Thursday, May 1, 2008

Clear your head and experience the power of a free mind!

One of the best things I have learned in my quest to "Get Things Done" is to free my mind.  That is; write down every thought, every idea, every to-do.  It's really not that hard and the payback is huge.  Here are my top 10 reasons for writing things down and keeping a free mind.

  1. A free mind can focus like a laser on the task at hand.
  2. A free mind allows you to sleep.  If you are up at night worrying about something, write it down.  I guarantee you will be able to sleep after that!  Trust me, this REALLY works!
  3. I don't forget things at the grocery store.  OK, sometimes I do, but it's only when I don't have them written down.
  4. Some ideas that I have are really bad.  Writing them down gives them an incubation period before I action them.  When it's time to action an idea, I often say "what the hell was I thinking" and simply cross that thought off my list.
  5. I don't forget stuff that I need to do during the day or ideas I need to pursue.  For me, most of my ideas and to-do's come to me in the  morning.  I write them down immediately so they are not forgotten.  I hate having the feeling of a great idea, but not remembering what it was.
  6. Important dates are all recorded in one simple place.  I keep an Outlook note with all my important dates recorded chronologically.  I never forget an important date (birthday, anniversary, etc) because I don't keep them in my head.
  7. I never forget to talk to my boss about something during our weekly General meetings.  I record all "talk to the boss" items in the same place, as they come to me.
  8. The less clutter I have in my head, the more room I have for new ideas.
  9. All my to-do items are written down, right in front of me.  I see the full picture of what I need to do before I choose what to do.
  10. ...and lastly, it gives me a good reason to shop for my next Molskine notebook!  You have to admit, Moleskine notebooks are quite cool.  :)

I encourage you all to free your mind.  It's a powerful feeling!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree more, especially with your second point. I started to sleep much better once I got into GTD. Previously my disorganised self would occasionally wake in the middle of the night realising I'd forgotten to do something - and then I wouldn't get back to sleep because I'd be worrying about it! That never happens to me now. Everything is written down and kept track of - so I can relax and sleep well.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Great article. For keeping everything writen down in a GTD trusted system you can use http://www.gtdagenda.com
Organize and keep track of all your items and plans.

Dan

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