productivity, GTD, slides I made for a talk I gave on how I have used many of the top productivity gurus' advice in my life.

1. Getting Stuff Done:
A Few Habits to Clear you Head and
Save you Time
James Mullooly PhD

2. Creativity
I must create a system or be
enslaved by another mans; I will
not reason and compare: my
business is to create.
William Blake

3. Mindfulness
Your mind is for having ideas,
not holding them.
David Allen,
Getting Things Done

4. Simplicity
Simplicity boils down to two steps:
Identify the essential.
Eliminate the rest.
Leo Bobauta,
Zen to Done

5. Guilt Free
In most cases you are the one who
confuses just doing the job with
testing your worth. Replace 'I have to'
with 'I choose to’.
Neil A. Fiore
The Now Habit

6. Proof of Concept-them
Tim Ferris : The 4 Hour Work Week
David Allen: Getting Things Done
Niel Fiore: The Now Habit

7. Proof of Concept -me
5 kids
4 “Adventures” (i.e., challenging multi-
year experiences (i.e., Jamaica,
Peace Corps Mali, Egypt, NYC)
3 masters degrees
2 languages
1 PhD/Full Professorship

8. Prioritizing:
The Big Rocks of Life Stephan Covey

9. Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Collect
• Process
• Organize
• Review
• Do

10. Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Collect
• Process
• Organize
• Review
• Do
“Your mind is for having ideas,
not holding them.”
You need a “Trusted System”
-In Box
-A Mind Dump in
Liberating
-Keep your 8th Idea

11. Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Collect
• Process
• Organize
• Review
• Do
“Define your work or it will
define you”
1. What is the outcome?
e.g., “application sent”
2. What is the next action?
e.g., print application

12. Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Collect
• Process
• Organize
• Review
• Do
Do – Now if under 2 minutes
OR
Delegate – Self Reminder to
check it was done
OR
Defer – To Do List
Schedule it,
file to “Some Day Maybe”.

13. Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Collect
• Process
• Organize
• Review
• Do
“Your mind is for having ideas,
not holding them.”
-Keep a Daily To Do list
-Review it Weekly

14. Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Collect
• Process
• Organize
• Review
• Do
Prioritize Last (not first)
Organize by Context
(@Home; @Computer; @ Stops; @Phone)
Organize by Project
(“Miscellaneous” = Procrastination)
Organize by Task
(sequential or non-sequential)

15. @Computer
• Finished Tom’s Evaluation
– Found notes I wrote
– Turned notes into report
– Sent it to Chair

16. @Stops
• Rotate Saturn tires every 6-8k miles
– Found Receipt from tire store
– Got to tire store (2 hours needed)
– Got it done

17. @Phone
• Confirmed Doctor’s Appointment
– Found the phone number
– Called the Doctor’s Office
– Confirmed the Appointment

20. Tips I Actually Use
• Get ideas out of my head
• Use an In Box (one place for all of it)
• 3 MITs a Day (Most Important Tasks)
• The Pomodoro Technique
– Set a 15 minute timer; stay on task; record it.
• If it takes less than 2 minutes, do it now.
• Use calendar absolutely
– Do the task by that day or never
• Organize Tasks by Context @

21. Thanks