Getting Things Done (Part 3 of 4): Reviewing Your Process
I am not receiving compensation for the content written in this post. This book review is based on my opinion and personal experience.
In parts 1 and 2 of this series, I talked about the 5 Stages of Mastering Workflow from David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity and the main groupings that your items should be placed into using the diagram below. I suggested using bins and lists to represent the groupings. Parts 1 and 2 covered collecting, organizing, and processing. In this post, I will discuss regularly reviewing your main grouping bins and lists to stay on track.

Trash
Someday/Maybe
Projects & Project Plans
Reference
Waiting For
Calendar
Next Actions

- Pull out all loose papers, receipts, meeting notes, etc. not already processed and determine where they go according to the 7 main groupings above.
- Review calendar data for future events that may involve prep work.
- Empty your head. Write down any new projects, action items, waiting fors, and someday/maybes to place in the applicable main groupings.
- Evaluate the status of your projects. What is the intended outcome? Do you have a kick-start action for it currently?
- Mark off completed actions on your next actions list. Review for further steps to take on incomplete ones.
- Record new actions on your “waiting for” list. Check off items completed.
- Delete items from someday/maybe list that are no longer relevant. Can any of the items be transferred to projects?
I typically get derailed at the 'review your lists' stage and I'm also guilty of ignoring alerts and/or snoozing them into infinity. Someday I'll be free!
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I am guilty of those things too, Patranila. There's hope for us all. LOL
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This's especially important when you enter your midlife years! I couldn't tell what I had for lunch let alone what I wanted to get done last week! Great post! I found you on your Traffic Jam linky party!
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Isn't crazy how many days just blend into one another? So many tasks, so little time.
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{Melinda} I love the Weekly Review idea. I'm printing it out and using it. I think my stress level would go down about 1000% if I would just take the time to do this each week. Thank you!
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Happy to share it, Melinda. I'm getting so much better at staying on top of things when I take the time to review. Otherwise it's forgotten. Thanks!
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Sometimes I ignore my alerts! That's my problem but i love this system.
I need alerts for my alerts. LOL!
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Guess what? I'm a big GTD fan too! Actually I have David Allen's newsletter/e-mail pending to read when I get home. It's such a useful system, and it has helped to further simplify both work and personal schedules.
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I'm going to look into that, Alison. Actually my edition of his book is old. I'm sure he has some great tips on tackling tasks with new electronic devices. Thanks!
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