Summary

In Getting Things Done, David Allen offered a breakthrough system to enhance productivity-at work and in daily life. Now "the guru of personal productivity" (Fast Company) asks readers what is holding them back and shows how they can be ready for anything-with a clear mind, a clear deck, and clear intentions. Based on Allen's highly popular e-newsletter, Principles of Productivity, Ready for Anythingoffers fifty-two principles to clear your head, focus productively, create structures that work, and get in motion, including: * stability on one level opens creativity on another * you can't win a game you haven't defined * the value of a future goal is the present change it fosters With wit, motivational insights, and inspiring quotes, Ready for Anythingshows readers how to make things happen with less effort, stress, and ineffectiveness, and lots more energy, creativity, and clarity. This is the perfect book for anyone wanting to work and live at their very best.

Author Biography

David Allen is president of the David Allen Company and has more than two decades' experience as a management consultant and executive coach, having worked with organizations such as Merck, the Ford Foundation, and the U.S. Navy. He has been featured in Fortune, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Making It Easy to Take It Easy

xvii

PART I: CLEAR YOUR HEAD FOR CREATIVITY

or Getting the Loose Ends to Leave You Alone

(40)

1. Cleaning up creates new directions.

(3)

Prepared for the Unknown?

2. You can only feel good about what you're not doing when you know what you're not doing.

(3)

Why "Getting Organized" Usually Hasn't Worked

3. Knowing your commitments creates better choices of new ones.

(3)

When the Center Is the Edge

4. Getting to where you're going requires knowing where you are.

(3)

Forget the Future Just Get a Grip

5. Infinite opportunity is utilized by finite possibility.

(3)

The One-Minute Workflow Manager

6. Two commitments in your head create stress and failure.

(3)

Getting Things Done: Reactive or Responsive?

7. Priorities function only at the conscious level.

(3)

The Danger of "Not as Important" Projects

8. Closing open loops releases energy.

(2)

The Magical Mundane

9. If it's on your mind, it's probably not getting done.

(3)

The ABCs of Psychic RAM

10. Creativity shows up when there's space.

(3)

Is This All There Is?

11. The deeper the channel, the greater the flow.

(3)

Are You Really Ready for More?

12. Worry is a waste.

(3)

Getting Thinking off Your Mind

13. You are not your work.

(3)

The Big Secret About My Lists

PART II: FOCUS PRODUCTIVELY

or What's the Point of a Point of View?

(40)

14. For more clarity, look from a higher place.

(3)

The Play of the Day

15. You won't see how to do it until you see yourself doing it.

(3)

Waking Up Again to Making It Up Again

16. Working hard enough is impossible.

(2)

Is It Overtime All the Time?

17. Energy follows thought.

(3)

What Are You Putting in Front of Your Door?

18. The clearer your purpose, the more ways to fulfill it.

(3)

Are You Living in Your Living Room?

19. Best is much better than good.

(3)

How to Be Invincible

20. A change in focus equals a change in result.

(3)

Are You Ready for "Ready"?

21. Perspective is the most valuable commodity on the planet.

(3)

Bootstrapping Yourself into Better

22. You have to think about your stuff more than you think.

(3)

Productivity Doesn't Happen by Itself

23. You don't have to think about your stuff as much as you're afraid you might.

(3)

Being Complete with Your Incompletions

24. If you know what you're doing, efficiency is the only improvement opportunity.

(3)

Stress Transcendence

25. Only one thing on your mind is "in the zone."

(3)

How Important Is Anything but the Most Important Thing?

26. The value of a future goal is the present change it fosters.

(3)

To Do or to Be? Or Is That the Question?

PART III: CREATE STRUCTURES THAT WORK

or It's Hard to Stay on Track Without Rails

(36)

27. Stability on one level opens creativity on another.

(2)

Organization and Creativity: Friends or Foes?

28. Form and function must match for maximum productivity.

(2)

The Visionary and the Doer--a Personal Division of Labor

29. Your system has to be better than your mind for your mind to let go.

(3)

Can Your Mind Keep Its New Job?

30. Response ability improves viability.

(2)

The Disorder Drug

31. Your system is only as good as its weakest link.

(3)

How Is Your Wiring Firing?

32. The effectiveness of your system is inversely proportional to your awareness of it.

(3)

System Success: Silent Running

33. Function follows form.

(2)

Which Parts of Your Pot Need Stirring?

34. You can't win a game you haven't defined.

100

(3)

The Scary Swampland Between Thinking and Doing

35. Whenever two or more are responsible for something, usually nobody is.

103

(3)

The Inner Committee

36. Prime your principles instead of policing your policies.

106

(3)

You Are at Your Best When ...

37. Use your mind to think about your work, instead of thinking of it.

109

(2)

Is Form Formless?

38. You are thinking more valuably than you may think.

111

(3)

Freedom and Form Fun

39. The necessity to plan and organize is inversely proportional to your perceived resources.

114

(3)

Why the Human Race Is Taking So Long to Evolve

PART IV: RELAX AND GET IN MOTION

or How to Be Where the Action Is

117

(38)

40. You're the only one playing your game.

119

(3)

The New Fundamentals

41. Too controlled is out of control.

122

(3)

Are You an "Organizing Groupie"?

42. The better you get, the better you'd better get.

125

(2)

Jump

43. Trusting your action choice requires multilevel self-management.

127

(3)

It's 9:45 in the Morning. What Should I Do?

44. Your power is proportional to your ability to relax.

130

(3)

The Freedom/Productivity Equation

45. Surprises, expected, are no surprise.

133

(3)

Productively Peering into the Pit

46. The longer your horizon, the smoother your moves.

136

(3)

The Rhythm of Things

47. You speed up by slowing down.

139

(2)

Should the Pot Simmer?

48. You don't have time to do any project.

141

(3)

The Subtle Sirens of the "Long Term"

49. Small things, done consistently, create major impact.

144

(2)

The Critical 20 Percent

50. You have to do something to know something.

146

(3)

Who's Really Interested in Productivity? (I Mean, Really?)

51. It's easier to move when you're in motion.

149

(2)

Overwhelmed? Take the Helm

52. The biggest successes come from the most failures.

151

(4)

The Year of Better Choices

PART V: REMIND YOURSELF OF THE FUNDAMENTALS

or Common Sense Isn't That Common

155

(10)

THE FIVE PHASES OF WORKFLOW MASTERY

157

(3)

PROCESSING AND ORGANIZING WORKFLOW

160

(1)

THE NATURAL PLANNING MODEL

161

(2)

THE WEEKLY REVIEW

163

(2)

Afterword

165

Supplemental Materials

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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Excerpts

Introduction:Making It Easy to Take It Easy MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY is making something happenofurniture, freeways, or funowith as little effortas possible. The fact that we have iefforti at all, though, implies that we confront resistance and impediments when we want to get anything done. Improving productivity has a lot to do with dealing more effectively with the hindrances, barriers, and distractions that show up in our wayoanything that opposes or weakens our forward motion. In a totally frictionless world, everything would just appear as soon as it was imaginedothere would be little need to train for greater flexibility and focus or to install better systems and approaches. In the world you and I inhabit, however, to really get what we want most effectively, we have to be ready for anything. And there arethings we can all do, anytime, that make it easier to take things in stride and stay the course.Iive spent more than two decades exploring the best methods to achieve a more relaxed, positive, and sustainable way to live and work. And as a management consultant and productivity coach, Iive helped thousands of professionals implement what Iive discovered to be the best ways to work more productively andget more enjoyment from what theyire doing. When people gain a method of achieving that kind of balance in their day-to-day endeavors, no matter whatis going on, they have easier access to more of their intuition and creativity. They become better at processing information, managing their thoughts and feelings, focusing on results, and trusting their judgments about what to do next. They have a systematic approachin place for dealing with themselves and their work, which is far more useful than merely relying on ad hoc, reactive behaviors to bail them out of the pressures and crises of their world. When people know they have a process in place to handle any situation, they are more relaxed. When theyire relaxed, everything improves. More gets done, with less effort, and a host of other wonderful side effects emerge that add to the outcomes of their efforts and the quality of their life.The methods I teach came from the behaviors and the systems I discovered that worked the best to keep us at our best. Since the early 1980s, they have been tested and proven highly effective, from the ground upofor both individuals and organizations. The steps of this discovery and this process were described in my first book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Its success around the world indicated that people across a wide spectrum of cultures and careers seemed ready for this information and eager for change. They were tired of feeling overwhelmed by their jobs and the business of life. They wanted to regain lost opportunities for creative thinking and playing. They were looking for a new approach, a systemthat could be counted on, no matter what kind of job they had or what kind of day they were having. They wanted a structureobut a natural one that matched their complex lifestyles and created more freedom, not more constraint.While I was uncovering and implementing the details of the what, when, and how that made up the heart of my programs, I started doing something else: I began writing about the whybehind these steps. Why did they work so well? Why did they consistently help people function at a higher capacity and feel better? Was something deeper at work here? What was the foundation behind this success? There seemed to be underlying principles that wove themselves in and through the methodologyofactors that held true no matter when, where, or with whom they were applied.A person can be an excellent race-car driver without knowing anything about gravity, even though gravity is the underlying force affecting everything one does behind the wheel. To win races, the driver needs