Getting Things Done with Work-Life Balance

"Getting Things Done With Work Life Balance" is part of a training program by The David Allen Company, a professional management consulting and coaching organization established in 1966 by David Allen who is a veteran in this field and the author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. His company encourages proficient work practices through seminars, coaching programs and products.

Public seminars on "Getting Things Done With Work Life Balance" are held in major cities to provide opportunities for anybody wanting to experience the program firsthand. David Allen’s website also provides ample free material including an e-newsletter called "David Allen's Productive Living”.

Particularly interesting is the audio set from "Getting Things Done With Work Life Balance" available for free download. It has overviews and highlights of David Allen’s program including discussions on the importance of lists, schedules, altering bad habits, having faith in the system, and the definition of “your game”. The set also contains some inspirational and thought-provoking material from David Allen, for example the quote: “You have to think to know what to do”.

Also available for free download on their site is the PDF series of “Getting Things Done With Work Life Balance”. You’ll find a great article called “Getting E-mail Under Control” in the series, in which David Allen has listed useful suggestions for tidying up your inbox. Some of the suggestions given are:

·         Make good use of the Del key, sort emails by sender to delete the files faster.

·         Archive your emails into organized folders instead of the Inbox.

·         Read the short emails first – it is best to read the two-minute emails first and get them out of the way

·         Pay more attention to the emails that need you to take some action.

·         Place the important emails on the top

The website also presents a workflow diagram illustrating the working of the "Getting Things Done With Work Life Balance" program. The field of processing and organizing is used as an example in this diagram. David Allen moves from one question to the next with precision, always asking the most important question first: “Is it actionable?” If it is not, it is either trashed, incubated (saved for later inspection), or referenced.

If actionable, he goes to the next step: What is the next action? If it is something that can be done within two minutes, he advises us to do it right away. If it something big, he advises us to turn it into a project. It can also be delegated to someone or deferred to a specific date when you can do it yourself.

The "Getting Things Done With Work Life Balance" program by David Allen is a very useful one for both employers and employees. The employers can learn how to create more productive employees, and the employees can learn how to de-clutter their workday and boost their efficiency  to save time for themselves. Even if you cannot attend their seminar, you can use the audio set and PDF set to good effect.