Getting Things Done

"Time is that quality of nature that keeps events from happening all at once. Lately it doesn't seem to be working."

Things are going very well on the farm.

We are approaching a state that I've only caught glimpses of in the past.

We're getting close to being organized.

This is a state that I value highly.

To me, being organized is about more than just your physical space. It means having both your mental and physical space in order. Organized means your thoughts and things are where they belong. You've held on to important things and are able to get them when you need them.

Perhaps even more importantly, those thoughts and things are not in your way. As you go about your day, the things you've decided to keep do not get in the way of what you are doing and thinking about in the moment.

When I say things you decided to keep, that includes all the things you've decided you are going to do in the future. Worrying about these things you need to do eventually often drags you out of the moment and into your head.

The less you are fully invested in the task at hand, the less you will enjoy what you are doing. The less you enjoy what you do, the less happy you will be.

We've invested a lot of energy into getting organized in the past. There was only once where I felt really good about the system we were using to maintain order, and that was right before we moved to the farm.

We had just thoroughly applied a combination of the Getting Things Done method and the Kon Mari method to our "stuff". Everything was where we wanted it. We had gotten rid of everything that didn't bring us joy. We had clear projects, plans, and schedules.

Then we moved to the farm and welcomed Mary to our world. All of a sudden, everything needed new places. All of our projects changed from house renovations to building a farm. Our energy was so thoroughly invested into figuring out the farm that organization took a back seat.

New projects have been added to our lists faster then we can even check the lists. Each time we step back to see what progress we've made, the list of things that need done immedietely seems to double.

The day to day of running the farm over the past year was regularly overwhelming. It felt like we were constantly one step behind. When we were in the middle of a project, I always felt pulled in a million different directions. As I was doing one thing, my mind would wander to the next thing that needed done.

It's not a fun way to operate.

I've talked to many other business owners and farmers who feel similarly. Many assume that this is just part of entrepreneurship. I don't think it is. This is the result of poor organization. We can build systems to overcome this.

I've now mentioned Getting Things Done on a few different occassions. One of the reasons that I like this particular organizational system so much is that it is thorough yet simple. So simple that David Allen recommends using a pen, paper, and some folders as your default tools.

Here is his central thesis:

"It's possible for a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control."

The key to achieving this sense of relaxed control is offloading 100% of your "open loops" into an external system that you trust will recall important information, ideas, and tasks exactly when you need them.

Your system should take in all of the ideas you generate and spit out actionable tasks that your intuitive sense of prioritization can filter through to decide what to do at any given moment.

Allen claims that by building this system of distributed cognition, you free your brain from the shackles of worrying about other things and allow yourself to be fully present.

Here is a quote he shares in the book:

There is one thing we can do, and the happiest people are those who can do it to the limit of their ability. We can be completely present. We can be all here. We can...give all our attention to the opportunity before us. - Mark Van Doren

As mentioned, we've gone through the process of setting up this system once in the past. It worked wonders.

Interesting, Allen proposes a weekly review ritual as being the keystone to the ongoing success of the system. Lately it seems ritual is popping up everywhere.

Several people have asked me to share our notes on how the system works. I am working on it.

I have all of my notes on this system stored in digital form in a note taking tool called Obsidian. Obsidian is where I am currently doing all of my writing. They have an interesting publishing option that I am considering upgrading to for my more in-depth notes and writing.

For now, if you want to learn about this system you'll have to buy the book. There's probably a good TL;DR Youtube video out there as well.

The first step of the system is my favorite part though, so I'll tell you about the week we have ahead of us.

We're collecting 100% of our "stuff" into one big pile. Stuff is anything that is incomplete and anything that doesn't belong in its current place or state.

You offload every idea that you can possibly come up with about things you want to do onto the biggest to do list of your life. You go around your house and collect all the things that aren't where they belong, and you make a giant pile of all this stuff.

You resist the urge to process as you collect. Don't put things back. Collect it all.

The last time we did this, our pile was breathtaking. Seeing the distributed clutter of our life collected into one place was shocking. Talk about an eye opener.

In the past two years on the farm, our stuff has exploded. We started collecting things today. We have two rooms full and aren't done. You could argue that this isn't one pile, but the second room is above the first so pretty soon it will be one pile anyway.

Once you finish collecting 100% of your stuff, you begin processing and you aren't allowed to stop until you've gone through every last thing in the pile. This takes days.

The feeling on the other end of the processing last time was one of the most freeing we have ever experienced. We are excited to get there again.

If any of these experiences resonate with you, I recommend grabbing either Getting Things Done by David Allen or the Kon Mari method by Marie Kondo. If you are running a business or work in some creative capacity, I would go with both. If you are not running a business, maybe start with Kon Mari. Getting Things Done is for people that are bogged down in projects like we are with the farm.

Speaking of books, I've had more people express interest in reading books at the same time than I expected. I will put together a list of books that I am planning to read. If you are interested in reading and talking about books, please send me some of the books that you are excited to read and any ideas you have for what we could do for discussion.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Life is good!