Joe’s Leadership Blog

One of the cornerstones of most time management philosophies is to capture information and next actions in order to eliminate the panicky feeling of “what am I forgetting?” Mike St. Pierre has a good article on Open Loops. Some of his suggestions (you should read the whole post):

1. Keep a capture tool with you at all times. A PDA, small notebook (my favorite- a $.99 notebook from Staples!) or pad of paper will do the trick. If you need to remember it, write it down. Don’t trust your memory- write it down.

2. When around those who have a habit of putting up with open loops, move them towards next action steps. Ask, “What’s the next action on that?” You could also ask, “What can we do today to keep that project moving forward?”

3. Set a good example. You don’t have to be perfect but consistency is a must. Practice your weekly review. Get things out of your head and be a person of action.

I really like using outlook tasks to help with this. I have it set up so just tasks due today pop up. The weekly review gets easier the more often you do it. The hardest part is being honest with how much you can actually get done each day I used to spend half the night worrying about what I had to do and if I would remember critical tasks. . I sleep much better now that all my tasks are in one place and updated regularly. How do you keep loops closed?

Categories: GTD
Tags: capture, GTD, open loops