I received a free copy of Get Out of #Jail Free Card eBook by Mark White. It's an interesting treatment of the "information overload" disease that many people seem to have. Rather than going into great detail about the causes and impact of these issues, he has designed the book as a three-week program to free the reader of their own "jail." This could be a nice resource for individuals, who want to get out of jail. I could also see this as a starting point for teams that are trying to find ways to operate together more effectively.
If you have been following my personal effectiveness topics over the years or been an aficionado of Life Hacker or Getting Things Done or the others out there, the elements of the book's program should sound familiar. It does seem to morph from the specific "Inbox Zero" suggestions to more intentional design of your work life and communication styles. The author seems to claim that his program eliminates the need for obsessively reading these other self-mastery books and websites, but he certainly has learned a lot from all of them. I take it a slightly different direction: take what you need and leave the rest. Develop a program that works for you, and then get out there and bash it against the shoals of reality. Then pick up the pieces, learn from your successes and failures, and go at it again.
Here are the entries for each day - the chapters and steps of his program:
- Inbox Zero
- Stop Working at 5 PM
- Post-It Notes and To-Do Lists
- No more GTD Tips & Tools
- What to Do on Fridays at 5 PM?
- Open a Separate Mail Account for Associates
- What Do You Want In Your Life?
- Information Poisoning
- Waking Up Early
- Delegate or Die
- No Phone Calls
- Make Your Own System of Rules for Your Team
- IM Meetings are Poisonous
- Do Not Turn on Your Computer on Sundays
- Facebook, Youtube and Favorite Sites
- Why Should You Not Check Your Email in the Morning?
- One Minute Work
- Truth and Control
- Your Lunch is Getting Cold
- Free Saturday