We’re excited to announce the release of our new GTD & Things Setup Guide! We know some of you have been wanting this one for years. Includes a ton of expert tips on implementing GTD in Things on your Mac desktop. Buy the full Guide …
Category Archives: Productivity Tips
There is no “perfect” way to do GTD
Your name: Jodie E Francis What do you do for work? I work for a federal government department as the information management lead for our branch’s national scientific collections housed in Ottawa, and we are in the process of moving our collections to a more modern facility. Where do you live? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada How …
Are you out of your mind?
Most people are trying to manage much of their life and work in their minds, but your head is a lousy office! Recent cognitive science research has proven its limitations for remembering, reminding, and prioritizing. In this humorous TEDx talk, David Allen emphasizes the need to keep track of any and every thing that we …
Starting with where you are, not where you should be
Question: Why does Getting Things Done® focus on the “weeds” rather than the higher-level stuff? Why don’t we start with goals and vision and then make our way to day-to-day work? David Allen: I appreciate your question. The professional and personal self-help training programs consistently emphasize higher-horizon focus—clarity of purpose, values, vision, goals, etc. I agree that …
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The principles of GTD apply to everything
Question: Dear David Allen, Is there an adaptation of your method for writing a PhD? I find GTD helpful in life and at the job, but I have trouble adapting it to a research project. Do you have any tips? David Allen: The principles of GTD apply to everything, but they don’t engage with the …
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Where to find GTD Courses and Coaching
Whether you’re new to Getting Things Done, or already have a system in place and want to gain greater mastery, you’ll get value from GTD courses and coaching services offered by our global partners around the world. We have partners in 92 countries, with more on the way. They offer GTD courses for private clients …
Control or Spontaneity? The Paradox
When people discover the level of personal organization I work within, they often ask, “Wow, does this guy ever have any fun?! He’s so organized!” My response is usually, “Who’s not having fun?” Frankly, I organize for freedom, not for hard work. Much of my personal system of organization was built and is constantly being …
GTD Setup Guides
Hello GTD enthusiasts! This is an update on the GTD Setup Guides that are currently available. If you’re new to these guides, they are the official GTD software setup guides from the David Allen Company to give you step-by-step coaching on applying GTD to some of the best software tools out there. We currently have GTD Setup Guides for: …
Suzanne’s GTD Story
Your name: Suzanne Hawes What do you do for work? Chief Human Resources, Paya Inc Where do you live? Ashburn, VA How did you hear about GTD? I was working at SC Johnson in Racine, WI. The training department needed some guinea pigs for a GTD program they were planning to roll out. I’m always …
What Gets in the Way of Being Productive?
A typical question I get is, “What’s the one thing that we do that gets in the way of us being productive?” It’s not one thing, but five, all wrapped together: People keep stuff in their head. They don’t decide what they need to do about stuff they know they need to do something about. …
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Mark’s GTD Story
Your name: Mark Jantzen What do you do for work? I’m a Senior Investment Manager with Fidelity Investments Where do you live? Denver, Colorado How did you hear about GTD? I attended a David Allen seminar at Fidelity before he called it GTD. I believe it was MAP – Managing Actions & Projects. Obviously read …
Episode #40: Best Practices of Email Communication
In this podcast, Coach Kelly Forrister focuses on the best practices of email communications with others, including appropriate use, writing effective subject lines, creating agreed upon response times, reply to all and more. Listen Now Subscribe or Download iTunes Stitcher Libsyn Google Play Music Spotify SoundCloud
Why Getting Organized Usually Hasn’t Worked
I had another BFO the other day (that’s a Blinding Flash of the Obvious): one of the reasons most people are to some degree allergic to “getting organized” is the consistent lack of success they have experienced over the years with how they’ve approached the whole process of to-do lists. The reason those lists have …
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GTD and stress
How do you unhook from the pulls and pressures of your world? It would be nice if you could just shut your door, or go into the garden, and the harpies in your mind—all the niggling things to do and deal with—just went away. Or, if you could just finally get it all done, so …
How things get done
It’s all connected. You can’t really define the right action until you know the outcome you’re after, and your outcome is disconnected from reality if you’re not clear about what you need to do physically to make it happen. You can get at it from either direction, and you must, to get things done. –David …
The Power of Imagery
Imagery is powerful. Consciously exercising the direction of your imagery is a hallmark of mastery—in sports, business, or frankly any aspect of your life. Mental pictures, combined with rich emotional texture, have proven to be highly effective tools for enhancing perception and performance, whether on the track, in the boardroom, in relationships, or simply your …
Episode #39: GTD® and Holacracy®
In this podcast we hear a wide-ranging conversation between David Allen and the founder of HolacracyOne, Brian Robertson. Just as GTD is a systematic approach to maintaining perspective and control in your life, Holacracy is a systematic approach for running an organization. You’ll hear a lot of interesting similarities between the two models, as well …
GTD Stories: Enyo
Your name: Betty Enyonam Kumahor, but most people just call me Enyo. What do you do for work? I find this question harder and harder to answer! My background is in management and technology consulting. I started my own consulting firm about 2 years ago and we have about 25 people in 3 countries doing …
Priorities and GTD
Challenges with priorities and GTD A GTD Connect member asked: I am having a challenge understanding priorities and GTD. I have at least 100 projects, from LARGE to little. Now you break down those projects to single actions which at least triples your actions. So I might have about 300 single actions to be done. …
Where to find GTD training
GTD public courses and coaching services are offered in more countries than ever before, through our extensive network of Global Partners. Here’s the dashboard to find GTD training near you: https://gettingthingsdone.com/global-partners
