Ready for Anything

date May 6, 2008
authors David Allen
reading time 2 mins
  • Book Title: Ready for Anything – 52 Productivity Principles for Work and life
  • Author: David Allen
  • Year written/published: 2003
  • Book Source: Google Books, Library
  • Some extracts:

Some of the principles…

  1. leaning up create new directions
  2. You can only feel good about what you’re not doing when you know what you’re not doing
  3. Knowing your commitments creates better choices
  4. Getting to where you’re going requires knowing where you are
  5. If it’s on your mind, it’s probably not getting done
  6. Creativity shows up when there’s space
  7. You won’t see how to do it until you see yourself doing it
  8. The clearer your purpose, the more ways to fulfil it
  9. Perspective is the most valuable commodity on the planet
  10. You system has to be better than your mind for your mind to let go
  11. Prime our principles instead of policing your policies.
  12. Use our mind to think about work instead of thinking of it.
  13. Too controlled is out of control
  14. The longer your horizon, the smoother your moves.
  15. You speed up by slowing down.
  16. Small things, done consistently create major project
  17. It’ easier to move when you are in motion

Bottom up approach:

  1. What are your current tasks?
  2. What are your current projects?
  3. What are your current areas of responsibility?
  4. How are your job, personal affairs going to change in the next year?
  5. How are your organisation, your personal life going to change?
  6. Why are you on the planet? are we holding somethings from ourselves?

A fundamental principle is at work here. All of us, personally and organizationally, may be unconsciously holding back new and better things from ourselves because we feel that we won’t be able to handle them successfully or sufficiently. Most of us think that we want MORE of many things. More money, more clients, more responsibility, more fun, more time. But do we really? I’ve learned that when I consciously want is only a fraction of what directs my creative energies. .. I didn’t recognize them in the moment; and even if I did, I found subtle ways to push them away.

too much of organizing?

Uncaptured, unclarified and therefore unmanaged things that you have agreed to won a piece of you and give you no rest. Naming your stuff gives you power over it. The best and most productive way to do your work is to be its master and not its slave.

Seeing yourself doing it…

Your brain’s pattern-recognition mechanism is triggered by the images you identify with and the focus you hold. You see the outcome first, and then you are consciously made conscious of information. Whether it’s how to catch a ball, create a company, or care for your parents, the vision come first. If you won’t see yourself having or doing something until you see how to do it, you’ll never recognise the methods, though hey are all around you. Notice what you notice and how you make that happen.

form and functions… inner partnership:

  1. My in-baskets
  2. my projects and someday/maybe lists
  3. my next action lists 4. weekly review