Getting Your Life On Track Part 3
In Getting Your Life On Track Part 1, we discovered a way to find out if the things we spend our time on are really that urgent and important.
In Getting Your Life On Track Part 2 we revealed how you could use that understanding to develop clear and important goals for yourself, so you’d always know you’re doing what you could best be doing.
But if you’re still feeling stressed and overwhelmed, here are 3 simple steps, adapted from David Allen’s Getting Things Done to unload your overload and reduce the anxiety you feel in your life.
Dump It
Do a mental core-dump. Get everything that you feel you should, want and need to do, out of your head and into something else: a piece of paper or a document in your computer. Write it all out.
Stuff It
If we had our way, we’d do everything on our lists. But if you’re already suffering from overload chances are you don’t have enough time to do everything you want. Looking at the list, what do you want to keep in there and what do you want to let go of?
Sort them out into 2 lists: Actionable for those you want to keep and act on, and Someday/Maybe for those you don’t.
So, be as selective as you can. Which are the high-leverage, important and worthwhile tasks you want to keep in your life?
Deal It
Looking at the Actionable list, which are the most important and worthwhile tasks to act on in the coming week? Schedule them in and make them real.
Dump, Stuff and Deal It.
Getting uncompleted commitments out of your head and into a list, which you then sort and then act on will help you let go of unnecessary worries and relieve the stress in your life.
But sure, you might ask yourself, it works, I’m feeling better already, but how can I keep my life on track like this all the time instead of making it just a one-off deal? The answer is simple, but not always easy, and I’ll explain it in my next post.
Getting Your Life On Track Series
Getting Your Life On Track Part 1
Getting Your Life On Track Part 2
Getting Your Life On Track Part 3
Getting Your Life On Track Part 4
Recommended Reading
First Things First : To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy
Funny. A few months ago, I’ve used the very same Windows theme with ObjectDock at the bottom.
Anyway I think your desktop could be simplified even more.
- Is ObjectDock really necessary? You can use the Start menu.
- Use online calendar (like GCal) instead of Rainlendar, and open it only when needed
- Hide all tray icons
- Don’t display the date next to the clock
Hi qeek,
I love the dock because it’s a much faster way for me to get to the programs I want. After this post I set it to auto-hide though, which works much better (by the way it’s the resource-light Y’z Dock not ObjectDock).
I like having my calender on the desktop because I have to go out for events regularly and I like having the reminders there. Plus it integrates nicely with the GTD method of having only time-sensitive tasks in the calender.
I like having the date on the clock! I know it adds to the clutter but it’s just me – it reminds me of a Mac :p
Thanks for the link to desktopography – superb site and I’ve got myself a nice new desktop. The actual link in your article is wrong i think – it should be http://www.desktopography.net/
Oops! You’re right, Rob, thanks! The link has been amended.
Complexity and disorder is the natural way of things. Real life doesn’t fit into orthogonal containers. Clutter represents uncertainty, mankind’s greatest fear. Learn to accept it, appreciate it, love it!