During 1999 and 2000 was overwhelmed with the number of things that I had to do. By chance I read an internet article on a local web site, now defunct, that had rights to publish Fast Company magazine articles. This article, entitled You can do anything but not everything, started a search, I gleaned things off the David Allen web site, found a couple of other articles and in a patchy way put it all together.

When the book eventually came out I found that I had had got some of it right but not all of it.

But it had already transformed my life. I got to things I had never got to before and felt a greater sense of power and accomplishment.

http://www.davidco.com

Where you can, phrase the project or outcome (the desired result) in the past tense, as though it has been done, eg

• New accountant appointed

• Final report and invoice submitted

• Articles reviewed and summarised

Do this by visualising what the last completed step in the process is.

I learned this from moderating (facilitating) participative planning processes such as ZOPP and Log Frame. It shifts your attention from objectives (easy to say) to concrete results (easier to do).