David Allen recently wrote about one the principles of his Getting Things Done approach: There’s usually an inverse relationship between the amount something is on your mind and how much progress you’re making on it. That’s called an open loop defined as anything your brain is holding onto because you haven’t clarified what it means and what your going to do about it.
The good news: You don’t have to finish something to get it off your mind. What you need to do is:
· Clarify what the final outcome is.
· Decide the very next action required to move toward that outcome.
· Put reminders of the outcome and next action in a system you trust.