The “Getting Things Done” productivity system is, by far, the best I’ve seen. It is a system that is easily integrated and highly effective. One of the keys to implementing the system is making the GTD workflow your “normal” way of working.

It is a simple process outlined as follows:

1. Collect
2. Process
3. Organize
4. Review
5. Do

The “collect” phase is the “ubiquitous capture” that I’ve talked about in other posts. It basically means that you “capture” any thing and everything that is on your mind. By capturing it in an external device like index cards (or whatever works best for you) you are able to get it off your mind. According to David Allen, the creator of GTD, once you have all these umpteenbillion things you’ve been thinking about out of your head on into an external capture device, you can then use your brain for what it does best – problem solving, creativity, productivity – instead of as a mental “to-do list.”

Whatever collection devices you use is your “in-box.” You will most likely have multiple in-boxes, though they should be consolidated and minimized as much as possible. You will have your email in-box, probably some manner of physical in-box on your desk, a basket on the cabinet at home, your PDA, whatever. The main point of the collection phase is to get everything out of your head on captured in a trusted system that will free up your mind from worrying about it.

After you get all the umpteenbillion things out of your head and on index cards, or in your PDA, you need to “process” them. The process phase is when you go through your in-box and decide what needs to be done about the stuff that has found its way in there. There is no “perfect” set time to do the processing of your in-boxes. It just depends on what works best for you. I like to go through my in-boxes close to the end of the work day. That way when I begin the following day I have a clear plan of what needs to be done from the previous days “processing.” I will also do a quick processing after finishing some big task to see if there is anything that needs to be dealt with right away.

The number one rule for processing is the 2-minute rule. If you pick something up out of your in-box that would take 2 minutes or less to complete then do it right then. It would take longer than that to put in on a list to review for later action, so go ahead and do it. You would be amazed at how much gets done just by implementing this simple rule.

If the 2-minute rule doesn’t apply then there are simple questions that move the processing phase along. For each item that comes up in your in-box, that would take longer than 2-minutes to deal with, you ask the following questions:

• The first, and most obvious, question is “What is it?”
  You have to know what it is before you can know what needs to be done about it.
• Next, “Is it actionable?”That is, does it require me to do anything about it? Not everything that gets collected in our in-boxes is “actionable.” Some stuff is just stuff.
  • If the answer is “no” then I need to determine what where to put it. It can’t just stay in my in-box, I’ve got to get it out of there. It needs to go in one of three places:
    • TrashIf its trash throw it away and move on.
    • Someday/Maybe ListIt may be an idea or goal that you don’t necessarily need to do anything on right now but that you might want to do something about sometime down the road. Keep these things in a list to be reviewed periodically. My most active someday/maybe list is my “Sermon Ideas” list. When I read or hear something that I think makes a good idea for a sermon I write it down on an index card and then when I process them I may think that it would make a good sermon but I don’t want to write it right now. It goes on the “Sermon Ideas” for future consideration.
    • Reference MaterialReference materials are things that find their way into your in-boxes that aren’t “to-do” items. They are pieces of information that you want to file and keep for future reference. David Allen has some excellent suggestions for maintaining a functional filing system in his three books detailing the GTD system. For those of us that dream of having a paperless office, I have not seen a better digital filing system than DEVONthink Pro Office 2.0. My one word description of it is “amazing.” You’ll, no doubt, be seeing my review of this organizational software very soon.
  • If the answer is “yes” then we figure out what it is that needs to be done about it. One of the most important questions in the GTD system is “What is the Next Action?” If the next action would complete the item with no further action required then put it on a list to do it when and where it can be done. However, if the most literal next action needed on that item would just move it along toward completion then it becomes a project. A project is anything that requires more than one action to complete. Put it on a project list with its necessary next action. When that next action is done you ask the question again, “OK, now what’s the next action?” What would be the next most literal thing that would have to be done to move that item forward toward completion. Again, the GTD books go into much more detail about why this works and how to do it. I highly recommend the books.There are three considerations under the “yes” answer:
    1. Do it.Remember the 2-minute rule! If it can be done in 2 minutes or less then just do it.
    2. Delegate it.We aren’t always the best one to handle everything that comes into our in-boxes. Pass it on to whoever is. Now its in their in-box and out of my life, nice.
    3. Defer it.Those things that take longer than 2 minutes, that you can’t get rid of, need to be deferred. It needs to go to a project or next-action list to be dealt with at the right time and in the right place.

Next, I’ll review the “Organize,” “Review,” and “Do” phases of the GTD system.

Hope this helps, let me know what you think.

These eight tips were first presented in “The Copywritter’s Handbook” by Bob Bly. I read them on one of my favorite blogs, CopyBlogger, and thought they related very strongly to what every preacher learns about the importance of effective sermon titles.

Here they are:

1. Direct Titles

   Bly calls them “Direct Headlines” but we’re talking sermon titles. This would simply be a direct statement concerning the sermon’s content. For example, “Great Missionaries Of The Bible.” These kinds of direct statements tell the audience what they are about to hear expounded. The hook is the interest in the statement key words – “Missionaries” and “Bible.” I’m interested in mission work and I’m interested in the Bible. I’m interested in the biblical accounts of God’s missionaries. I’m going to pay attention to this sermon!

2. Indirect Titles

   The indirect title (or headline) hooks on the audiences curiosity. These kinds of titles use double meaning to create curiosity. Like, “The Story Of The Tator Family.” People see that and think, “who are the Tators and what’s their story?” Well, the Tators are a metaphor for character traits that we either want to avoid or imitate. DicTator, ImiTator, SpecTator, etc. The sermon has nothing to do with a family named Tator, it has to do with a family of character traits.

3. News Title

   This is a title that draws attention based on a news story. I have used news titles from local news papers and from national news to great success in my lessons. Local news is very effective especially when you’re posting your sermon titles on a sign board or in the same local paper the news title came from. For example, “Issues Raised By The Death Of Terri Shiavo.”

4. The How To Title

   People love this kind of title! When you state in your title that you are going to tell people how to do something that they really want to know how to do, they will pay attention. For example, “How To Love Life And See Good Days,” “How To Handle The Word Of God,” “How To Be And Stay Saved.”

5. The Question Title

   Like the How To title, this one appeals to the audience’s desire to see a particular question answered. It may also appeal to an empathetic response from the audience. That is the, “yes, I’ve had that same question,” response. For example, “Is Once-Saved-Always-Saved True?,” “How Great Is Your Faith?,” “Is There A Universal Code Of Ethics?,” “What Must I Know In Order To Be Saved?,” “What Do I Want?,” “What Are You Willing To Put Up With?”

6. The Command Title

   The kind of title boldly tells the audience what they must do. For example, “Take Heed How You Hear!,” “Flee Idolatry!,” “Obey The Truth!,” “Fortify Your Family!” Notice, these kinds of titles are exclamations of actions that must be taken in order to accomplish a desired goal, i.e. salvation and faithfulness.

7. The # Reasons Why Title

   These titles don’t necessarily have to contain the words “Reasons Why” but they will point to the number of major heading in your sermon body. For example, the title of this article, “Eight Tips For Writing Effective Sermon Titles.” What do you get in the content of the article? Eight tips for writing effective sermon titles. Imagine that. Here are some sermon title examples, “Three Things God Desires,” “Three Parables For Judah,” “Four Great Gifts,” “Seven Things Needed For Your Faith.”

8. The Testimonial Title

   These titles give a testimonial regarding the biblical effect you want your audience to get. I know you have to be careful when using the word “testimonial” because of the denominational abuse of basing salvation on a persons “personal testimony.” This title would be something like, “I Read The Bible And Left The Catholic Church,” “I Am A Member Of The Church Of Christ Because…,” “Confessions Of A Former Mormon,” “I Was One Of Them But…”
   

Remember, no amount of cleverness on the part of the title can make up for poor content. Let me know your thoughts and examples on using titles like these.

Here’s another “Recommended Reading” post from a great blog for writers, www.WriteToDone.com.

“Three Techniques to Avoid Being a Boring Writer” reviews Sol Stein’s book, “Stein on Writing.” I don’t have the book but after reading this I’ll be ordering it today!

When we write bulletin articles and/or blog posts we want people to pay attention to what we’re saying. What we’re saying is important because it is, or should be, instructing in God’s word. But if our presentation is boring and hard to read people will put it down. They will move on to something else and our work will be for naught.

To avoid being a boring writer, Sol Stein’s advice is to accelerate the pace. Here are his three tips for accelerated pace in writing:

• Use short sentences.
• Use frequent paragraphs.
• Use jump cuts.

The article at WriteToDone gives some good examples of these techniques. Hope it helps!

Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

Subscribe in a reader

Here’s a quote from a good book I’m reading right now:

The book is Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters and I highly recommend it!

I just finished reading a great article on mind mapping over at one of my favorite productivity blogs, GTD Times.

If you’re not familiar with GTD, it refers to David Allen’s personal productivity system – Getting Things Done (GTD). I would highly recommend his books, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity“ and “Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life.”

In his books he talks some about mind mapping, but the article linked above will give you a quick overview of its benefits for planning and brain storming. I’ve found that if I make my sermon presentations more like a mind map, instead of a linear outline, the audience retains it better.

There are several ways to do your mind mapping, either old school or hight tech. For example, I carry a stack of index cards in my pocket. If I’m not at my computer or don’t have access to the net when an idea hits me, I can just take out a card and map it out real quick and dirty. Then I can transfer it to a more permanent media when I’m back at my computer.

Let me recommend a free online app that’s good to start out with. Here’s a simple example I did with Mindomo.

Hope this is helpful information. Let me know what you think.