Mike recommended David Allen’s book “Getting things done”, and has given me a copy to read. It’s not explicitly a spiritual book, but Mike knows many people who recommend the book as a help in getting things organised and priorities set. We’ll be working through it together in the coming weeks, and I’ll be recording my thoughts and experiences here, starting today.
The book says basically that existing methods of organizing our lives are no longer good enough, because of the changes in society, and particularly work, which have happened in the past decades. In order to be concentrated on what we are doing, we need to be sure that we’re not forgetting anything important to us. We need a system to help us with that. The book aims to help people develop such a system.
The basic requirements for such a system, the author claims, are:
- a ‘collection bucket’, which contains everything which we’re interested in. He says “If it’s on your mind, your mind isn’t clear. Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection bucket, that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through.”
- You must decide exactly what your commitment is and decide what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it.
- Once you’ve decided on all the actions you need to take, you must keep reminders of them organized in a system which you review regularly.
That sounds easy, doesn’t it?
He gets right down to business, telling us to “write down the project or situation which is most on your mind at this moment”. For me, right now, that’s “How can I best use my time here?” and “I want to become more productive for the Kingdom of God”.
Then, we should “describe, in a single written sentence, your intended successful outcome for this problem or situation”. That would be “spend as much time as I can with Mike, learning from him and discussing with him”, and “Recognise more of what God intends for me, and learn how to do it.” (See my thoughts on Philippians 3:12).
Going on, the author tells us to “write down the very next physical action required to move the situation forward”, and asks “If you had nothing else to do in your life but get closure on this, where would you go right now, and what visible action would you take?”. Getting right down to business! OK, I can’t spend time with Mike right now, because he’s off fishing with his son. I’m still not feeling too good, so the best thing I can do is stay here, recuperate, and prepare the things I want to talk about. Right now, I’d say that’s
- creating community
- making the change to different thinking about church
- involving people who don’t know Christ yet
The second action, aiming at “Recognise more of what God intends for me”, is “Spend more time with him in prayer and reading”. That’s another of my aims for my time here. I just have to do it 🙂
The author then asks if anything changed for us by performing that exercise. It did (as he expected): I feel more confident that I can achieve the aims most occupying my mind at the moment. The things aren’t done yet, but I’ve clarified what is needed. As the author says, I’ve “achieved a clearer definition of the outcome desired and the next action required” and that thinking created that; “you have to think about your stuff more than you realise, but not as much as you’re afraid you might.”. He makes one important statement, which I want to remember: “Thinking in a concentrated manner to define desired outcomes is something few people feel they have to do. But in truth, outcome thinking is one of the most effective means available for making wishes reality.”
That’s enough for now – and I’m only on page 15!