What's Stopping You - Getting Things Done? Whatever the cause, many people spend their lives in a cycle of enthusiasm and endeavour followed by setbacks and cynicism. The result is procrastination, low attainment and frustrated ambitions. By looking back and helping us understand how and why we developed our ineffective habits, Robert Kelsey shows in order to break this cycle we need to unravel our chaotic minds.
Kelsey states that disorganization is not innate or inevitable and we can learn processes that allow for effective personal progress. We can get control of our time. And we can manage tasks. We simply need to recognise that we are the problem (not our parents or peers, nor the complexity of modern living and certainly not our genes) and then set ourselves up for efficiency. And if we turn that process into a habit we can develop a highly-effective, future-oriented, routine.
What's Stopping You - Getting Things Done? analyses time management problems in order to aid focus and concentration. It examines planning and process, and discovers ways for overcoming barriers or roadblocks (including "big-tasklists") and tackles specific areas of our lives where disorganisation can be most disabling.
And finally there is the payoff - how we can use our new-found efficiency to generate and execute ideas, be more creative and develop strong leadership skills? Of course, this can go deeper: helping us cope with stress and anxiety (two symptoms of the cluttered mind). Yet we must also recognise and accept the limits of organisation. We cannot gain full control in an essentially-uncontrollable world. Such a pursuit will only frustrate us further. Once we have mastered time and task management, however, and brought control to the areas we can influence, our fear of the uncontrollable is likely to recede.
What's Stopping You - Getting Things Done? is emotional ergonomics for the organisationally-challenged individual - at home, at work, with themselves, and with others.
Contents
Introduction - my own personal chaos
Part 1: The Unproductive MindOrganizational incompetenceConditions and typesProcrastination, clutter and self-sabotageMotivation, goals and flow
Part 2: Tools and ResourcesThe need for desirePlanning for freedomGetting startedManaging timeDeveloping good habitsMaking decisions
Part 3: Getting things done......on the phone....with email....in meetings...when managing others...beyond work
Part 4: Other PeoplePersuasion and influenceDealing with conflictDealing with the family
Conclusion: "It's all chaos"
The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People
