If you know me, you know I love David Allen. His book Getting Things Done revolutionized the way I work. I went from being the flighty pastor who over-promised and under-delivered to someone who is known for being “organized.” This personal transformation convinced me that organization is not innate, but a skill. If anything, David Allen taught me this one thing:
It’s all in your head.
I had organization confused with organization technology. I thought if I would just use my paper calendar or my Palm Pilot, then I would be organized.
I was wrong. It was all in my head.
But, it wasn’t about keeping things in my head. Organization isn’t remembering a lot of things. All it is is remembering to do five things over and over again:
- Collect – get everything out of your head.
- Process – decide what to do with everything, and if takes less than two minutes, do it.
- Organize – if it takes more than two minutes, put it in a trustworthy place where you can find it later, like a calendar and/or to-do list.
- Review – look over your calendar and to-do list so you know what’s there.
- Do – do the thing that’s best for you to do given your context, time, energy, and priorities.
These things have to happen in your head (whether you’re aware of it or not) before any organizational system or technology will work for you. One of the values of an organizational system like the Five Steps to a Peaceful Ministry Day is that it fleshes out the steps REVIEW and DO for ministers. It is an implementation of something that happens between your ears.
So stop buying Palm Pilots or iPhones to get organized. Remember: it’s all in your head.
