Chapter 4: Sorting
The best method processing what you've gathered is the method you know you'll use. From my 'inbox', I run a tight ship. I process my inbox every two to three years, sorting first into three categories according to size, shape, and odor:
-Heap 1
-Heap 2
-Heap 3
I sort each Heap according to the layout of my office/breakfast nook/bedroom. Heap 3 goes near the door, and just spills out enough to keep the door from opening or closing very well. Heap 2 goes on the 'desk', which is actually a space on the floor where i keep pens, paperclips, whiteout, etc. Heap 1, where my urgent actions are filed, goes on the bed, and at night is transferred directly in front of my door so I can't leave without consciously avoiding it.
Once in Heaps, the processing gets really exciting! From there, I put a sticky on each thing and sort into:
-To-do
-Not-to-do
To-do's then get sorted into two piles.
-freakout
-chillax
Every item in the freakout pile is then transferred onto a Triptych of Triumph list (see yesterday's post about how this works http://monkpunk.org/elbloggo/?p=15) to make rock-solid sure it'll get done.
Anything in the Chillax pile gets sorted again into two categories:
-people will find out i don't have my shit together
-whatevs
Immediate Inspirations!
David Allen quotes a great phrase, "the better you get, the better you better get." I'd like to update it a bit for 2006. I say, "the better you get, the more pressure people put on you. God, Dad, why do you think i went to a college with no grades or tests. can you not ask 'how's work?' for two weeks and can you please tell Grandma not to suggest I try being a dental hygenist?"
Chapter 5: Future-Tripping to Future-Flipping
The magic of Getting Shit Done is that once you've begun to incorporate the system into your life wholesale, you can begin to zap your mind into the upper echelons of thought! this process will move your whole way of navigating the world from future-tripping to future-flipping! you will begin to understand empirically what it's like to enter those flashing super-mario states of invincibility.
Time Units
while it's helpful to measure time in conventional units, thinking about time in new ways can radically shift the way we relate to the clock. here are some examples of metaphorical future time-units. where do you see yourself in the future?
i'm not sure where rent money will come from.
but i'm still a kid myself!
that one perfect age.
more gray hairs than not.
well, i guess social security really wasn't.
diapers, again?
oh, fuck.