Daily Times

Human psychology is an immensely complex phenomenon to understand. Every human needs an understanding of these diverse phenomena that aim to regulate his thoughts and actions. Without regulating thoughts and plans, actions never move forward. Thanks to David Allen’s simple sentence formation, Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, is an easy read. It takes two to three sittings to finish the book that comprises of 259 pages.

In this book, Allen introduces new methods to readers for personal growth and to increase organisational productivity. The author also details the method that he teaches in his coaching and workshops’ courses.

The most essential part of the book is “high performance work-flow management” and “ability to deal with your work”. As we all know, in order to properly execute leadership assignments and responsibilities a clear head is needed. Allen teaches us the best method of achieving focus and stress-free control in order to deal effectively with internal commitments; even, in turbulent.

David Allen also known as the ‘self-improvement guru’ says that personal action management is the art of managing your priorities, time, action and workflow

In the process of work-flow management, the author explains five stages, in meticulous details, of mastering workflow in one’s life. They include; first, collection (physical and electronic devices), second, process (actions required to be taken), third, organise (calendar/project lists), fourth, review (daily and weekly) and fifth, do (defining your work). The final is famously known as the daily-to-do checklist. Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity teaches innovative methods of how to manage things with relaxed and controlled knowledge.

Allen also known as the “self-improvement guru” says that personal action management is the art of managing your priorities, time, action and workflow. He believes that things rarely “get stuck” because of lack of time. “They get stuck because the doing of them has not been [or vaguely mixed-up] defined. Now, detect with the radar of your mind, what needs to be the next action by prioritizing it. It is direly needed to act upon the first time when you become aware of the work to do; else, you will be highly ineffective and inefficient.”

The author emphasises that in order to achieve that maximum potential, one of the most important thing is a clear head. “Get clear, clean, complete and update.” Reassess and review your daily and weekly works. This is the core DNA of your choices personally and organisationally. The significant point is to start to make things happen. When you really begin to make things, no matter how mundane, results happen. And that makes things get done. Trust your action, brain and productive activities.

In short, the core essence of the book is to start with clarity, define your next action and achieve self-control. “Stress-free productivity will improve only when individuals increase their operational responsiveness”. To quote Mark Twain ; “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one”.

The writter can be reached at ullah.rehmat@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, September 4^th 2018.