David Allen

First of all, if it’s on your mind, your mind isn’t clear. Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection bucket, that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through.

Second, you must clarify exactly what your commitment is and decide what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it.

• Third, once you’ve decided on all the actions you need to take, you must keep reminders of them organized in a system you review regularly.

(1) collect things that command our attention; (2) process what they mean and what to do about them; and (3) organize the results, which we (4) review as options for what we choose to (5) do.

• Physical in-basket

• Paper-based note-taking devices

• Electronic note-taking devices

• Voice-recording devices

• E-mail

WORKFLOW DIAGRAM—PROCESSING

1. | Context

2. | Time available

3. | Energy available

4. | Priority

Context

2. | Time available

3. | Energy available

4. | Priority

50,000+ feet: Life

• 40,000 feet: Three- to five-year vision

• 30,000 feet: One- to two-year goals

• 20,000 feet: Areas of responsibility

• 10,000 feet: Current projects

1. | Defining purpose and principles

2. | Outcome visioning

3. | Brainstorming

4. | Organizing

5. | Identifying next actions

Celebrate any progress. Don’t wait to get perfect.