GTD #2--Process

This is the fun part. You're collecting everything into your "buckets" and there are no leaks. Everything is getting captured. Now is the decion-making time. First, decide if it needs an action. Is there something you have to do with it. If not, there are only three places for it:

Trash it. Throwing stuff away is always a good choice. Teachers keep way too much.

Reference. It may be something you need to refer to later, so put it in a reference file. This can be an actual file or list, paper or digital, a place on a shelf, whatever. As long as you can find it and get it when you need it, you're good.

Incubate. This is something you may want to do or get to. Go ahead and make a Someday/Maybe file or list or whatever. Mine includes going on a dinosaur dig, learning Spanish and list of professional learning I may want to get into.

If the item is something you need to take action on, then you can Do It. If it will take you less than two minutes, do it. Next to capturing everything, this is a small one that will make your life so much better. The very Next (physical) Action you can take. Respond to the email, fill out the form, file the reciept.

If you you can't do it right away, then Defer It. It's a Project and you need a place for Project plans and support materials that you can continually review and decide on the Next Actions. Or it's something you put on your calendar for a specific day/time.

If it needs someone else, Delegate It. But put it on a Waiting For list so you can stay on top of those things.

For more on making these decisions, jueck out David Allen's most recent post ofer at Huffingtonpost.