If you’re constantly trying to put out fires, David Allen says in a new column, you may be ignoring the small signposts that are warning you in advance. Ubiquitous capture is a cornerstone of any successful GTD variation, and Allen says that if you’re not taking note of potential problems as they arise then they’re that much more likely to blow up in your face later on. He calls it “The Curse of the Eternally Urgent”:

I’m not talking about ignoring priorities. I am talking about capturing, deciding, and organizing action steps about everything we have our attention on, big and little. The little, unimportant things too often demand much more attention later on than they deserve, and become too important because they weren’t handled when they would have been easy.

It’s really all about the law of cause-and-effect: positive, proactive action gets positive feedback. Be aware of what’s around you, take note of what’s important or possibly problematic, and “process” it when you have the time to do so. If you do that, you’re much more likely to nip problems in the bud and avoid another crisis.

What tools do you use for ubiquitous capture? How do you keep an eye out for blowups?

The Curse of the Eternally Urgent @ Huffington Post