Getting Things Done
By: David Allen
You don’t have to be a CEO or a high-powered executive to relate to the fundamental problem that this book sets out to solve. We live in a world and many of us work in an environment where the demands made on our attention and our time are so constant that we are left overwhelmed and stressed and unable to accomplish much of anything, really. This frazzled state is the opposite of where we need to be in order to accomplish our objectives; the ideal state of flow and maximum productivity is one of relaxed calm. (The book’s subtitle is “The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”.) This book provides a road map for how to go from frazzled to relaxed so that your inbox and your to-do list no longer overwhelm you, but are challenges that you can rise to meet.
And who wouldn’t love that? The key is to sort through all of the “stuff” you have to do each day and develop systems whereby you identify whether or not there are actionable things you can accomplish. If not, you file it or forget it. If so, you either do it, delegate it, or defer it. The point is to eliminate the circular thinking and worrying that for some people comprise much of the day, thereby freeing up the brain to actually accomplish the things that can be accomplished right now.
It is definitely a sign of our times that pretty much everyone could benefit from reading this book. The number of distractions and demands on the average person’s attention are such that getting anything of value done during a day is something of an achievement, never mind all of the things that one needs to do to get somewhere in business or in life. If you are feeling overwhelmed, definitely take the time to pick up this book and follow its suggestions.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
By: David Allen
Published: 2002 by Penguin
Pages: 267
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