Getting things done

Over the last two weeks I have been frantically trying to bring order to my "To Do" lists. Its just got a bit out of control, thanks to, me diverting energies to focus on rather more important matters like getting my house furnished. Which thankfully after a long time is coming to an end! My obesssion with lists dates back to my college days when time management meant writing down a list of things to do in a pocket sized spiral bound pad. I have come a long way from a since then - I moved on gradually to prioritising my tasks with categories - 'A', 'B' & 'C' with obviously 'A' meaning high priority. Then after having read Dale Carnegie and Stephen Covey's 7 Habits I categorised based on my interests and roles (Son, Spouse, Project Manager etc) and gave more easily recognisable names to my lists - Sharpen the saw, What matters most, Social, Family, Spiritual, Health etc That was sometime in 1999. Five years later, sometime in January this year, when I reviewed my lists I had more than 20 odd lists - Objects of desire, Hobbies to pursue, Projects, Spiritual, Health, Templates to create, Books to buy, Books to read, Professional, Sharpen the saw, What matters most, Social, Family, Travel, Packing, Courses to take, restaurants to visit etc. It was becomming increasingly difficult for me to spend time on all of these and at times I would miss out completing tasks, added to this was the problem of the lists growing over time due to newer tasks getting appended in addition to shifting tactical priorities in deciding on which were the most important ones. I knew I need to do better but did not know how. During this time I saw David Allen's Getting Things done on the "Business Week's best seller list. It took me six months to locate a copy (on FabMall). Strated reading it a week back. I have begun practicing David Allen's workflow management and have brought some order to my lists. Though the number remains the same I have found a mechansim to identify the "Next Actions" and prioritising what goes into your planner. For the last two days I have been feeling an elevated sense of contenment of having accomplished something. Aiming for the Black Belt in workflow management!.