The Zen Accountant

Hello and welcome to the final part in my series of blogs on helping you take a step back and focus on the bigger picture in your life and in your business.

If you missed it, in the last part I went through the key drivers to future success, and helped identify the key areas to focus on to achieve your business and personal goals. In this final part, I will cover the best methodology's for getting things done efficiently, but with a focus on the higher level.

If we're serious, there's only one place where we can start; Getting Things Done by David Allen. If you've not read this book, then if you take anything away from this blog series it is simply that you MUST read it, it is a masterclass on how to establish focus in your life, meet deadlines, and quite simply get more done with your time.

Now, Getting Things Done has a few graying whiskers on it's cheeks, it's been out 12 years now and some of it's methods can be upgraded for the modern soul. Not only that, but it lacks a focus on actually getting things done towards achieving your goals, and anything linked to habit forming.

So, how do we firstly fix those flaws over the lack of habit building and goal orientation? Well the Zen approach that we learnt earlier will help as a guide, but a more practical approach is also required to marry the two.

Once again, Leo Babuta of Zen Habits has already written several articles on Getting Things Done, and also written his own book which is an extension of GTD, called 'Zen to Done: The Ultimate Productivity System'. Again, I'd thoroughly recommend reading this book and also his blog articles to learn how to apply a more rounded approach to getting things done.

So, my own personal biggest issue with Getting Things Done is that it seemed a little old hat, with paper filing or PDA's recommended, it felt a little 20th Century. I love using the latest technology and software because for me it saves me lots of time and helps me be more organised.

So, my main tool of choice for Getting Things Done is an app called Wunderlist. I can access it from anywhere, on any device, and I can set dates for when things need doing, incubate tasks and generally know what needs doing and when. It's biggest help, was it helped me get down the thousands of ideas from my head onto an actual list that would make sure they got done, saving time, sleep and letting me focus on the bigger picture. Now I can add things while sat at my desk, or if I'm out I can add them via voice using Google Now on my phone.

The only issue with Wunderlist is that it's hard to specify all the sub-actions to any one task, which is particularly difficult for projects. So, for that reason I'd also recommend using Asana, where you can put flow through projects together and also collaborate as a team for getting these bits done, while a simple task on Wunderlist will specify what it is and when it needs doing.

I hope you found today's blog useful, at the very least I'd recommend reading Getting Things Done, it truly is a world class book. In addition, I hope you've enjoyed this blog series that has gone through the basics of taking a Zen approach to your life; focusing on your vision and goals first and foremost before helping you identify what it is that will make your business a success to you and finally describing the methodology to use to make sure you get done what you need to do.

If you've had any questions, or would like to discuss your goals and aspirations with us, then please do let us know.