I’ve been going through it. I’m planning on doing the entire 16 hour transformation about 10 days from today and I can’t wait.
There are some podcasts that really make it even easier to wrap your head around how this works and what you can expect—also hints and examples. Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders also covers Getting Things Done and just about anything else you might want to know about organizing and productivity.
I’m really looking forward to a huge change in the way my life works by using this.
If you find yourself frustrated by the overwhelming list of stuff you have to and want to do, you should definitely give this book a thorough review.
Check it out here:
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
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Hi, I am just beginning to look at Getting Things Done. I am wondering how it is going for you and if you have any hints or tips. Also, have you used any of the cool tools like iGTD and if so, what are your thoughts?
Thanks!
Hi Jami,
Wow, I hadn’t realized you had posted a comment! Thanks and now that some time has passed, I have even more to say as a followup.
I’ve been working on GTD now for almost 5 months and must say that it’s critical you be serious about making change happen or this will be just like all the other books on organization one might have mucked with in the past with marginal results.
That said, I’ve benefited greatly from using David Allen’s work as a starting place for my organizational formula. Here are the key things I’ve found most helpful.
1. Getting EVERYthing out of your head and fixed in some tangible medium, be it paper or digital (a RAM chip is a tangible medium, right?).
2. Taking all those things you got out of your head and putting them in ONE central place. This is so deceptively simple that its power could easily be overlooked. This (and the previous point) is the real key to the entire book (in my opinion) and the reason most of us humans (especially info workers) are so lost in the sea of overwhelming information assailing us practically every minute.
3. Reviewing your entire life in terms of the Six-Level Model:
50,000 Feet = Life, all the way to the Runway = Current Actions and doing this review on a regular basis. Ultimately, the real key here is the issue of review on a regular basis. If you write down a set of goals and never look at them again, it’s not really going to help you much at all.
4. Becoming aware of the Natural Planning Model for projects and its 5 phases (which we already use unconsciously) and using this model to consciously manage your life and all the sub-projects of which it is made.
5. Finally, the practical, nuts and bolts advice he gives is a great time saver in terms of taking your mind off the million ways you could get started putting principles into action. I actually took the check list of materials with me to Office Depot and purchased all the stuff in one shot and it made it MUCH easier to start putting Allen’s ideas to work immediately. That was much appreciated!
Of course that barely scratches the surface of all the useful stuff I got out of the book, but again, these are the critically important things I took away and have been using ever since.
So let me know how you’re doing with it! Are you still working with GTD and what have you found most useful?
Thanks again for the feedback!
Best regards,
–Zack
PS, I have been eagerly anticipating Omni Group’s version of a GTD app for OS X. It’s called Omni Focus and you can check it out here and tell me what you think.