The master key to clarity is maintaining a complete and current inventory of all your commitments and agreements with yourself. You need to capture, clarify, and organize them, so you can constantly review and reflect on the totality of your engagements with the world, so you can trust your choices about what you’re doing, moment …
Tag Archives: David Allen
Still procrastinating about a bunch of things on your action lists?
Still procrastinating about a bunch of things on your action lists? There’s your lists – not small sub-projects about your stuff. -David Allen
The key to innovation
The key to innovation is to really care about solving a problem or achieving a result that’s never been done, or a new and better way to make something happen. And persistence. – David Allen
Having room to think
“What I need is more real estate in which to think, and tools to facilitate the process. I need it to be systematized intelligently so that when I engage with it I’m stimulated, not stupefied.” – David Allen David Allen was on a roll this month with his having space to think and create. He …
David Allen on goal setting
David Allen was recently interviewed by Scientific American on goal setting. Do goals really work? Have most people already broken what they set just 3 weeks ago? LISTEN NOW (4 min) Like this podcast? Subscribe to our free podcast series. We also do frequent podcasts with David and the Coaches on GTD Connect®, our online …
How to get to Inbox Zero
A new GTD’er wrote to David Allen and asked: My dear husband thinks you keep your Inbox to zero by not posting your email address on the internet and/or by having assistants respond to your email. I disagree. What say you? David responded: You keep your Inbox to zero by dealing with whatever shows up …
GTD & the Cloud
Whenever I’m on a plane and we fly through a cloud, I can’t help but think “Oh man, I hope this isn’t the one that has all my data in it…” Tony_D on Twitter. Eric Mack recently interviewed David Allen on his use of Lotus Notes, eProductivity and cloud computing. Hear what David thinks of …
GTD isn't just the "flavor of the month"
Dear David Allen, Today marks the four-year anniversary of the day that I watched a taping of your Mastering Workflow seminar. It’s the day that I started a journey from chaos and overwhelm to order and sanity. Some thought that my GTD journey was just a phase, that it would be my “flavor of the …
My dog ate my GTD book
Hello David, I was in the middle of reading and applying your book when I came home one day and found it like this. Yep my dog ate it on a day when he was bored because I was so busy I didn’t get him out for a walk. Did I mention that I was …
Year End Completions
The latest Productive Living newsletter included a great set of questions from David Allen on year end completions. It’s a great exercise to go through for completing 2009 and setting your intentions and directions for creating 2010. Here’s a sample of some of those questions: Completing and remembering 2009 What was your biggest triumph in …
What is or isn't a project?
A computer programmer implementing GTD asked David Allen about projects: I’m confused about (and I’m sure you are extremely bored with this question, but from the books I couldn’t work out the answer) – how do you size projects? I’m continually having problems working out what is or isn’t a project – and getting lost …
Radiate efficiency
Elle magazine chatted with David Allen. Read some of the timely tips for refreshing your systems. One item that came up in my sweep was that for weeks I’ve been putting off answering a publicist’s e-mail asking if I’d write about one of his clients—my failure to reply is gnawing at me. My hunch is …
Get a weekly dose of GTD inspiration
If you are still struggling trying to get the GTD Weekly Review to become a habit, you’re not alone! It’s why GTD Connect, David Allen’s online learning center, sends out a Weekly Review reminder email to our members. It’s a dose of inspiration, sent once a week, looking at a common speed bumps for people …
What are the first steps in getting organized?
David Allen answers the timeless question, “What are the first steps in getting organized?” If by “getting organized” you mean getting relaxed and in control, it actually involves five steps, only one of which is actually the specific “organizing” component. 1) Collect the work. Corral everything that has potential meaning for you. 2) Process the …
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How can you trust your GTD system?
A new GTD’er asked: Once collected, how do you learn to trust the integrity of the system and not spend a lot of time trying to remember whether you put something down? David Allen’s reply: Trust comes with consistent use. The Weekly Review, plus reviewing the appropriate action lists when you have any time that …
Embracing Your Perfectionism
Q: Do you have any pointers for perfectionists? David Allen: Just focus on doing the next action perfectly, which is a lot easier than trying to be perfect about how you approach something bigger. Be as retentive as you want. The only problem is when it stops action. Be a perfectionist about the process, which …
Paying attention to the things that get in our way…
GTD simply emerged after paying attention to the things that get in our way… Mr. Allen. I am writing to pay a special tribute to my Grandfather – who passed away last week at the age of 94. He led a good, long life and was successful in many things. He was the first President …
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Put your office on the same path with GTD
Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for your co-workers? Out of ideas on what to get the boss who has everything? Still hoping your co-workers would just “get” GTD and make your life easier? Buy them the new GTD Workflow Map! We have a new “office bundle” that includes one large Workflow poster, one small …
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Finding Your Motivation
In David Allen’s latest Productive Living newsletter, he wrote about the tricky business of motivation. Here’s more sage advice from David on that topic… Q: How does one get motivated to do these things? Yes, I can put pressure on myself; know that I SHOULD do them, but there is pain and suffering that takes …
David's tip for traveling with batteries
David Allen shares a tip in the category of what he calls “dumb-dorky-things-to-do-that-work.” Rubber band your charged ones I’ve been slightly bugged for years in places like hotel rooms, looking the next morning at my unpacked stuff, wondering which batteries I had run down and which ones were still charged. I finally found a solution …
