Well, fear not. I stumbled upon this article that'll give you the tips and tricks that'll get you through any day. Even if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

There's some pretty neat stuff here, but I'd love to hear what you have to say about doing work when you don't feel like it.

Drop a comment below and give us your secret tips.

How To Remain Productive When You Feel Like Giving Up

From Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

Like most people, some mornings I wake up and feel less than enthusiastic about working. Sometimes, this feeling doesn’t stem from laziness or apathy, it’s a stronger power, a sense of futility and helplessness.

I know a lot of people look to my story of success as a source of inspiration and that is one of the greatest benefits I enjoy as a blogger, but – and I’m not afraid to admit it – I don’t always feel energized to pursue business and sometimes in my darkest moments, I even consider throwing in the towel.

This feeling is not so common for me now as I have lifestyle flexibility, a more stable income and a better mindset about work, but earlier on, it definitely was a problem. I want to explain how I overcome these moments (and still do the same thing now on occasion) to stay on track and how you can even have a productive day when you are not really feeling the mojo on the inside.

I expect you have felt similar feelings of despair or a lack of motivation at different stages of your business development, especially if you are yet to establish an income stream online that is sufficient for you to live off, or if you are right at the beginning and you have not seen one cent of return for the work you have put in.

Inspired or Dejected

Depending on your world view and personality style, when you hear of the success of others you may either feel inspired or dejected, and while it’s obviously more fruitful to look at other people achieving what you desire as motivation, as a fallible human, jealousy, depression and anger may be your initial responses.

Your mind is your greatest asset for success in business, but it can be just as strong a force of hindrance, sabotaging your efforts, destroying your work ethic and leaving you with no option but to return to the soul destroying job you promised yourself that you would never go back to.

How To Work When You Don’t Feel Like It

One of the characteristics I believe is at the heart of my success and the success of most entrepreneurs, is an ability to keep working in the face of failure and an ability to force yourself to be productive when you don’t feel like it.

Click here to read the rest >>

To be honest, I just woke up and feel like going back to bed but what's a better time than now to write about having a great morning?

So I did some research, looked at the hardest parts of anyone's morning, and came up with this quick 5-step guide to getting the best out of every morning so that the rest of your day is absolutely amazing.

Step 1: Get A Good Night's Sleep

Probably the most important. You can do all the morning rituals you want but if you didn't get enough quality sleep, then you'll still be missing out on your full morning potential.

Now not everyone's the same. Some people only need 6 whereas I need a good 9 hours. Figure out where you stand and make it your target to get that amount of sleep every night. Of course, a little late night partying is allowed every now and then, just don't over do it.

Here are some quick tips on getting a better night's sleep:

• Meditate - clearing your mind can do wonders for getting you into deep sleep right away instead of staring at the ceiling for hours.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol in the evenings.
• Make going your bed a place of sleep. This means no eating or working in bed. You want to identify sleep with your bed and nothing more. Except maybe for some fun in the sheets
• If you're the type of person who can't shut off their minds, write a list of all the things you need to do tomorrow. This gets them out of your head and organized so you won't lose sleep over tasks.
• If you suffer from a sleeping disorder or sleep apnea, be sure to consult your physician about it.

Step 2: Spend Some Alone Me-Time

Set aside a block of time just for yourself. Even if it's just for 20 minutes. We live in such a connected and busy world it's often hard to remember to focus on just you. Not your family, not your pets, not your boss, your mortgage, etc. Just you.

If you ever get the feeling you don't know yourself anymore then it's time to take a break, do something you love alone, and take the time to focus on who you are. If you're only always surrounded by people your personal growth may stagnate.

So here are some ideas to get you on that road of self-discovery and enjoy your own company:

• Pray
• Meditate
• Exercise
• Write in your journal
• Read that book you've been meaning to but can't seem to find enough time
• Do something creative, such as painting or drawing

You get the idea. The point is to do something you love, do it alone, and focus on just you.

Step 3: Drink Plenty Of Water And Eat A Healthy Breakfast

Breakfast is the foundation of any nutritional diet. So eat up. Just make sure it's healthy. Eating breakfast will energize you get your brain going faster. Don't underestimate the importance of this meal.

Most people don't get enough water. So make it part of your daily morning routine to drink one big glass of water. We often wake up dehydrated and don't know it. So before you go for your coffee, have some water first.

Step 4: Be Productive From The Get-Go

When you get to work, don't spend time procrastinating. We all do this at one point or another. We know we have Task A, B, and C to do but instead we check Twitter, Facebook, our emails, or surf the net.

This is extremely unproductive and will get you into a bad routine. Instead go straight into what you need to do. This'll create momentum and encouragement for you to finish everything else on your To-Do list. But of course, we all need breaks.

So schedule 10 to 15 minute breaks in between tasks for you to relax and entertain your distractions for a while. But be disciplined. Once your scheduled break is up, go back to your goals for the day.

Step 5: Outline Your Top 3 Most Important Tasks (M.I.T.s) And Do These First

These are the tasks that you absolutely need to get done. And often they're the ones that you want to do the least. Well, suck it up and do them. This gives you a great boost of accomplishment each morning and will make the rest of your day easier, happier, and smoother.

This also ingrains good habits within you. The next time you set out a huge goal for yourself you'll be more likely to finish it as your mind is conditioned to take challenges straight on and finish them. You'll end up with that "Yes, I can" attitude.

Thanks for reading guys,

Gabrielle Lim

P.S. I'd love to know more about how you get yourself pumped up everyday, so drop me a comment and share some of your insights.

Multitasking is a myth. It just plain doesn't exist.

Does that shock you? Multitasking has become something of a heroic word in our vocabulary. Many executives pride themselves on their ability to "multitask". Recent job descriptions that I have seen even ask that potential employees have the ability to multitask. A current national commercial sings the praises of multitasking. However, multitasking, as most people understand it, is deceptively counter-productive. Multitasking is tremendously costly. Multitasking hurts us every time we attempt to engage in it.

Background Tasking - Killing 2 Birds With One Stone

I should clarify a few definitions. When I speak of multitasking as most people understand it, I am not referring to doing something completely mindless and mundane in the background such as exercising while listening to a CD, eating dinner and watching a show, or having the copy machine operate in the background while you answer emails. For clarity's sake, I call this "background tasking".

Switchtasking - A Neurological Meltdown

When most people refer to multitasking they mean simultaneously performing two or more things that require mental effort and attention. Examples would include saying we're spending time with family while were researching stocks online, attempting to listen to a CD and answering email at the same time, or pretending to listen to an employee while we are crunching the numbers. What most people refer to as multitasking, I refer to as "switchtasking." Why?

Because the truth is we really cannot do two things at the same time—we are only one person with only one brain. Neurologically speaking, it has been proven to be impossible. What we are really doing is switching back and forth between two tasks rapidly, typing here, paying attention there, checking our "crackberry" here, answering voicemail there back and forth back and forth at a high rate. Keep this up over a long period of time, and you have deeply ingrained habits that cause stress and anxiety and dropped responsibilities and a myriad of productivity & focus problems. It's little wonder so many people complain of increasingly short attention spans!

Switching Cost - Sacrificing Quality

When we speak of multitasking, what we really mean is that we are switchtasking: switching rapidly between one task and another. Yet, each time we switch, no matter how quickly that switch takes place in our mind, there is a cost associated with it. It's an economic term called switching cost—and the switching cost is high.

When I shared this principle of switchtasking to a CEO of a respected national company, she was astounded. We did a budgeting exercise where we looked at how much time she was spending in a given week. In the process of budgeting her time and looking at how much time she was spending on each activity, we found that she was extremely over budget in what she thought she could accomplish in a week. The truth is, there are only 168 hours in a week, and yet she had put down that she was accomplishing 188 hours worth of work in that week!

As we went through the process, we realized where the extra time was coming from. It was from the fact that she was doing research at the same time that she was spending time with her family. When we came across this, I taught her how multitasking was a myth. She was spending time either with one or the other. She was switching rapidly between the two. In reality she was rarely spending any time with her family. She was really doing business research in the presence of her family. There is happy end to this story, however.

How To Throw Switchtasking Out Of Your Vocabulary>>

The next day we met she burst into the room, full of excitement. She exclaimed, "I'll have you know that I spent time with my family last night and I didn't multitask! I got home and said let's go to dinner. My kids were surprised. But we went to the restaurant and I paid attention to them and I didn't think about anything else but spending time with my family. At first I don't think they took me seriously. After they realized that I was really spending time with them and paying attention to them they were excited and I could tell they really appreciated it."

This CEO had come to understand that not only was switchtasking hurting her business, but it was taking a toll on her family. Once she clearly understood the truth and received some guidance on how to take action, she committed make changes. Her business, her family, and she are all better because of it.

There are a number of steps you can take to start changing your productivity, life, and the quality of your time. By changing your mindset you will be closer to achieving every goal you set out for yourself.

I've made a video for you on the baby steps you'll first need to take to get rid of switchtasking and the two major silent switchtasking killers that are in everyone's life:

Check out my video on the 2 silent switchtasking killers that could be wasting 28% of your time and how to get rid of them for good>>

PS: According to Basex Research, Americans are losing $900 billion a year on switchtasking!

Find out how this $900 billion is going to affect you and how you can stop the drain from hurting your business and life goals >>

Mike Reining and Vishen Lakhiani with Sean Stephenson

A couple weeks ago, FinerMinds' parent company, MindValley, went on a company retreat. Now before you picture convention rooms and bad lighting, let me tell you where we went.

Bali, Indonesia.

If you think we're crazy for going all the way to Bali, we're not (well, maybe just a little bit). Because we're based out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia it only cost $10,000 for 46 people to stay in Bali for 3 beautiful, starry nights.

At MindValley, we're not just any boring company. When I said 46 people, what I really wanted to say was 43 people from 17 different countries and 3 amazing kids.

All the amazing interviews we've had on FinerMinds, the exclusive content, the growth of the FinerMinds community is credited to the employees of MindValley who continually strive for personal growth for themselves and for you, the readers, and the world we live in.

This is our 5th year of doing this annual retreat and this one was the biggest and best by far. We had three amazing speakers, Sean Stephenson, author of Get Off Your 'But', Brian Johnson of PhilosophersNotes.com, and Brian Wong of Quanlife.com.

Mike Reining with Sean Stephenson

We learned so much from these guys, I can't even fit everything into one blog post so stay tuned for 3 upcoming posts on the amazing insights we gained from them.

We discussed personal goals, values, what our self-limited beliefs were and how we can empower each of us. We focused on gratitude, spirituality, and the definition of success.

It was a transformational weekend for the company and for each of the individuals. I hate to sound like a cliche of a movie review, but we laughed, we cried, we hugged (a lot), and our lives will never be the same again.

Okay, maybe an overstatement but it was a breakthrough event for many of the people at this retreat. The level of self-awareness had gone up ten-fold and I can see it everyday at work.

Now some of you might be thinking, "Wait, isn't this a company retreat and not a self-help seminar?" Yes and no.

While it was entirely a company retreat with the end goal of furthering MindValley's growth, I know that nothing amazing can be accomplished without the growth of myself, my business partner, Mike Reining, and all the employees who are always working to find new ways to spread enlightened ideas.

The point I'm trying to drive across is this:

You can't grow your business without growing yourself and your employees.

It's as simple as that. I'm hoping in the next few years, this will be common knowledge and that the MindValley way can be replicated across the globe. I sound a little like human resources right now, but your employees are your greatest assets and resources. So why wouldn't you want to invest in them?

With spiritual, educational, and personal development, your company will continue to break through the glass ceiling.

Listening intently on a personal growth session.

Saying our daily affirmations for success.

Mike Reining swears by his affirmations with hand on heart.

A little friendly competition within the MindValley family.

Brian Johnson with his girlfriend.

Brian Wong showing his son something surely spectacular.

We're just like one big happy family.

Sean Stephenson performs hypnotism on one of our Project Managers to help her quit smoking.

The end result of the hypnotism. You can't see her, but one of FinerMinds' writers, Gabrielle, is stuck in there somewhere.

Sean Stephenson and Mike Reining share an in depth discussion on personal transformation.

Sean Stephenson with his parents.

And yes, we have musical talent too.

Brian Wong and his son.

But when faced with writer's block, procrastination, self-doubt, and demotivation, how can one possibly finish what they set out to do? Trust me, I've been through it all when it comes to writing.

But there is an answer to all that. Not just an answer, but a solution with the end result being quick profits!

Sounds good right? Then read this guide to getting fast results and even faster profits from one of the most prolific writers out there in the self-help and spirituality genres, Stuart Wilde.

Fast Writing for Quick Profits

Stuart Wilde

{Tips from a rocket-speed professional writer on how to write quickly, and be precise and flee with the pay check; on-the-hurry-up, short-sharp, right now, pronto!}

I've written twenty books on spirituality and self-help. My first title was published in 1983. It was a short booklet called Miracles. It sold well over one million copies. Nice.

I write very fast. I normally can write a book of 220-250 pages in ninety hours of fast-writing. That is, working twenty-three hours a day for just under four days. I love writing but it's painful. You have to bare your soul and dig deep inside yourself the faster one gets the job done the better.

Ka-chink! Cash register!

Fast Precise Writing:

Removed the Logs

The human eye travels through the centre of words on a page. Speed readers run their eyes along the blank channel between the rows but most people don't read like that. Normally every word is an impediment to the reader's forward progress, so when writing, consider words as "logs on the path" that the reader has to cross over. The fewer words the better. Be brutal. Cut words out, never use ten words when you can get away with five.

Use This Layout

1)Be precise and clear about what you want to say, don't waffle with a silly introductions just say what you want to say, "French girls are more elegant that Greek girls."

2)Next answer the reader's objections.

3)Then restate your point with some additional information or with a short anecdotal piece that illustrates what you are saying. Remember you don't want to get hung up on whether or not the reader agrees you just want to state the point.

4)Then tumble out quickly by restating the main idea offering a strong reason why you believe it. "French girls are more elegant that Greek girls because Paris is the world centre for fashion and haut couture and the French girls are greatly influenced by that".

Be Precise

Learn to be precise most writers are very self-indulgent. Write for the readers not yourself or your pride.

Do this: write a piece that is 120 words long that includes the words dog, a deep well, and the New York Times be sure it is not one word shorter or longer than 120 and that it is entertaining, interesting and/or funny. Make up short tests like this one so you learn how to get to the point.

Click here to read more >>

Well, it can be. Especially when you're trying to figure out where to direct that energy and creativity. So just how do you choose which project to complete? When your options seem endless, your choice becomes more difficult.

But you can get help from the same spirit guides giving you this intense stream of information and imagination in the first place. But to do that you must understand how they work. And it comes down to the 4th dimension: time.

Time, being a construct of our world, does not apply to the world of the spirit guides. That's why you sometimes receive an overwhelming flow of ideas and creativity. The article below breaks down how our spirit guides interact with us and how we can best use them to direct us.

Check out these 5 tips and let us know what you think. Do you agree or do you use other methods to manage your spirit guides?

Managing Your Spirit Guides

By Andrea Hess of Empowered Soul

There are times when we are so open to intuitive guidance and inspiration, so connected to our Spirit Guides, that we are subjected to a practically limitless, constant flow of information. Ideas abound. No sooner do we finish one project than we are inspired with three new possibilities to take its place! It seems like ten different avenues to be traveled present themselves at once - and we want to travel all of them. We feel overwhelmed and exhausted. How can we ever accomplish all that? Don’t our Spirit Guides know that there is simply not enough time in the day to do all that?

Actually, they don’t.

Once we are open to the flow of information from our Spirit Guides, we have to understand the perspective from which their guidance is given. On the spiritual plane, time does not exist. Time is a third-dimensional organizational construct that allows us the illusion of linear progression from choice to consequence. Linear time is an essential part of our learning experience here in this physical incarnation. But it is not a construct to which our Spirit Guides adhere. Similarly, energy moves at the speed of intent on the spiritual plane - maybe even “faster,” given that time does not exist and so neither does the concept of speed. By comparison, moving energy by taking action here on the physical plane is a ponderous process. Moving physical matter takes a great deal of work when you compare it to the ease of shifting pure energy. Not only that, but information is immediately available on the spiritual plane, also. In the physical, on the other hand, we have to learn new skills, do research, and educate ourselves before we can take informed and effective action. Oh, and on the spiritual plane, money does not exist! As you can see, our Spirit Guides come from a very different frame of reference when they offer us information.

When we are in intuitive information overload, we have to remember that our job is to manage the guidance we receive in order to express it coherently at the physical level. Our Spirit Guides are a tremendous source of information. But we are in charge of putting that information into workable, practical application. From time to time, this means setting appropriate boundaries and guidelines.

Click to continue reading >>

The word multitask comes up all the time.  They talk about in school, employers list it as a requirement, and we all put so much emphasis on the ability to multitask that we sometimes forget to ask, "Is multitasking really helping me?"

Well the truth is that there is no such thing as multitasking. What really happens is that we end up switchtasking. Our mind just switches from one task to another giving the appearance of multitasking. This is why people shouldn't use their cell phones when they're driving. If people could truly do two things simultaneously, then there would be no accidents arising from a cell phone/driving combo.

What marketing guru Alex Mandossian suggests instead is stacking.

Here are some of his examples of what stacking is:

• Eating dinner while watching TV
• Jogging while listening to your iPod
• Driving while listening to the radio
• Writing email while printing a letter

Well, you get the idea. These activities when combined do not compete for the same attention from your brain. Instead, only one of those tasks requires mental exertion.

If you're looking for spiritual development or personal growth, you will have to think about what is the best way to get on track to achieving your goal. When you think about how to get to that goal, you will invariably think that you can multitask. Newsflash: just as you can't medidate and watch the news at the same time, you cannot read Arjuna Ardagh while listening to a Tony Robbins seminar.

So stay focused and you will hit a personal development growth spurt.

"Why Multitasking Destroys Your Productivity

Most entrepreneurs I know are proud of their “multitasking” ability.

According to Wikipedia, “Human multitasking is the performance by an individual of appearing to handle more than one task at the same time.” The keyword that multitasking a myth is: “appearing.”

The term originated with computer multitasking - a CPU solves problems by scheduling tasks and switching from task to task until each task gets its turn.

The activity of switching back-and-forth may be a computer-friendly activity, but it’s anything but human-friendly when it comes to an entrepreneur’s personal productivity in the office or home!

Dave Crenshaw wrote my favorite book on the topic and I recommend it to any entrepreneur who still thinks and feels that multitasking is cool.

On page 29 in The Myth of Multitasking, Dave writes:

“Around the end of the twentieth century, some wordsmith saw the connection between our increasingly hectic world and the world of the computer. A catchword was born.

Newspapers began peppering their articles with the word. Talk shows hosts began using it with frequency. Magazines began publishing articles about how to multitask more effectively.

Multitasking quickly became as popular and accepted as the automobile and the hamburger.”

Click here to continue reading »

Well, FinerMinds' parent company, MindValley, is looking for people who want to do just that. We are hiring people who are out to get their dreams, achieve their goals, and believe in personal growth and development.

First, a bit about MindValley.  We're an amazing group of individuals who are dedicated to learning, striving for higher achievement, and making a change in the world. We publish and work with authors and leading experts and gurus in the field of personal growth and business development.  It's almost impossible to be exposed to such great thinkers without having some of their ideas rub off on you.  We make a difference by bringing these amazing men and women into the public eye through various forms of new media.

We hire poets, writers, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, web application developers, DJs, programmers, video artists—from around the world. At MindValley, you find yourself surrounded by insanely bright people, with fascinating lives and hobbies, doing work that they’re passionate about.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, it does.  MindValley is based out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  We're talking sunny beaches, exotic food, a beautiful and diverse culture, and the opportunity to explore one of the most amazing parts of the world.  You can go off to Cambodia or Thailand for a weekend and be back on Sunday evening to watch the sun set over the Twin Towers.

MindValley isn't just about getting your job done.  We're changing the landscape of work itself.  We have been on The WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces twice in a row.  At MindValley, your work will enrich your life.  It definitely has with mine.  We believe that just one year here will give you more experience and education than 2 years at any master's program from a college.

Our culture lets our employees work on projects that make them happy and allows them to grow.   We give them the time and resources to pursue their own hobbies and move towards their own personal dreams.  MindValley is a testing ground for new ideas and principles on growth and transformational business.  Our founders, Mike Reining and Vishen Lakhiani call this Consciousness Engineering.

We have one mantra here and it's this:  Be Awesome, Deliver Awesome.

So if you're sick of the old 9 to 5 and are looking for a challenge, then I suggest you check out this video Hani Khaursar made about what work is like at MindValley.

Interested?  I thought you might be.  You can learn all about MindValley and the people behind it at our Careers page »

A trivial question, some would say, doesn't matter if you have 1000 or 0 e-mails in your mailbox, you can always only read the ones that matter to you and ignore the rest, right?

Well, according to psychologists your over-flooded inbox might actually be the number one reason for your decreased productivity. Nothing wrong in being informed, but the amount of information that is being bombed at you every day simply exceeds your brains capacity to process it. Much too often we become paralyzed by knowing too much and not being able to decide anymore what is truly important for us.

When you think about it then checking your e-mail is the single most common habit that your parents didn't have -- yet for you logging in into your mailbox and browsing your e-mails has become so automatic and frequent that you rarely even ask WHY or consider seriously HOW you're going to process the information that you find.

If you're like most of the people then you almost never end your day with having 0 e-mails in your inbox. Most likely you have some e-mails that you've read, a whole bunch you haven't read and don't intend to either, some that you've actually written a reply to -- and some you just don't know what to do with (you probably decide to read them in the future -- which almost never happens).

It's a mess! And it's cutting down your productivity more than anything else.

Fortunately there's a way how to turn this disguised energy vampire into a well-tamed pet of yours, in other words: how to create a simple system that reduces significantly the time your spend in your inbox and gives the control over the information you consume right back to you.

It's called the 0-inbox system.

A productivity expert Merlin Mann explains the system in his highly insightful presentation. According to Mann the 2 most valuable resources that you have are your attention and time. You have a limited number of hours and minutes every day and no matter how much you'd like you can't add anything extra to it.

So Mann asks a question: "What is most important to you?" No matter what's your answer -- your family, project you're working on right now, your cat -- your mailbox actually reflects your priorities. If someone would check what has been going on in your mailbox in the past couple of weeks that person could tell a lot about where your actual priorities lie.

This is how crucial it is to actually have your inbox under YOUR control -- not in the hands of all those people who are mailing you every day.

If you still feel that having 0 e-mails -- and yet having all the important things done -- is rather daydreaming, you might find Mann's ideas sort of revolutionary. However as with most of the good things in life -- they're rather simple and obvious.

Sooner or later most people suffer a bout of work paralysis. This causes people to feel anxious and helpless and often leads to a nasty case of procrastination.

Over the last 20 years David Allen has worked with over a million professionals in hundreds of organizations worldwide, including many Fortune 500 companies and U.S. Government agencies, to help them tackle the issue of getting things done. He is THE productivity guru. He is the author of two best-selling books: Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity and Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life.

David Allen can help YOU manage your work flow and get things done.

According to Allen, there are five discrete stages we all need to go though as we deal with our work (regardless of the setting): We 1) COLLECT things that command our attention; 2) PROCESS what they mean and what to do about them; and 3) ORGANIZE the results, which we 4) REVIEW as options for what we choose to 5) DO.

The majority of us can stand to significantly improve our handling of each one of the five stages.

The quality of our work flow is as good as the weakest link in the five-stage chain. Things go sideways when part of the process breaks down. For example, some people might be superb at collecting things, but fail to process or decide what action to take. All links must be integrated together and supported with consistent standards. Many people get stuck because they try to do all five phases at once, which causes a meltdown.

1. Collect. In the first stage, you need to collect all incoming items into ‘containers’ that hold these items until you have a few moments to decide what they are and what, if anything, you’re going to do about them. There are various collection tools out there – both high-tech and low-tech – that you can use: a physical in-basket, e-mail, electronic note-taking devices, etc. To ensure this phase is working properly, you need to test it against three requirements: 1) Is every open loop in your collection system and out of your head?; 2) Do you have as few collection containers as you can away with?; and 3) Do you empty your containers on a regular basis?
2. Process. In this stage, you need to evaluate every item that lands in each of your containers. When something lands in one of your containers, you first need to figure out what it is. The next question is to find out whether or not it is actionable. The answer is either yes or no. If ‘yes’, you need to determine 1) what ‘project’ or outcome have you committed to?; and 2) what’s the next action required?
3. Organize. After you’ve processed everything, you need to categorize and file the items. For non-actionable items, Allen suggests that categories include trash, incubation tools and reference storage. For actionable items, you will need a list of projects, storage or files for project plans and materials, a calendar, a list of reminders of next actions, and a list of reminders of things you’re waiting for. Allen also points out that all these organizational categories need to be contained in some form.
4. Review. You need to be able to review the whole picture of your life and work at appropriate interval and levels. Normally, this should be done on a weekly basis. This is an opportunity for you to scan all the defined actions and options in front of you, thus increasing the efficacy of the choices you make about what you’re doing at any point in time. It also gives you a change to ensure that your mind is clear and that all the loose strands of the past few weeks have been collected, processes and organized.
5. Do. The fundamental purpose of this workflow management process is to facilitate good choices about what you’re doing at any point in time. Now it’s time to rely more on your intelligence, practical thinking and intuition. If you’ve diligently collected, processed, organized, and reviewed all your current commitments, chances are you have a pretty solid idea of what you should be working on at any given time.

Listen to a talk by David Allen on GETTING THINGS DONE for Google.