Chapter 5: Collection: Corralling Your “Stuff”

This chapter will talk about how you begin your GTD^® journey: collect all of your inputs.

Allen recommends that you take your time in this first step, up to 6 hours if needed. You need to really think about all of the things that are happening in your life, both personally and professionally. He states that you need three things to start the collection:

1. the time to do it right
2. your Inbox
3. a stack of plain white paper

The first thing that you need to do is, with your Inbox by your side, start putting all of your inputs into your Inbox. Anything and everything that is in the wrong place needs to be put in the Inbox for processing. Processing and organizing will put these things in their proper place, but there will be much more on that later. You need to also gather anything that has a pending decision or action on it. While gathering, Allen suggests that there are four catagories of “stuff” that do not need to be processed:

• Supplies
• Reference Material
• Decorative Items for your workspace
• Equipment

These seem to be self-explanatory. You need all of these things in your workspace to make it your workspace, so they are already in their proper place.

There will be some issues that come up while you are collecting. There are four that are discussed in this chapter. The first deals with things that will not fit in your Inbox. Enter the stack of white paper. You should write a note and place it as a placeholder in your Inbox. Make it detailed enough that you know what the paper is representing. This can also lead to overflow of your Inbox. When that happens, just designate some space around the Inbox to keep piling your “stuff.” During this phase you will also realize that some of your “stuff” is destined for the trash…so go ahead and throw it away. That is one less item to process in the next step.

Another problem that can occur is that you start making decisions about the items that you are collecting, while you are processing. Try to keep your phases separate by resisting the urge to process and organize your items. Just get everything into one Inbox (or area around your Inbox, or room in your house), then move to the process step later. This separation will help you in the long run to differentiate the phases of the workflow.

Most of us have tried other forms of organizers and organization methods previous to GTD. Allen suggests that your treat ony item in another organization system like any other item. Write the item on a sheet of paper and put it in your Inbox for further processing later. This will ensure consistancy of all of your items so that you can further process your items from the same viewpoint.

While collecting you will also run across some items that cannot do without. Ask yourself if you need to deal with it before you finish your collection process. If yes, do it to get it out of your mind. If no, then put it in your Inbox. You will process it soon so your will not lose it once it is in your personal system. If you are still worried about losing it, Allen suggests that you create an “emergency” stack close by.

After talking about the issues that comes up, Allen suggests a kind of order to start your collections. Start with the top of your workspace and clearing off any items that do not belong there. Then start going through your drawers one at a time. This will also serve as a cleaning of the drawers that we all need to do. Then move to the tops of any other pieces of furnature in your space: bookshelves, credenzas, cabinets, etc. Make sure that when you are clearing off these place that there are no potential actions associated with those items. Then move into any cabinets you might have, then start hitting bookshelves and the floor. After you have thoroughly gone through your workspace, move to other parts of your house or office and do the same thing.

Once you have gone through your house/office, it is time to start dumping the contents of your mind, or as Allen calls it, the ‘Mind Sweep’. For this, he provides an extensive list of “Implementation Triggers” starting on page 114. This list is extremely helpful in helping you recall anything that could be on your mind. I recommend going through it item be item. I routinely go through this list during my ‘brain dump’ sessions that I try to have at least once per quarter. While going through your Mind Sweep, any items that require actions should be written on your paper and placed in your Inbox. This is where the bulk your paper will get used. You should only write one action/item on each piece so that you can throw it away when you process it and place it in your system. Don’t forget to go through your voicemails in this same way too.

At the end of it, you will most likely have a lot of stacks around you. You might freak out at this point seeing all of the stuff that your need to deal with in your life. Just please remain calm. Remember that this is the first step in getting organized. It is always darkest right before the light.

Come back on Thursday and we will start processing your huge pile and get it into a system that can make you more productive than you have ever been in your life.