“Principles Endure. Formulas Don’t.”

In all advertising success stories, there is a simple set of principles. Impact, Communication, persuasion.

The advert needs to grab your attention, communicate its purpose, and persuade you to buy the product.

Think of Apple’s “1,000 songs in your pocket.” The image of an iPod with earphones on a simple white background and the words “1,000 songs in your pocket” contains all three principles.

In the world of time management and productivity, there is also a set of three principles: collect, organise, and do. These principles are not just theoretical but practical. You collect everything that gets your attention into a trusted place. You organise what you collect so that you see it when you need to act on it. And, of course, you need to do the work.

Trying to work outside these three principles results in backlogs, missed deadlines and a lack of trust in your system.

If you don’t collect your commitments and ideas in a trusted place, you will lose important information. If you don’t organise what you collect so you see what you need to see when you need to see it, you will not be doing the things that matter.

To give you an example, I have three primary collection tools: my computer for when I am working at my desk, my phone for when I am out and about…