I once heard that former British Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher said “Happiness is a ticked off list”. I have no idea if that’s true, but regardless of how one might have felt about her politics, I can certainly relate to that statement. I always write a to-do list for every project, and having recently completed a major one, I realised something about the process that causes it all to break down.

You see, as detailed as my lists are, I’ve realized that there are certain types of items that don’t appear on there. At best these unlisted tasks can slow things down, and at worst they can grind a project to a halt. I call these my hidden barrier tasks, perhaps an illustration is in order.;

My to-do list for the project of publishing my first e-anthology of short stories:

• Obtain a professionally designed book cover
• Format document in line with style guide
• Sort out PayPal
• Sort out PO Box for press releases
• Write sales blurb
• Write copyright notice and appendix
• Create landing page for e-book purchasers
• Research e-book pricing and decide on a price
• Publish e-book

Note how each of those seem perfectly reasonable and pretty detailed in some cases. When I was writing the list, I knew that some tasks would be relatively quick to execute and more straight forward than others. What I didn’t realise was that there were other tasks I had to tackle before the project could be completed. What it should have said was:

• Get over reluctance to ask my busy best friend for help
• Obtain a professionally designed book cover
• Format master document in line with style guide
• Sort out PayPal
• Sort out PO Box for press releases
• Figure out what the essence of the anthology is
• Write sales blurb
• Write copyright notice and appendix
• Create landing page for e-book purchasers
• Get over extreme block about charging money for my creative writing
• Research e-book pricing and decide on a price
• Push past the fear of failure
• Publish e-book

When I look at that second list, I feel like a fool! Those four hidden barrier tasks stalled the launch of my anthology by at least a week. The first of them was resolved in a conversation with the aforementioned best friend who turned out to be delighted to help.

Project launch delayed by: 1 day.

The second required consultation with a reader, as I am far too close to the stories to see them with enough objectivity.

Project launch delayed by: 3 hours (plus a huge amount of frustration incurred by my inability to write a sales blurb for my own project!).

The third hidden task really stalled the project, which was still secret at the time. It ultimately required the creation of a secret project support group of lovely people who were prepared to listen to my plan, look at specific concerns I had and then give me feedback and lots of kind encouragement. They also encouraged me to blog about it, and that helped immensely too. The lesson I learnt at that stage was that developing things in secret might lead to a grand unveiling, but doing something way beyond your comfort zone in secret is a recipe for procrastination.

Project launch delayed by: 5 days (ouch).

The fourth hidden barrier, well, that’s still there, but I have that fear with everything (even writing this post)! I did just have to take a deep breath and push the publish button regardless of the fear. But becoming aware of that fear made it easier to deal with, and squeeze past.

Project launch delayed by: 1 hour (that was me actively fretting about whether to click the button -  it was probably hours and hours spread over the last month).

I guess that’s what this is all about: awareness. So the next time I write a to-do list, I’m going to take a moment to see how I feel about each task, rather than a purely logic-based, practical appraisal of what needs to be done. After all, it was the emotional side of it that slowed me down, but bringing them out into the open helped me immensely. I’ll also be sure to prioritize tackling those previously hidden barrier tasks, to make sure the project proceeds more smoothly.

So, do you have a big project on the go? Or a to-do list the length of Italy? Are there any items on it that are taking far longer than they should, or just aren’t being tackled at all? Maybe there is a hidden barrier task that needs to be drawn out before you can continue? I hope this helps!

You can get Emma’s e-book, From Dark Places, here.

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Recently I was asked how to maintain that blissful de-cluttered state. She’d followed this blog, checked out Unclutterer and Zen Habits and read numerous books, and she was happy with the way her house and workplace was. She was no longer losing entire days trying to tidy up, and her husband wasn’t constantly asking where everything was. Well, most of the time.

But de-cluttering is only half of the challenge. Keeping it that way and staying organized is a whole different matter and she sometimes struggled with it. So, I looked at how I was managing and realized I was doing the same three things each day in order to maintain a de-cluttered life. I hadn’t used a book full of tricks and tips for this, just three simple rules that I’d picked up.

I hope you’ll agree with me about these, but if you have your own set of golden de-cluttering rules, share them. I’d love to read your thoughts on this.

Do a little every day
Anybody who has let the dishes or the laundry pile up can attest to this one. Definitely doing a little every day is far, far better than trying to do a lot all in one go. You may come home from hard days in the office, tired and fed up, and of course you’d much rather crash on the sofa than face up to all the clutter that’s gathered since yesterday, but you’re just making it harder on yourself. Don’t leave things till the weekend!

There are many de-cluttering chores that won’t ever go away, so don’t worry about having an empty letter tray, having all of your clothes hung up, having every room clear of dust, etc. It’s a losing battle. Just focus on doing a little every day. All you have to do is clean a few dishes each day, wash and iron a small basket of clothes each day, file away some letters each day… Just stay on top of it!

A space for everything
It’s the oldest known de-cluttering tip in existence, dating right back to the Romans (well, maybe not), but unlike similarly old tales about broken mirrors and walking under ladders, this one is genuinely true!

Everything needs to have a designated space (different items can share the same space of course, hence the ‘messy drawer’). If not, these things get put anywhere and everywhere, often just because it’s easier. An important letter will get shoved in a drawer simply because it happens to be next to you when you open the mail and your drills and screwdrivers will find homes everywhere from the garage to the storage cupboard because you just leave them where you last used them.

This problem doubles and triples (I’ve done the maths) if other people are involved because they will make up their own ideas as to where things go. Offices and workplaces are a nightmare for this. Mail gets mixed up with all the other paperwork rather than going in one letter tray. Paper clips end up in a dozen people’s drawers rather than in the stationary cupboard. Have you got any other workplace stories of people not following this rule?

So it’s simple. Follow the oldest advice known to mankind (at least it feels that way). Find a space for everything and put everything in its space.

Clean up as you go
This to me personally, is the number one de-cluttering golden rule, riding triumphantly above everything else (ignoring the fact it’s actually the last rule I’m covering). In fact I think this rule is so important that it was orginally my intention to dedicate this entire post to it. Now that’s special.

This is a simple one really, but it makes the biggest difference. Having spent what feels like a lifetime dealing with people who snack on the sofa and subsequently leave the crisp packet on the floor to put away later, or open their mail in the hallway and leave the used envelopes in a pile on the table, it’s also seems to be one of the hardest to do.

It takes a little bit of effort there and then to put your pen away after writing a letter, or hanging your coat away after you come home, but it saves you soooooo much time later, and that’s what makes it valuable. Take an average week and think about all the little things you didn’t put away at the time. Then imagine having to do them all in one go on a Sunday and you’ll realize quite how effective this rule is.

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As promised a couple of months ago, I’m today also releasing a compilation ebook of the most popular posts from 2007. I hope eventually to be able to do one for each year the blog has been live. The ebook contains twelve posts that have been primarily picked by you, the readers. If you want an easy way of viewing the best of the Organize IT archive, this is a great way to do it.You can buy it separately or get it bundled free with my Productivity Tips book.

• Buy Best Of Organize IT: 2007 ($2.99)
• Buy Productivity Tips bundle ($4.99)
• Check out my other ebooks

Moving on, I’ve also updated my weekly planner to cover 2010 and given it a few visual tweaks (primarily forced on me admittedly, because I forget about the custom fonts I used when I moved over to my new laptop). I’m still using it even after all these months so something must be good about it. If you’re a pen and paper type of person then why not give it a try?

Finally, over a year ago I created a Twitter list of cool people who tweeted about GTD, lifestyle design, productivity, etc. In that time it has got badly out of date so I decided to freshen it up, clear out those that were no longer tweeting and remove any that shouldn’t have been on there in the first place. If you’re just starting out on Twitter, or you’ve looking for some like-minded people, then this list will be ideal for you. If you have any suggestions on who to add to it, then get in touch!

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This short term attitude stopped me from doing so many things for so many years, particularly the books I’m currently writing. Because it didn’t necessarily ‘click’ with me straight away, I’d put the notepad away in frustration and forget about it. Thankfully I’ve got a grip of it, with a little help from the tips covered below. I’m writing regularly and seeing improvement from going to the gym. But it’s not easy.

It turns out that our brain has two sides that are constantly competing between satisfying short term rewards and long term gains (I’m being simplistic here, if you want the science read this). If you’ve ever been on a diet and walked past the cake display in a shop, you’ve probably felt that battle raging inside of you. Because in modern society it’s so easy to satisfy that short term side of you (no waiting around because of the internet, easy access to things because of transport, etc.) and there are so many temptations put right in front of you, for many people this internal battle now represents a well-disciplined army taking on a leaderless rabble.

So, we need to balance this battle. Below are my five tips for doing just that:

• Be aware of that internal battle
  If you’ve ever wondered why you’re always impulse buying, or why you can never say no to a cigarette, now you know what’s going on in your head. Being aware that there really is a short term versus long term battle raging, really gives you a new perspective on those daily challenges you have.
• Break your work down into bitesize chunks
  Short term rewards, whether it be that cigarette packet in your coat, the doughnut on the table or that nice shirt on the clothes rack, are often tangible and right in front of you. Long term goals are generally anything but, and encompass all sorts of planning, tasks and projects to achieve. So, make those goals tangible. Break them down into bitesize chunks of activity that you can do in the short term, and which are actionable.
• Be consistent
  Remember what it’s like when going to the gym. You won’t see results immediately. You won’t get a muscled or toned body in a few weeks no matter how hard you exercise. But if you go regularly and consistently, eventually it will happen and you will notice a difference. The same applies for whatever goal you have.
• Be happy with each individual step you take
  One of the simplest thrills is doing something. That little buzz when you finish a report or finally finish tidying your bedroom is vastly underestimated. Plus there isn’t any guilt attached to it, unlike when you buy a new TV on impulse knowing full well your credit card is almost maxed out. Taking small steps forward satisfies both your short-term hunger and long-term appetite, because you’re getting the buzz of doing something you like and also the satisfaction of knowing your moving forward with that future goal.
• Focus on today
  What? Achieve long term goals by pandering to our short term side? Yes, that’s basically it, and why not? If you’re thinking about what you need to do today to push forward with your goals, that fuzzy future which causes us so much confusion and inaction becomes an irrelevance. We all get demotivated when we contemplate the year and a half it will take to do this or the six months it will take to do that. There’s no way around that so… just focus on today instead!

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When I started the blog in 2006, it was all about the productivity, fueled by the discovery of a little known book called Getting Things Done. But over time, that mindset started to manifest itself in all sorts of places, from my finances to my health, and even just how I kept my home tidy and organized. Was it still productivity, or had I graduated to something else?

Lifestyle design seems to be a popular term nowadays, after it got popularized by Tim Ferriss and his 4-Hour Work Week, but judging by the replies I got on Twitter, the old school term of personal development still seems pretty popular as a catch-all term. Personally it reminds me too much of affirmations, positive thinking and that whole self-help stereotype, but that’s just me.

What term do you prefer, and why? Maybe it’s one I’ve not already mentioned. Share your thoughts in the comments below, on Facebook or via Twitter. As ever I look forward to all of your opinions!

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This is a guest post by Francis Wade of Time Management 2.0.

Most professionals can name a handful of time management systems that they have come across in their professional careers. They can probably also list a few people here and there who have embraced these systems and are quite happy using them. If they were to think of improving their productivity they would probably look to adopt one of the systems they have heard about, and take a course, read a book or visit a few websites in order to learn what to do.

What if the way we think about time management is completely confused, and the fact is that we are each walking around using unique systems of our own creation?

Perhaps our time management systems are like fingerprints – one of a kind. The most recent research has focused on the fact that habits, rituals and practices are the building blocks of ALL time management systems, whether we realize it or not. It implies that the habit patterns that we use on a daily basis were especially created by us, even if we didn’t do so consciously.

The fact that our habit pattern is utterly unique implies that our time management systems must also be one of a kind. In other words, there are some four billion time management systems walking around, one for each person on the planet.

Is there something wrong with thinking in this way? Should we all be following one system instead of infinitely many? While it’s possible to teach groups of people to goose-step in unison in some settings, companies should not be encouraging their employees to take the same approach to managing their time. The fact is, needs differ from one person to the next, and it would be a mistake to try to implement the CEO’s habit pattern, for example, in the life of all employees.

Why so?

First there is the fact that habits are quite difficult to change. New rituals are hard to establish, and old ones are tough to quit. It’s the misguided executive who wastes the company’s money and time trying to get all the employees to follow a single time management system.

Secondly, the CEO’s lifestyle is very different from that of employees. While he may be a black belt in time management, the front-line employees may simply not need such sophisticated skills, nor even want them. Sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander, if top performance from employees is what is most desired.

This isn’t to say that companies shouldn’t encourage employees to be more productive. Instead, they should help employees learn how to manage and upgrade their own time management systems, in order to achieve their individual goals. This kind of assistance would start by helping employees to see and understand the time management systems they have been using on a daily basis, without being fully aware of them. Then, once they gain some understanding, it’s not too hard to teach employees how to perform upgrades to their system using best practices taken from wherever they can be found.

In this way, each employee ends up with a custom system, plus a pathway for steady improvement. That’s the way to tap into the creativity of each person on the payroll, as a way to ultimately achieving superior results.

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Firstly, there is your mindset. If you’re still carrying around a NYR mentality, then you need to ditch it permanently. It will only hold you back. It’s not enough to just say you’re going to do something, you have to consider how much you mean it, and how you’re actually going to achieve it. Once you start thing in those terms, you’re halfway there. However, there are also two other matters to think about:

• Be honest
  Don’t let peer pressure cloud your decisions. Don’t let the latest scare stories in newspapera drive you into things that deep down you don’t want to do. There is a big difference between feeling like doing something, and having the motivation and desire to follow that up for months and even years. There are many things I’d like to do, but enough to show dedication to it far into the future. No. Do you really want to quit smoking and no longer have the calming buzz of a cigarette between your fingers? Do you really want to be debt-free by the end of the year and forever miss out on the regular shopping indulgences? Be honest with yourself.
• Be realistic
  Combined with being honest is being realistic about what you want to achieve. Traditional self-help gibberish tells you to reach for the stars! Anything is possible! Hmm, no. Being realistic isn’t about dumbing down your goals, it’s about taking out the puppy dogs and fairies and turning a fantasy into something that you may actually be able to make happen. Unlike a football team which has a shouting manager and big pay packet to motivate them into getting back up after a bad run of results, you’ll only have yourself. Dream big, sure, but don’t get too carried away.

I must stress that though many people have achieved amazing things in their lives, they didn’t do it by having hopefully optimistic designs for their life. They were realistic and turned that realism into action.

Now that you have the right mindset for creating goals that you can actually achieve, you need to actually decide what it is you want to achieve and how you’re going to do it. It’s time to be strategic and smart and do some serious planning. Below are several very varied techniques to help you really analyze your life and inspire some some lean and mean goals to pursue through 2010.

• Horizons of focus
  You don’t have to be a GTD fan to take advantage of this common-sense breakdown of your life. I personally, never really got into it, but it clearly has value to many people. Essentially, there are six levels of focus, ranging from the big vision of your life at the top, to your daily activity at the bottom. How does everything align up? You can check out a previous post I wrote for full details on how to implement it.
• My own approach
  If that’s a little too much for you, last year I experimented with my own approach which is actually something I still use. Essentially, you start in the middle, considering what current goals you have or want to do, then going a level to consider what actions you need to take to achieve them, and up a level to see how those goals fit into your big vision.
• SWOT analysis
  This may bring back a few memories for those who did business studies at school. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Yes, it is possible to apply it to your life, your finances, work, play, social life, hobbies and interests etc. Check out this post for a really good understanding of how it works.
• SMART goals
  Another oldie but goodie. Again, it’s not something I’ve ever actively used but you can’t deny the value in it. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic (that word again!) and timeframed. If your goals don’t follow all of those criteria, you can forget about it. More details on this technique can be found here.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, and there are many other techniques out there, but hopefully this will give you a taster. It might seem overkill, and a little unnecessary to put your personal life under such scrutiny, but perhaps the fact we give our work life too much attention and our personal life so little is why many people are unhappy. Do you have any favorite practices for coming up with and setting goals? Why not share them in the comments or on Twitter? Hopefully this time next year, the idea of having new year’s resolutions will be a thing of the past!

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You’d think that in 2010, we’d have all wised up when it comes to making goals and sticking to them, but year on year we put ourselves through this yearly ritual, fueled by magazines, media types, self-help gurus and bloggers (yes, I’ve been guilty of it in my early days). The problem isn’t setting the goals (though actually even that can sometimes be a pain as I shall discuss shortly), it’s how you’re actually going to achieve them, but the NYR (as I shall refer to it from now on) has been around for so long that it’s impossible to change the general perception of what is required from it. In many ways it’s like a simple to-do list. People think it’s enough to just write down or declare everything that needs doing and they will be miraculously energized to take action. Unfortunately it’s only one part of a bigger solutions, not the full answer.

And then there is all the expectation attached to it. Oh my, so much expectation and enthusiasm! If only I could harness the energy I feel at the start of a new year and spread it out evenly over the entire twelve months I’d be… well, amongst many things, I’d be a very happy and fulfilled person. Unfortunately, NYR enthusiasm is very much like an overinflated balloon (probably blown up by a very drunk person at 11.59PM on New Year’s Eve). Let’s set silly, over-reaching goals for the year and act all surprised when it pops in our face! All it takes is one cigarette a few day’s later or getting tempted by that juicy bun with the strawberry on top two weeks from now, and that balloon will go byebyes. Oh well, there is always next year… The result? Another person who doesn’t have a clue how to achieve their goals, dreams and aspirations.

The new year is a great time to re-evaluate your aims, wipe the slate clean where necessary and make realistic, achievable goals backed up by concrete, clearly defined steps to help you achieve them… just not flaky wishlists because you felt like it. It’s sounds geeky, it sounds serious and businessy, but people never quit bad habits or make big changes in their life by fooling around. There is something about the human psyche that loves a new start (even if in reality, it’s the same old you just carried over to the next year) so this year don’t make the same mistakes of the past – set some smart goals, but please don’t call them new year’s resolutions (though, feel free to suggest alternative names).

If you want more on how exactly to create such goals be sure to check out my next post on Thursday. Subscribe to the feed, follow me on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook to get notified and stay up to date.

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Looking forward to 2010, early next year I will be putting up a new blog design (it’s something I’ve paid for this time so hopefully it will look that bit more professional) and releasing the Best Of 2007 book that I promised a couple of weeks back. I’m also wanting to expand the number of guests posts I publish at Organize IT. Having regularly written here for over three years now, it’s sometimes difficult to come up with fresh ideas, so I’ve decided that having other people contribute will help provide alternative, refreshing perspectives to my own. If you are interested in doing a guest post then check out this page for full deails.

2009 has been a great year for me personally and for this blog. I’d like to thank all my readers for continuing to stick by Organize IT and help make it the success it is. I’ll be back to my regular posting schedule next week, but in the meantime, have a great new year and see you in 2010!

1st Quarter

• What My Wedding Taught Me About Parkinson’s Law
• What My Cat Taught Me About Productivity
• The Realities Of Simplifying Your To-Do List
• Getting Back To GTD Basics In The New Year
• 4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Rely On Your Brain (Too Much)
• 3 Practical Steps For Controlling Your Negative Self-Talk
• The 80/20 Rule And The Importance Of Value
• The 4 Golden Rules Of The Mind Sweep
• Simply Put, Always Carry A Pen And Paper With You!

2nd Quarter

• GTD Is An Attention Management System
• What Productivity Means To Me
• House M.D. And Why Making Mistakes Can Be Good
• Considering The Cumulative Effect Of Your Actions
• Are You Like Half-A-Job Bob?
• The Six Circumstances That Affect Our Priorities In Life
• Control Social Media, Don’t Let It Control You
• Why Is Falling Off The Wagon Acceptable?
• Inner Trust And Why You Shouldn’t Lie On Your To-Do List

3rd Quarter

• 6 Reasons Why I’d Choose Pen And Paper Every Time
• 5 Reasons Why GTD And Creativity Can Mix Together, Damnit!
• GTD And The Work/Life Blur Dilemma
• There Is No Growth To Be Found In Simplifying Your Life
• How The 4-Hour Work Week Influenced Me
• How To Take Revenge On Your Email Inbox
• How To Perform A Successful Root Cause Analysis
• Getting Sleep Done: 4 Sleep Tips For Active Minds
• My 5 Guidelines For A Productive Day

4th Quarter

• ‘Someday’ Is A Disease, Do You Suffer From It?
• Go Public! Share Your Goals With The World
• Productivity Down! An Emergency Response Guide
• The Death Of Prioritizing
• Simplify Your Life: It’s Time For A Reality Check
• Modern Life Sucks: 4 Ways The Status Quo Is Wrong
• We’re All Time Wasters, But Whose Fault Is That?
• Does GTD Make Your Brain Lazy?
• Why “Just Do It” Is Still The Best Productivity Advice

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• David Allen has written three books. The first was Getting Things Done and the third was Making It All Work. What was his second book called?
• What is the 20,000ft level of the horizons of focus also commonly called?
• “Write business report” is clearly not a next action. Provide an example of a possible next action you can have for this project.
• A typical GTD style tickler file contains how many folders? For bonus points, what two categories of folders are used in the tickler file?
• Do it, delegate it or…. ?
• David Allen says if you’re not doing it, you’re not doing GTD. He claims it’s one of the most important aspects of Getting Things Done, but what is it?
• There is a big martial arts influence in GTD. Black belt productivity, mind like water, etc. But did David Allen teach karate or judo?
• A someday/maybe list is for paperwork, projects, emails, etc. that you keep putting off taking action on. True or false?
• Give three examples of tools that can be used for ubiquitous capture.
• When it comes to choosing what next action to work on, a four-criteria model is often used, but which of the following criteria is wrong? And what should it be? Context, motivation, energy available, priority.
• The four minute rule states the entire tone of an event, date or night out is often determined in the first four minutes. But what is the two minute rule?

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