Being a senior in college is one of the most exciting yet stressful times of one’s entire college career. Floods of thoughts race through your mind as you search for possible internships and potential “big adult” careers. It is very easy to get discouraged. It will be really easy to lose your motivation and become so overwhelmed that you just want to sleep through everything you need to do. Clearing your mind however, is one solution to help take everything with ease.
Capturing
David Allen talks through capturing everything on your mind in chapter 5 of his novel; Getting Things Done. He suggests to write everything that is on your mind. Examples include everything from tests/papers to the smallest thing like buying batteries for your TV remote. David Allen suggests to write one thing on single sheets of paper until you have gone through everything. However, to save time, or if that is too overwhelming, you may write everything in a list on a single sheet of paper and then transfer that list to single sheets of paper for sorting and filing. The mind also remembers things when it sees something to remind it; this is called a trigger. It is important to keep adding to this list as soon as this item comes up as your mind cannot remember everything and you will definitely forget. Like myself, most people say “I will write it down later, I won’t forget.” But, trust me, you will forget. David Allen includes a list of triggers in this chapter to help jog your memory. This process is important because as humans, we become stressed when we have too many things to do and not enough time in the day. Therefore, doing this will help to de-stress everything in your life around you.
Clarifying
In Chapter 6, David Allen talks about clarifying the things on your list. Clarifying means to determine the importance of this action and the next immediate action steps. He talks about the 2-minute rule; if full completion of an action takes less than two minutes, then do it immediately. For example, set a reminder when you are in a store to buy batteries for your TV remote. When you are in the store and get the reminder, go to the batteries right away because you will probably forget again if you wait until the end. The next thing you know you will be walking out of the store with no batteries. Then this item can be taken off out of your “in-tray” where everything is held (as we have talked about in a previous blog post!). When you have an action with more than one action step, it is called a project; like purging through your desk drawers or the garage for example. The trick to remember is to take small action steps. Do not try to complete this whole thing at once or you will lose motivation and it will never get done. If this all sounds overwhelming, do not worry! Allen has a complete diagram to follow for clarifying your actions and action steps. Some items in your “in-tray” will not need action steps. These items may be used as a reference, previous taxes for example, or old items, like those pesky annoying receipts you do not need anymore. Figure out which of these items you can throw away and which items you may need for a reference. Also, some items on your list may be things you want to do in the future, like a bucket list (a someday/maybe list as Allen likes to call it). It will be nice to keep those items especially tucked away for your next adventures! To sum it all up, look at the tips below!
Tips
- Start with listing everything on your mind, without worrying about how big or small.
- Look at list of triggers for reminders
- Set reminders – work smarter, not harder!
- Place everything into an “in-tray”
- Start working through items in “in-tray”
- Do one item at a time
- When working on projects, take small steps
- Throw out items that do not require actions!
- Keep your bucket list safely tucked away for that special someday!
Seas the Moment 