David Allen: How to lead your life in order

In the post we present some excerpts from an interview with the magazine "The Atlantic"David Allen, a guru in the field of the GTD, the author of the popular book"How affairs in order».

David tells us about the surrounding information flow and how to deal with information overload, if they actually exist.

I bet David that most people reading this article right now, feel mired in matters: e-mail, messages, calls - on call 24 hours a day. Stress today took other forms?

People now feel overwhelmed because they do not experience this stress that is experienced by our ancestors over a sufficiently long period of history. The main goal was - to survive. And interestingly enough, it is this crisis situation forced the man to behave more calmly, quickly gather and process information, make decisions quickly and to listen to your intuition. They are focused on only one - to survive at any cost!

But when you do not have this crisis, the world begins to sweep over you little things, you are in the center of the flood: taxes rose, tortured cold, chewing printer paper... And all this stuff out of our electronic devices 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

To cope with this flow, we need to regain the ability to make quick decisions and allocate scarce resources. In general, nothing has changed since ancient times. The only difference is how many more decisions have to take people right now.

If you can not focus on something, you need to learn to distinguish between what is important for you right now in your world. How can prioritize around that rubbish that surrounds us? You need Mind MappingFor which you will be guided. There should be a map that tells you what you should do in the next three years, and that in the next three minutes. And it's different cards. In principle, good service can render and your calendar. The main thing that he answered the question: What should I look now?

And what tools do you personally use to be more productive?

I use Lotus NotesBecause we use it as an enterprise application. My friend Eric Mack developed the extension, through which I can here also easy to use calendar, mail, and to-do list. Synchronize it all with my BlackBerry, because we have not set up this feature to the iPhone, but we are trying to correct this misunderstanding as soon as possible.

I use TheBrain and MindManager. They differ in functionality and are used to solve different problems in fact.

What else? Yet I have a small notebook. Ideas sometimes catch up in the most unexpected places, and an urgent need to record them. Therefore, the paper remains in my life as the easiest way to quickly fix something.

But I continue to look for new tools that will help me in the management of time and brain resources. For example, my iPad had begun to turn from the toy in quite functional gadget. But he is still very sluggish, I like only one application from Adobe, which you can draw simple shapes. You can play around with it, but it still can not replace the conventional whiteboard. So I am far from the high-tech in this regard. More use package Microsoft Office. I work on a Mac, but I should Parallels software.

And if we talk about real, not electronic instruments?

Oh, I have a real basket, where I put all my notes. This is my savior, this basket under the name: "I do not want to think about all that now." Importantly, do not forget to come back to the basket, yet there's not moldy. And although 80% of their records, I just throw out, but it is very good relieves his head dropped in the basket and forgot, then I came back and decided it needed it or not.

It would be nice of course all this was done electronically. But there is a problem that can be characterized as follows: out of sight - out of mind! Physical real basket constantly looming in front of your eyes, and about the electronic stuff is easy to forget. I know many people who "you" with high technology, and at the same time they are returned to the paper because it is much more obvious. You need to have not weak willpower and self-discipline, to return to what is lying somewhere in the computer.

There is much talk about what we are exposed to information overload. What can you say about this?

What is the information overload? If she really was, you could go to the library and drop dead. Or go online and explode flown apart into small pieces.

In fact, the place that the most saturated of information is also the most relaxing - this is nature. So many different pictures, sounds and smells around us. By the way, have you heard about sensory deprivation? You can just go crazy, if a long time do not feel it all.

It's just different. In nature, a lot of things that carry information, but only some of them are really important for us, such as: animals, berries and nettles. The problem with email is not in the fact that it contains a lot of information, and that based on this information, we need to commit some act or take a decision. And getting a letter, no matter from whom, from a cousin or the boss, you have not opened it, prepare for the fact that you are required to action. You have to scroll through the head options that may contain this letter: "It is important, very important, it is make me change plans... "And now multiply these thoughts on the number of messages that you receive in day.

In addition, the stress factor and strong braking performance are scattered thoughts, inability to concentrate. At work, you think about home affairs, and home - on the work. You are everywhere and you're nowhere. And throughout the day, you are accompanied by a gnawing sense of anxiety.

Again, nothing much has changed, except for the frequency with which it occurs. 72 hours we are able to get as much information, which will replace our course of action and priorities, as our parents did not receive in the past month. In 1912, someone said about the phone in the same way as they are now talking about the e-mail: "Oh, it will damage the quality of life", "the conversation will be superficial and insignificant", "all will only be distracted by it!" Familiar, huh?

And in 1983, a man who has in his pocket was a small diary, was considered almost a boom in productivity.

Our magazine has published many articles on the possible impact of technology on human knowledge and ability to think. For example: "Google is making us stupid?"Do you think human wisdom and the ability to reflect changes for the better or for the worse?

Well, you also must have been a child encyclopedia. And you even read them in the hope of learning more about the world. What has changed, except that access to knowledge has become in a great number of times easier? We live in a great time, I think it's fabulous that we can so easily communicate, while at the same time in different parts of the globe.

Just think of the success could make people with the processor in the head! On the condition that he will be the one, of course. But if you will be the last person on Earth, you will not need neither planners nor do GTD.

Please answer the main question that the most important thing you need to remember a man so that he could feel the full control of your life?

Everything has to be unloaded from your brain to external media. I do not know what could be simpler! Fix what is important (even potentially) specify that these things mean to you, and even save the results so that we can always step back and look at things more broadly.

In general, it all comes down to one thing: stop using your brain as a place to collect and organize all the information you care about. If you try to keep all this in mind, you will soon discover there quicksand in which everything will instantly drown. I dream of a glorious future, when we will be able to completely free the head from the trash and devote their minds solely wise thoughts.