STRESS FREE PRODUCTIVITY Narayana Darst Coordinator of Health Education and Promotion CSUF Student Health and Counseling Center

Based on David Allen’s

best-selling book: “Getting Things Done: the Art of

Stress-Free Productivity”

TODAY’S OBJECTIVES

Why?

How?

Walk Through

Case Study

WHY? Why do we need a new way to manage our responsibilities?

WHY? ● What are some common challenges you have

with getting things done?

● How organized are you? 1. I’m a mess & I feel like I’m procrastinating a lot

2. I’m organized enough, but I often get behind and wonder if there’s a better way

3. I’m very organized, and I’m looking for ways to enhance and refine my current organization system

• If you were magically granted 2 more hours every day to get things done, how would you feel?

WHY? ● Reduce stress, increase energy

● Feel a sense of accomplishment and pride

● Work smarter, not harder

● Respond to problems without emotion

● what action can I take?

● Our work is THOUGHT work, rather than PHYSICAL work

Spend more time THINKING about what you want to get done

Record decisions & action steps

Complete PHYSICAL

actions quickly & easily

WHAT MOST OF US DO ● Keep everything in our head ● Lose track of important emails ● Allow email to interrupt our work all day long (and

maybe all evening too) ● Use physical items to jog our memory

● Items cause clutter, but don’t help us make difficult decisions

● Unclear anxiety – always believing you have “things to do”

● Complain that there is not enough time ● Use organization systems that are difficult to use

PROCRASTINATION ● Missing information necessary to make a decision or to act

● In the wrong context when free time becomes available

● Promised to do something that you’re not committed to

● Keeping everything in your head

● Physical reminders aren’t right in front of you

● Lack a systematic way of tracking everything you want to get done

● Haven’t made up your mind up between two difficult choices

● Haven’t clearly defined the action

MULTITASKING ● Activity

● Myth of multitasking ● Two or more tasks at once can take 50% more

time

● Like a computer, our can’t run too many programs at once- bandwidth challenges

● Incessant multitasking can set off chronic stress and slow you down ● Stress reduces productivity

GOAL: MIND LIKE WATER

Mind Like

Water

•Space for creative thinking

•Eliminate distractions and divided focus

Renegotiate your

Commitments

•You can only be in one place at one time

•Renegotiate, rather than breaking agreements you’re committed to doing

Maintain your Tracking System

•Stay up-to-date •Input new information •The Weekly Review

Get your To-Do List

Off Your Mind

•“I should” •“I’d like to” •“I’ll get that to you today”

“Your mind is a great place to have ideas, but a terrible place to manage them” –David Allen

HOW? We all want to be more organized, but how?

HOW? ● Everything we have to get done is a series of

decision and actions ● Most are undefined

● Getting Things Done is a work flow system designed to simplify and clarify all of your commitments into manageable steps

HOW? 5 distinct steps in the process:

• Gather all the “stuff” into one location Collect • Think through your “stuff” • Decide what “is the next action(s)” • Complete anything that takes less than 2 minutes Clarify • Record actions that can’t be done immediately • Save reference materials in a simple system Organize • Update your to-do lists and calendar reminders • As often as you need to Review • Make decisions about priority • Execute actions quickly using whatever time you have Do

COLLECT Gather all commitments, responsibilities, tasks

Get clear – get everything out of your head

COLLECT – WALK THROUGH ● Capture Tools

● Email Inbox

● Physical in-basket

● Pen and paper

● Electronic notes

● Combination of any or more

● Habit ● Use tools, not your head!

● Get everything in one location

COLLECT – WALK THROUGH Spend 1 minute emptying your head & your bag

● Write down every task, idea, project, to-do, responsibility you can think of (leave a space after each)

● Work related, personal, extracurricular…all of it!

Call Mom

Groceries

Contact that friend I’ve been meaning to call

Study for chemistry quiz

CLARIFY Decide what to do with all the “stuff” you collected

what is the next action?

CLARIFY– WALK THROUGH

CLARIFY– WALK THROUGH ● Exercise - Spend 1 minute determining the next

action or actions for every thing you collected

Call Mom

Ask about textbook $$

Review textbook costs to

determine total $ needed

Groceries

milk, cereal, bread, PB, toilet

paper

New sheets, whiteboard &

markers

Contact that friend I’ve been meaning to call

Missing the number in new

phone

message on FB

Study for chemistry quiz

Review lecture notes & highlight

things I don’t understand

Go to office hours with questions

Complete practice questions in book

(13 on p. 251))

CLARIFY– WALK THROUGH ● Highlight anything on your list that would

take less than 2 minutes to complete

● Will it really take only 2 minutes?

• Add context: do you have what you need to complete the action right now? • Location, internet access, phone numbers, paperwork,

missing information, etc.

ORGANIZE Record actions that can’t be done immediately in one central

location Save any reference materials

ORGANIZE– WALK THROUGH

ORGANIZE–LISTS

ORGANIZE– CALENDAR

Go to office hours with questions

• Time-certain ACTIONS should go into a calendar

ORGANIZE–SORTING ACTIONS • Next Actions • Calendar - Time certain only! • Waiting For • People-specific Lists example: mom, partner, boss

• Someday maybe/Ideas • Errands • Meeting-specific lists • Trash • Reference – Materials to save • Projects

REVIEW Having the right information at hand when you need it

REVIEW – AS OFTEN AS NEEDED

Assessing you system daily to: • Review every “productive” action you could possibly

take– all in one place • Assess how much time you have available • Assess your context Locations to review: • Calendar • Action Lists • Email inbox, text messages

THE WEEKLY REVIEW Carve out 3–4 hours weekly to: • Get Clear –

• Empty your head • Collect and process all scraps of paper, post-it-notes, mail,

homework assignments, email inbox

• Get Current – Review calendar (past week and next week)

• Get Creative – Project lists, someday maybe lists, long term goals

DO (FINALLY!) Get things done!

Trust that you’re choosing the best possible use of your time

DO • By now you should have CLARIFIED any:

• Difficult decisions • Missing information • Deadlines and expectations for any actionable item

• Items on your ACTION list are now straight-forward and easy to complete once you’re in the appropriate context

• Your calendar may dictate whether you’ll be completing any actions today

• Keep your lists up-to-date and clear of any ambiguous assignments • Put new ideas and projects into your inbox (to be

clarified when you have more time)

DO Review your list one last time to note • Amount of time you’ll need Pair up • Using your next action list, discuss what you could • work on if:

• You have 10 minutes before class? • You have 2 hours free in your schedule

DO - RENEGOTIATE YOUR COMMITMENTS

• Most of the stress we experience comes from: • Mot managing the commitments we create or accept

(rather than those we are assigned)

• Making more agreements than we can handle

• Many people are reluctant to spend a little time thinking about the true meaning of things that come into their life • Is this work really necessary?

• Is this the most important use of my energy right now?

• Have I fully considered the impact of accepting this project?

DO – MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING • Your memory cannot recall priority or urgency, but your

system can help you to do so

• Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) – stress response

• Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) – calming response

• Get a handle on negative thoughts

• Most of us are always striving to get someplace else when what we really need is to just be in the here and now

Spend more time clarifying what you want to get done

and less time feeling like you “should be doing something”

• Creating a system takes an initial time investment • Payoff if well worth the effort!

CASE STUDY See the system in action

CASE STUDY My personal system: • COLLECT: pens, legal pads, tear off note paper in car, bag,

physical inbox (home and office) • Turn off email notifications • Inbox serves as a collection device, not as a major source of

distraction or anxiety

CASE STUDY My personal system: • Process:

• 10-15 email processing each morning and once in the afternoon (otherwise my inbox is closed)

• Weekly review of all email and paperwork very Thursday morning

• Organize: Workflowy.com, Outlook calendar, reference folders for email and desk

CASE STUDY Organize – Email reference folders

@ACTION @READ & REVIEW @ WAITING

Alphabetical reference folders

CASE STUDY Organize – Reference folders • Use label makers for uniform tabs, no handwritten tabs • Alphabetical, no color coding, • Uniform tabs, one manila folder per hanging folder

AVOID COLOR CODING & CATEGORIES

AVOID COLOR CODING & CATEGORIES

CASE STUDY My personal system: • Review

• Review Action lists and @ACTION Folder in my email as often as needed to complete actions

• during gaps on time, waiting for a meeting to start, before running errands

• “Tickler” reminders on my calendar

• Do • Shut out distractions (email notifications, walk-in requests, clear

off desk, etc.) • Choose what to do based on work time available, what’s on the

list and when it’s due

RECAP What are the five steps?

Collect Clarify

Organize Review

Do

Spend more time clarifying what you want to get done

and less time feeling like you should “be doing something”

I want to hear about your experiences! ndarst@fullerton.edu

QUESTIONS?