GettingThings Done. The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

      Legal

      Real estate

      Zoning

      Taxes

      Builders/contractors

    Heating/air-conditioning

    Plumbing

    Electricity

    Roofing

    Landscape

    Driveway

  Walls/floors/ceilings

  Decoration

  Furniture

  Utilities

  Appliances

  Lightbulbs/wiring

  Kitchen things

  Washer/dryer/vacuum

  Areas to organize/clean

  Computers

  Software

  Hardware

  Connections

  CD-ROM

  E-mail/Internet

  TV

  VCR

    Music/CDs/tapes

    Cameras/film

    Phones

    Answering machine

    Sports equipment

    Closets/clothes

    Garage/storage

    Vehicle repair/maintenance

    Tools

    Luggage

    Pets

  Health care

    Doctors

    Dentists

    Specialists

  Hobbies

    Books/records/tapes/disks

  Errands

    Hardware store

    Drugstore

    Market

    Bank

    Cleaner

    Stationer

  Community

    Neighborhood

    Schools

    Local government

  Civic issues

The 'In' Inventory

If your head is empty of everything, personally and professionally, then your in-basket is probably quite full, and likely spilling over. In addition to the paper-based and physical items in your in-basket, your inventory of 'in' should include any resident voice-mails and all the e-mails that are currently staged in the 'in' area of your communication software. It should also include any items on your organizer lists for which you have not yet determined next actions.

I usually recommend that clients download their voice-mails onto paper notes and put those into their in- baskets, along with their whole organizer notebooks, which usually need significant reassessment. If you've been using something like a Palm PDA or Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Organizer for anything other than calendar and telephone/address functionality, I suggest you print out any task and to-do lists and put them, too, into your in- basket. E-mails are best left where they are, because of their volume and the efficiency factor of dealing with them within their own mini system.

Connection is completed when you can easily see the edges to the inventory of everything that is complete.

But 'In' Doesn't Stay in 'In'

When you've done all that, you're ready to take the next step. You don't want to leave anything in 'in' for an indefinite period of time, because then it would without fail creep back into your psyche again, since your mind would know you weren't dealing with it. Of course, one of the main factors in people's resistance to collecting stuff into 'in' is the lack of a good processing and organizing methodology to handle it.

That brings us to the next chapter: 'Getting In' to Empty.'

6. Processing: Getting 'In' to Empty

 ASSUMING THAT YOU have collected everything that has your attention, your job now is to actually get to the bottom of 'in.' Getting 'in' to empty doesn't mean actually doing all the actions and projects that you've collected. It just means identifying each item and deciding what it is, what it means, and what you're going to do with it.

When you've finished processing 'in,' you will have

1. trashed what you don't need;

2. completed any less-than-two-minute actions;

3. handed off to others anything that can be delegated;

4. sorted into your own organizing system reminders of actions that require more than two minutes; and

5. identified any larger commitments (projects) you now have, based on the input.

To get an overview of this process, you may find it useful here to refer to the Workflow Diagram on page 120. The center column illustrates all the steps involved in processing and deciding your next actions.

This chapter focuses on the components in the diagram's center column, the steps from 'in' to next action.