The A–Z Guide to Getting Things Done

A sk yourself, “Why am I really doing this?” — from Work Happy Now! — “We fool ourselves into thinking that we are doing something because we want to accomplish an audacious goal, but in reality we may be doing it for someone else. You have to do some soul searching and make sure that you really want to accomplish this goal. If even the thought of continuing the project makes you cringe then don’t even think another second about it, just release it; it’s not worth your time.”

B atch small tasks together. — from Pick The Brain — “Group up all of your small tasks (taking out the garbage, fixing a door hinge, organizing binders, etc.) and do them all at once. This can help speed things along since there will be fewer interruptions in your regular workflow.”

C lear the clutter, it hinders your productivity. — from Frugal Dad — “Trash what you don’t need. Get rid of the duplicates of the duplicates. And quickly delete those e-mails or attachments from your mother or your best friend that you “just have to forward.” Yeah, they’re funny, cute, and heartwarming, but they are cluttering up your life and your inbox!”

D on’t schedule every minute of your day. — from LifeDev — “Aim low. You have morning and evening routines, leave the middle of the day open for completing key tasks and other things that come up. Daily routines are supposed to make things easier, not more complicated. Micro managing every minute of your day does not work.”

E liminate all but the essential tasks. — from Zen Habits — “Take a few minutes to review your task and project lists, and see how much you can simplify them. Make it a challenge. See if you can cut it in half! If you’ve got 50 items, cut it down to 25. Then try to cut it even further a few days later. Simplify your list down to the barest of essentials, and you can eliminate the need for complex planning systems.”

F ocus on a single task. — from Life Clever — “Multi-tasking can be fun, and can be rewarding. You think you’re getting a lot done at once, killing two birds with one stone when all you’re really doing is dragging out both tasks longer. Spend some time on a single task or project and focus. When you’re doing one, ignore the other — allowing you to work more quickly and efficiently in the long run.”

G et pickier. — from 43 Folders — “You are the sole person in your life who gets to decide where your time and attention can go. Take that responsibility seriously by not wasting time on junk. You know in your heart what’s really important to you — does the current direction of your time and attention reflect that?”

H ang a sign. — from The Cranking Widgets Blog — “Open up your favorite word processor, increase the font size to 48 or something, and type “IF IT’S NOT AN EMERGENCY, EMAIL ME.” Now print that bad boy and tape it to the back of your chair, or pin it to the wall of your cube. Far from subtle, but this will definitely be effective (especially when combined with the others).”

I nbox Zero: Processing to zero. — from 43 Folders — “The truth is that you probably can take the average email inbox — even a relatively neglected one — from full to zero in about 20 minutes. It mostly depends on how much you really want to be done with it. The dirty little secret, of course, is that you don’t do it by responding to each of those emails but by ruthlessly processing them.”

J ust let go. — from Dumb Little Man — “This strategy is for those of us who feel that if we don’t answer all of our emails, or read all of our feeds, or check our blog stats, or see what’s happening on our favorite social sites, then somehow the world will fall apart. This might seem obvious, but again, I think many of us have a subconscious idea that something bad will happen if we don’t stay up to date. Try letting go for a day, and see what happens.”

K eep your technology quiet. — from Black Belt Productivity — “Your cell phone ringer (even on vibrate) doesn’t need to be on all of the time. You can turn off email notification on your computer as well. Become master over the nagging beeps and buzzes by creating some silence.”

L earn razor-sharp concentration. — from Lifehack — “Writing to-do lists and keeping a schedule may keep you organized, but does it really help you get more done? I believe that organization is important, but what you really need is focus. Being able to sit down and concentrate intensely on your work for a few hours. Even a half hour of focused effort can get more done than an entire day of distraction and multitasking.”

M otivate yourself through the action phase. — from Steve Pavlina — “When I set a goal that’s big enough and challenging enough, I never need to pump myself up with emotional rah-rah. I feel motivated to pursue the goal because my intellect is fully behind it. I just find myself doing what needs to be done.”

N apping your way to success. — from Steven Aitchison — “You may have already experienced a micronap without realising it. It’s those moments when you doze off for a few moments, 2-5 minutes, and wake up with a start. It may sound as if this wouldn’t help but it really does.”

O nly spend time on the things you CAN control. — from Success Soul — “Our impulsive thoughts always tend to waste our life-energy by focusing on things that we cannot control. Dwell more on what you can do rather than what you cannot. It’s not the circumstances that cause us to react in a certain way, it’s rather a certain way we choose to react to the circumstances that matters most to win against the odds.”

P rocess email in batches. — from Lifehacker — “Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies when it comes to email clutter. Sending “before I forget” messages on off hours, reading email when there’s no time to act on it, and having loose reading and responding schedules all contribute to that feeling of being under a high-volume waterfall.”

Q uit striving to be perfect. — from Illuminated Mind — “Perfection is an illusion. We strive for perfection because we have an image in our minds of what we should be, but what we are not. Realize that perfection and imperfection are a result of a conflict in your mind, they don’t exist in reality. You have to make mistakes in order to grow, don’t let perfectionism paralyze you. If you’re not failing, chances are you’re not trying hard enough.”

R ead books the smart way. — from Life Optimizer — “Reading books cover-to-cover consumes a lot of time, and even then you might not get what you need. More often than not, you will just get lost in the sea of details. So read books in smart way. Set a clear purpose before you read, learn the structure of the book, and go directly to the parts that meet your needs.”

S implify your online life. — from Web Worker Daily — “If we focus on simplifying our online lives, we can drastically reduce the amount of time we spend online, the amount of time we spend working, the amount of information we have to consume, and the amount of stuff we have to keep track of.”

T ake one bite of the elephant at a time. — from The Change Blog — “It’s important to know how long to run a race before you start. Starting off a marathon by sprinting isn’t going to get you to the finish line. Similarly, taking on every possible GTD, lifehack or to-do list upgrade at the same time isn’t a winning strategy.”

U se easy time tracking. — from Wisebread — “Whether it’s tracking freelance hours worked or time spent on your own projects, keeping track of how long you’ve been working is important. My solution for keeping the hours from slipping away is simple: An old fashioned kitchen timer.”

V isualized pain. — from Think Simple Now — “Close your eyes. Visualize the pain you would feel by not doing a task. Make it as real as possible, feel it with all senses. Intensify the feeling. Double the intensity several times if you can. After a few minutes, imagine the pleasure and freedom after you’ve completed the task (and are rewarded with the show). Again visualize and feel it with absolute intensity.”

W ake up early. — from Zen Habits — “Decide what you’d like to accomplish each morning, and build your morning routine around that. Like to exercise? Put that in there. Healthy breakfast? Go for it. Check email? Fine. The mornings are a fresh start, peaceful and free of ringing phones and constant email notifications. If you get your Most Important Things done in the morning, the rest of the day is just gravy.”

X pect to fail, if you fail to plan. — from Tools For Thought — “The most strategic time to think about the actions you need to take is not when you need to perform them, but beforehand, when you have perspective. When you execute from an inventory of predefined tasks, you can act rather than react, and your menu of options is much easier to prioritize.”

Y ou deserve a reward. — from Positivity Blog — “Create small rewards for yourself. This might seem a bit too simple to work, but creating a small motivation for yourself can be surprisingly effective. And it will make you better at completing one task at a time and decrease the urge to constantly switch between a whole bunch of them.”

Z apping tolerations. — from Motivate Thyself — “What do a messy desk, an overcrowded inbox and a “know-it-all” friend have in common? They are examples of tolerations or situations we put up with or don’t do anything about. The benefits of hitting the delete button on tolerances are many. You’ll raise your standard of living and become more effective, focused and balanced.”