I suggest that people build into their personal systems whatever checklists might prevent things from glitching on the back end, assuming they are reviewed appropriately. A great example, for people who travel, is the “travel checklist”–everything that you might ever want to take with you anywhere. Doesn’t mean you have to pack it! Just that …
Tag Archives: GTD
David Allen shares the Essence of GTD
[HTML1] Want to see more videos of David? Check out GTD Connect.
Getting started with GTD
One of the most common questions we get is how to get started with GTD. New people, especially, will ask this after coming to us dazed and confused by what GTD is really about. And, lots of people seem to be hoping a piece of software will teach them GTD. Sorry, but that’s kind of …
Tips for managing email with GTD
A GTD’er wrote to us to ask what resources we have for helping her manage email. She wrote that email is “vying for top ten on my list of overwhelming.” Here’s what one of our coaches shared: There are a few excellent resources from the David Allen Company for applying the GTD methods to your …
Keeping the Runway Clear
David Allen refers to your day-to-day Calendar and Action choices as the “Runway.” In the Horizons of Focus model, covered in Getting Things Done and more extensively in Making It All Work, it’s the ground floor: 50,000 – Purpose 40,000 – Vision 30,000 – Goals 20,000 – Responsibilities 10,000 – Projects Runway – Calendar & …
What is GTD?
Getting Things Done® (also known as GTD®) is not just about inbox zero, picking great tools, or doing a Weekly Review. It’s a whole workflow ecosystem invented by that David Allen that can bring calm to your world, give you perspective on life, and give you better control of your day-to-day. As David says, “there is more …
Done a Weekly Review lately?
You can never get enough of what you don’t really need. And you can never work hard enough, long enough, or fast enough, to eliminate the stress or discomfort that drives those behaviors. Your Weekly Review brings a much-needed break in the pace. -David Allen Grab the free article on the GTD Weekly Review
The GTD Best Practices Series
Do YOU know the best practices of GTD? Although they’ve been recorded for our GTD Connect online learning center, we have been posting the GTD Best Practices series to our free public podcast as well, for all to benefit from. These informal podcasts are a great way to learn the essentials of GTD. Here is …
Managing Projects – Tips from David Allen
Here’s a great Q&A between David and a new GTD’er. To appreciate David’s response, it helps to understand the GTD definitions for projects and next actions: Projects = Your outcomes that require more than one action step. Next Actions = Your next physical, visible action steps. Some are project-related, some are not. Question: If a …
Continue reading “Managing Projects – Tips from David Allen”
The Problem is not Information Overload
The problem is not information overload, by David Allen E-mail overload has gotten a lot of press lately – the quantity, the distraction it creates, and our inability to do much about it. There was even a recent debate in a global newspaper between readers voting for keeping e-mail at zero vs. those who use …
Getting your arms around your priorities
Let’s talk about the Horizons of Focus. In my experience, this is one of the parts of the GTD approach that can take a little time for people to get their arms around. This is where priorities and perspective live. Whereas traditional time management approaches attempted to give people an ABC type coding system for …
A group of dedicated GTD enthusiasts in Austin
One of the cool things about GTD is that you don’t have to look far to find other GTD enthusiasts in your community. From Meetups, to study groups, to book clubs and coffee chats, there are people into GTD all around the world. The Austin American-Statesman newspaper caught up with a group of GTD fans …
Continue reading “A group of dedicated GTD enthusiasts in Austin”
Take a GTD & Lotus Notes class
For those of you looking for the best ways to implement GTD with Lotus Notes®, join the next Webinar class on GTD Connect, our subscription-based online learning center. It will be held February 4th at 12pm Pacific Time. If you can’t make the live event, the replay will be posted to the GTD Connect Media …
How to choose tools for GTD
Looking for a tool for GTD? The mistake we see many new GTD’ers make is expecting to find a tool to “do” GTD. A tool doesn’t do the thinking for you, it stores the thinking for you. So, then does it even matter what tools you use when it comes to implementing GTD? Sure. You …
Think Small Steps
A Community Contribution by Meghan Wilker Near the beginning of a new year, we often take stock of the big things in life. Am I happy at my job? Do I need to lose weight? It’s such a good time to take stock of — and clean up — major sources of stress and a …
GTD & OneNote
This is a community contribution by Ryan Oakley. For me, GTD has always worked extremely well for those small(er) tasks and projects. You know – those little things that used to fall through the cracks but, with the help of GTD, are now easily tracked and moved on until completed. These smaller projects don’t need …
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 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 …
Continue reading “What are the first steps in getting organized?”
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 …
