location 2853](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2853)) - “Predefined work” is a fancy but accurate description of the contents of your lists of actions, projects, goals, and so on. ([Location 2888](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2888)) - If, however, you weren’t quite sure what else you had or needed to do, and faced a huge backlog of still-undefined work and “stuff ” piled up and pulling on your psyche, being surprised and interrupted with new and additional demands is only laying ground for an ulcer. You’ll not feel comfortable about making quick, clean judgment calls about priorities within your entire inventory of commitments, and you’ll probably feel compelled to drop everything and deal with the new task right then, simply because you won’t trust your ability to easily capture it and establish a placeholder for getting to it at a perhaps more effective time. ([Location 2907](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2907)) - The third possible work focus is the activity you need to do that actually clarifies your work: processing the contents of your in-tray, cleaning up your e-mail, emptying your voice mail and answering machine—all those things that you need to do that ensure you’re not overlooking anything that should be considered in your mix of work at hand. This usually takes from thirty to ninety minutes a day. Thinking demands time, and thinking is required for defining and managing your work. ([Location 2922](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=2922)) - As is true with each of the Horizons of Focus, there is an exponential difference between partial and complete management. ([Location 3268](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3268)) - Fulfill the agreements that you make with yourself and with other people around you. Fulfill your agreement to your family, your employers and employees, your friends, your landlord, your doctor, your dentist, your creditors, etc. When you fulfill the obligations that you have agreed to, you’ll be surprised at the freedom you manifest in your life. —John-Roger ([Location 3320](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3320)) - “Get creative” is the one part of this weekly review process for which you won’t need any discipline at all—it’ll just happen, at least if you allow enough time for it. ([Location 3385](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3385)) - Each one of your projects and actions reflects your commitment to maintain work and life responsibilities and interests at some self-assessed standard. ([Location 3490](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3490)) - Areas of focus can most usefully serve as checklists for ensuring balance and inclusion of the most significant components—of your life, a project, or a department. Typical forms these might take include: • High-level job description • Personal lifestyle checklist • Organization chart • Departmental structure chart • Project component checklists ([Location 3499](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3499)) - Twenty-thousand-feet themes do not lend themselves as such to specific projects, but rather they serve as reminders and affirmations of activities that we simply want to be doing and thinking about more consistently—reading more, exercising more, paying a little more attention to the extended family, being open to more ways to assist in the community, being more conscientious about health, diet, and exercise habits, and so on. It’s fine if you don’t have or want to set up a specific project related to any of those, but do ask yourself if there’s something that could be done or completed (i.e., a project) that would greatly assist in getting you more dependably engaged. ([Location 3554](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3554)) - In other words, what project, if implemented or completed, would automatically get you doing more of what you want to be doing? ([Location 3559](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3559)) - What do I want to achieve? ([Location 3573](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3573)) - Purpose can refer to the ultimate goal—of a project, an action, or any endeavor. In this usage of the concept, it can be considered the motivating source of outcomes. ([Location 3779](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=3779)) - Identifying and clarifying your current commitments • Reviewing and reminding yourself about the commitments • Changing the commitments. ([Location 4262](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=4262)) - “What’s most got your attention?” “What do you want to have happen about that?” “What’s the next action that would move this forward?” “What really matters to you, which has you interested in this?” “What do you need to keep track of, about this? Where’s the best place to park that?” ([Location 4336](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B001AO0GRC&location=4336)) ## Related by Author - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Getting Things Done|Getting Things Done]] ## Related - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Deep Work|Deep Work]] - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Feel-Good Productivity|Feel-Good Productivity]] - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Slow Productivity|Slow Productivity]]