Getting Things Done

The "Pending" Things That Are Left
If you follow the instructions in this chapter, you'll dump a mess
of things, file a bunch, do a lot of two-minute actions, and hand
off a number of items to other people. You'll also wind up with
a stack of items that have actions associated with them that you
still need to do—soon, someday, or on a specific date—and
reminders of things you're waiting on from other people. This
"Pending" group is made up of the actions you've delegated or
deferred. It is what still needs to be organized in some fashion in
your personal system, a topic I'll cover in step-by-step detail
in the next chapter.
Identifying the Projects You Have
This last step in getting to the bottom of "in" requires a shift in
perspective from the single-action details to the larger picture—
your projects.
Again, I define a "project" as any outcome you're committed
to achieving that will take more than one action step to complete.
If you look through an inventory of actions that you have already
been generating—"Call Frank about the car alarm"; "E-mail
Bernadette re conference materials"—you'll no doubt recognize a
number of things that are larger than the single action you've
defined. There's still going to be something about "car alarm" to

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CHAPTER 6 | PROCESSING: GETTING "IN" TO EMPTY
do after the call to Frank, and there will still be something to han-
dle about the conference after the e-mail to Bernadette.
I hope you're able to see the very practical reason for defining
projects as broadly as I do: If the action step you've identified will
not complete the commitment, then you'll need
some stake in the ground to keep reminding you
of actions you have pending until you have closure.
You need to make a list of projects. A "Projects" list
may include anything from "Give holiday party" to
"Divest the Widget product line" to "Finalize com-
pensation package." The purpose of this list is not to
reflect your priorities but just to ensure that you've
got placeholders for all those open loops.
Whether you draw up your "Projects" list while you're ini-
tially processing your in-basket or after you've set up your action
lists doesn't really matter. It just needs to be done at some point,
and it must be maintained, as it's the key driver for reviewing
where you are and where you want to be.
For now, let's make sure your organizing setup is "all sys-
tems go."
137
Right now you
probably have
between thirty and a
hundred projects.

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Organizing: Setting Up the
Right Buckets
HAVING A 
TOTAL 
and seamless system of organization in place gives
you tremendous power because it allows your mind to let go of
lower-level thinking and graduate to intuitive focus-
ing, undistracted by matters that haven't been dealt
with appropriately. But your physical organization
system must be better than your mental one in order
for that to happen.
In this chapter I'll lead you through the organizing
steps and tools that will be required as you process your in-basket. As
you initially process "in," you'll create lists and groupings of things
you want to organize and you'll invariably think of additional
items to include. In other words, your organization system is not
' ' something that you'll necessarily create all at once, in
a vacuum. It will evolve as you process your stuff and
test out whether you have put everything in the best
place for you.
The outer ring of the Workflow Diagram
(opposite) shows the main groupings into which
things will go as you decide what they are and what needs to be
done about them.
138
Airtight organization
is required for your
focus to remain on
the broader horizon.
I got it all together,
but I forgot where
I put it.
—

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