I hate clutter. Nothing seems to get me agitated more than clutter. However, over the past few months I have noticed that I have made several little stacks of stuff that I come to call my “organized clutter”. It seems that I’ve been so busy that I’ve began to put stuff into little piles. I’ve kept telling myself that I’ll get to later, but later never comes. Now I have several piles of papers and stuff scattered around the house and my office and it’s time to declutter, get organized, get things done.
I have decided to spend the whole month of October working on building better habits and finding better ways to declutter, organize, and get things done.
Getting things done (GTD) is an action management method, created by David Allen, and is described on his website as a groundbreaking work-life management system that transforms personal overwhelm and overload into an integrated system of stress-free productivity.
Merlin Mann of 43folders.com summarized GTD as:
- identify all the stuff in your life that isn’t in the right place (close all open loops)
- get rid of the stuff that isn’t yours or you don’t need right now
- create a right place that you trust and that supports your working style and values
- put your stuff in the right place, consistently
- do your stuff in a way that honors your time, your energy, and the context of any given moment
- iterate and refactor mercilessly
GetRichSlowly.org has a more detailed summary of GTD.
These summaries give one a good idea of the GTD concept, but it’s not a substitute for the book. I just purchased Getting Things Done by David Allen (Paperback, 2003) from Half.com for $10.46, which included expedited shipping. Hopefully I’ll get it and finish reading it by the end of October.
I’ve got a few $5 off coupons for Half.com, so leave a comment or send a note via the contact form and let me know if you want one. (Update: It appears the coupon is valid for first-time buyers on orders $10 or more.)
To kick-off my month of GTD, I’ve started by decluttering the site and giving it a new look. I like it so far and haven’t yet decided if I’ll switch it back or not.
I’ll be posting updates throughout the month on my progress. You can follow it by subscribing to the RSS feed for by clicking on the GTD link in the Tag Cloud. Wish me luck.