David Allen has a phase “Mind like water.” I’ve thought a lot about that phase lately. What would it mean to you, to be clear on what has your attention. Would it change things for you?

I know for me, it has changed things for the better. 

The other day I received a phone call from someone who needed something from me right away. I had to decide if it was indeed urgent and important. It certainly was! So I needed to do it right then.

However it  took an entire day for me to complete. That meant I had to  push back my other projects and deadlines.

I was quickly able to scan my lists and know what I was pushing off. Sadly I had to make excuses on other things. But at least I was able to be proactive and make the excuse a head of time.

I feel it’s far better to tell someone in advance you are going to be late, then having them call you up and ask where is it.

Here’s why you need a system:

• Interruptions – Lets save the discussion about urgent vs important for later and just say that work interrupted is the best reason to have a system. If your system is up to date you can easily review it and pick up right where you left off.
• A new project – You will never stop getting new projects to do. You need a place to store them.
• Getting clear on your priorty’s –  A system allows you to focus on what has your attention.

This is the best apps that I’ve used:

• Nozbe – This is my goto app! It has a great company behind the product and does everything really well. It is a little pricey. In this case I do feel you get what you pay for. I use this app often and depend on it for most everything in my life. To me the cost is well worth it.

Here’s some other apps that I’ve used if you are a little more cost conscious:

• Doit – This is  a very good app. It does most things very well. I did find a couple of quirky items that wasn’t ideal for me. My only issue before moving on was the slowness of the updates for the iPad.
• Nirvana – This is app cover’s the bases pretty well. I used it for a long time.
• Toodledo – This app took a little setup time to get it to work the way I wanted. The user interface wasn’t very smooth for me but it offered a lot of customization.

A word about free apps. You get what you pay for. With paid apps you get support and updates. Do you really want to trust your work with someone just because the best part about it was they were free.

It does take work to keep any productivity system current and organized. For some this is where any system will fall apart. It’s up to you to know what your projects and commitments are.

What are your thoughts about this? I’m here on Twitter.