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A review by rebeccazh
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
2.0
i never thought i was disorganized or forgetful but, 1) i have lost my wallet over five times and i'm not even twenty five, 2) i frequently misplace my things and i honestly have no idea where my things are at any given moment, 3) i frequently forget to do something or forget to bring an important thing, 4) i frequently late to things because i have no idea where all my stuff is so i rush around like mad trying to find and stuff everything in my bag when i'm supposed to leave five minutes ago, 5) i discover stuff from ages ago that i forgot to deal with in pockets and bags when i have to use said pocket or bag months or years later.
it all culminated when i lost my wallet, again, jesus christ, for what must be at least the seventh or eighth time in my entire life, and the worst thing is, it hasn't even been two years since i last lost something (lost my wallet and $90 about a year and a couple of months ago overseas). this wallet had $70, a credit card, an atm card, two trinkets that had huge personal significance to me, and various other cards. it was on top of a lot of other stress and i really had it with myself. i thought to myself, 'i can't do this anymore'. i have to get organized.
cue this book. the next few days were spent reorganizing my entire room and my life and now one week later, i actually know where all my stuff is and i've never seen so much of my table surface. today, my sister asked me if i took her card and i could quite confidently say, 'no i didn't'. the me one week ago would've said, 'no?' and then desperately searched my pockets and room hoping and praying that i hadn't actually taken it and dumped it somewhere and forgot about it so now it's lost somewhere in the debris of my stuff.
so the actual review of the book: this book is useful for people who have absolutely zero idea how to organize their stuff. it's repetitive and there's many steps, which is a bit hard to understand. i took the stuff this book said as a guideline and experimented with my own system. what i liked most was that it talks about the psychology of being organized and how that relates to a more relaxed state of mind -- what i learned:
1) when you're not organized, you don't trust how you're using your time -- you don't know if you're doing what needs to be doing or if there's something important you're not doing now that will blow up in your face later. it's hard to be present because your brain is busy trying to rmb all the stuff you haven't done or that needs to be done (and our brains are bad at this) so you feel frazzled all the time. when you're organized, you can relax and feel good about what you're doing -- and not doing -- right now
2) two minute rule. if something takes less than 2min, do it now
3) planning is: making a decision and figuring out the next action (and keeping a note-taking system to track that)
4) review it frequently so you know what's your structure/system and trust it
5) a few seconds/min a day saves hours of stress
overall, useful! and i liked the focus on why organization is beneficial
it all culminated when i lost my wallet, again, jesus christ, for what must be at least the seventh or eighth time in my entire life, and the worst thing is, it hasn't even been two years since i last lost something (lost my wallet and $90 about a year and a couple of months ago overseas). this wallet had $70, a credit card, an atm card, two trinkets that had huge personal significance to me, and various other cards. it was on top of a lot of other stress and i really had it with myself. i thought to myself, 'i can't do this anymore'. i have to get organized.
cue this book. the next few days were spent reorganizing my entire room and my life and now one week later, i actually know where all my stuff is and i've never seen so much of my table surface. today, my sister asked me if i took her card and i could quite confidently say, 'no i didn't'. the me one week ago would've said, 'no?' and then desperately searched my pockets and room hoping and praying that i hadn't actually taken it and dumped it somewhere and forgot about it so now it's lost somewhere in the debris of my stuff.
so the actual review of the book: this book is useful for people who have absolutely zero idea how to organize their stuff. it's repetitive and there's many steps, which is a bit hard to understand. i took the stuff this book said as a guideline and experimented with my own system. what i liked most was that it talks about the psychology of being organized and how that relates to a more relaxed state of mind -- what i learned:
1) when you're not organized, you don't trust how you're using your time -- you don't know if you're doing what needs to be doing or if there's something important you're not doing now that will blow up in your face later. it's hard to be present because your brain is busy trying to rmb all the stuff you haven't done or that needs to be done (and our brains are bad at this) so you feel frazzled all the time. when you're organized, you can relax and feel good about what you're doing -- and not doing -- right now
2) two minute rule. if something takes less than 2min, do it now
3) planning is: making a decision and figuring out the next action (and keeping a note-taking system to track that)
4) review it frequently so you know what's your structure/system and trust it
5) a few seconds/min a day saves hours of stress
overall, useful! and i liked the focus on why organization is beneficial