GettingThings Done. The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

put a trigger in your calendar on the appropriate date—for example:

'Chamber of Commerce breakfast tomorrow?'

'Tigers season tickets go on sale today'

'PBS special on Australia tonight 8:00 P.M.'

'Church BBQ next Saturday'

If you can think of any jogs like these that you'd like to put into your system, do it right now.

Decision Catalysts Once in a while there may be a significant decision that you need to make but can't (or don't want to) make right away. That's fine, as long as you've concluded that the additional information you need has to come from an internal rather than an external source (e.g., you need to sleep on it).

(Obviously, external data you need in order to make a decision should go on your 'Next Actions' or 'Waiting For' lists.) But in order to move to a level of OK-ness about not deciding, you'd better put out a safety net that you can trust to get you to focus on the issue appropriately in the future. A calendar reminder can serve that purpose.[11]

It's OK to decide not to decide—as long as you have a decide-not-to-decide system

Some typical decision areas in this category include:

• Hire/fire

• Merge/acquire/sell/divest

• Change job/career

 This is a big topic to devote so little space to, I know, but go ahead and ask yourself, 'Is there any major decision for which I should create a future trigger, so I can feel comfortable just 'hanging out' with it for now?' If there is, put some reminder in your calendar to revisit the issue.

The 'Tickler' File

One elegant way to manage nonactionable items that may need an action in the future is the 'tickler' file.[12] A three-dimensional version of a calendar, it allows you to hold physical reminders of things that you want to see or remember—not now, but in the future. It can be an extremely functional tool, allowing you to in effect set up your own post office and 'mail' things to yourself for receipt on a designated future date. I myself have used a tickler file for years and can't imagine being without it.

Essentially the tickler is a simple file-folder system that allows you to distribute paper and other physical reminders in such a way that whatever you want to see on a particular date in the future 'automatically' shows up that day in your in-basket.

If you have a secretary or assistant, you can entrust at least a part of this task to him or her, assuming that he/she has some working version of this or a similar system. Typical examples would be:

• 'Hand me this agenda the morning of the day I have the meeting.' 

• 'Give this back to me on Monday to rethink, since it applies to a meeting on Wednesday.'

• 'Remind me about the Hong Kong trip two weeks ahead, and we'll plan the logistics.'

Then every day of the week, that day's folder is pulled and reviewed.

 While you can (and probably should) utilize staff to handle as much of this as is appropriate, I recommend that, if you can integrate it into your life-style, you maintain your own tickler file. There are many useful functions it can perform, at least some of which you may want to avail yourself of outside the pale of your assistant's responsibilities. I use my tickler file to manage my travel tickets and confirmations; paper-based travel directions, agendas, and maps; reminders of event notifications that come in the mail; information about 'might-want-to-buy' kinds of things I want to reconsider in the future; and so forth.

Bottom line: the tickler file demands only a one-second-per-day new behavior to make it work, and it has a payoff value logarithmically greater than the personal investment.

Setting Up a Tickler File You need forty-three folders — thirty-one daily files labeled '1' through '31,' and twelve more labeled with the names of the months of the year. The daily files are kept in front, beginning with the file for tomorrow's date (if today is October 5, then the first file would be '6'). The succeeding daily files represent the days of the rest of the month ('6' through '31'). Behind the '31' file is the monthly file for the next month ('November'), and behind that are the daily files '1' though '5.' Following that are the rest of the monthly files ('December' through 'October'). The next daily file is emptied into your in-basket every day, and then the folder is refiled at the back of the dailies (at which point, instead of October 6, it represents November 6). In the same way, when the next monthly file reaches the front (on October 31 after you empty the daily file, the 'November' file will be the next one, with the daily files '1' through '31' behind it), it's emptied into the in-basket and refiled at the back of the monthlies to represent November a year from now. This is a 'perpetual' file, meaning that at any given time it contains files for the next thirty-one days and the next twelve months.

The big advantage of using file folders for your tickler system is that they allow you to store actual documents (the form that needs to be filled out on a certain day, the memo that needs to be reviewed then, the telephone note that needs action on a specific date, etc.).

In order for the system to work, you must update it every day. If you forget to empty the daily file, you won't trust the system to handle important data, and you'll have to manage those things some other way. If you leave town (or don't access the file on the weekend), you must be sure to check the folders for the days you'll be away, before you go.

FILE-FOLDER-STYLE SAMPLE SETUP (OCTOBER 5)

Checklists: Creative Reminders

 The last topic in personal system organization that deserves some attention is the care and feeding of checklists, those recipes of potential ingredients for projects, events, and areas of value, interest, and responsibility.

The most creative checklists are often generated at the back end of a good consulting process with a team or company. Good ones also show up as areas of focus for training staff or hiring into job slots.

When I'm clearing in-baskets with clients and reviewing other things they're concerned about, we often run across little 'Memos to Self' like:

• Exercise more regularly.

• Make sure we have evaluation forms for each training.

• Spend more quality time with my kids.

• Do more proactive planning for the division.

• Maintain good morale with my team.

• Ensure we are in alignment with corporate strategy.

• Keep the client billing process up to date.

What should you do with these 'fuzzier' kinds of internal commitments and areas of attention?

First, Clarify Inherent Projects and Actions

For much of this kind of 'stuff,' there is still a project and/or an action that needs to be defined. 'Exercise more regularly' really translates for many people into 'Set up regular exercise program' (project) and 'Call Sally for suggestions about personal trainers' (real action step). In such cases, inherent projects and actions still need to be clarified and organized into a personal system.

But there are some things that don't quite fit into that category.

 Blueprinting Key Areas of Work and Responsibility

Objectives like 'Maintain good physical conditioning' or 'Physical health and vitality' may still need to be built into some sort of overview checklist that will be reviewed regularly. You have multiple layers of outcomes and standards playing on your psyche and your choices at any point in time, and knowing what those are, at all the different levels, is always a good idea.