Getting Things Done had never been easier when you follow David Allens Getting Things Done. DavidAllen.com is great place to go for resources on helping you accomplish more in less time and to be more productive than ever before.
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
 How to Get Started with Getting Things Done
David Allen's Getting Things Done time-management system is based on some pretty esoteric concepts ("knowledge work," "distributed cognition," the "ready state" of martial arts, and so on), but in actual practice it's cheap and very much do-it-yourself. His bestselling book, Getting Things Done, lays out the method comprehensively, but his fans are so legion that you can actually piece together the elements of his program just by browsing the blogosphere. The tools and technologies you use are almost entirely of your choosing. Post-It notes, a smart phone, your own jacked version of Outlook-Allen claims that any or all of these will work, as long as they're deployed in the rigorous ways the book spells out.
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Empty Your Inbox
Empty Your Inbox
Goal: Break tasks down into actionable steps.
Once you've compiled your inventory of unfinished business, it's time to process each and every item. Don't worry, that doesn't mean you have to resolve every single item. By "process," Allen simply means that you have to determine a "next-action": the very next thing you need to do, either to resolve an issue or at least keep it moving toward completion. Many items you'll only need to file-or throw away.
What does a next-action look like? Say you want to clean out your garage, but you can't because a broken refrigerator is taking up the space you need for reorganizing. Your next-action could be "Call Goodwill to fetch the dead fridge." Got a looming product launch and feel out of the loop? Write down "Go into Outlook and set up a strategic planning session." Need a pencil sharpener? The process might start with "Download document that explains company procurement software."
It's basic stuff, really, but Allen add
I recommend: http://www.gettingthingsdone.com DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!Beware the Junk DrawerAs you gather items into a pile, Allen warns to watch out for the purge-and-organize bug. If you get overly focused on, say, an overstuffed closet, you may not get through the entire collection process, which is vital. What to do? Write "clean out closet" on a piece of paper, put it in your collection pile, and move on.
Get Things Done
GOAL: As small action items move off your lists, contemplate larger projects and life goal
I recommend: According to Allen, deciding what to do-be it on a daily, hourly, or even minute-by-minute basis-requires trust in some invisible, whether you want to call it your heart, your spirit, your gut, your intuition, or the seat of your pants. Allen provides distinct models for deciding where to focus your energies as you stare at your calendar and action lists:Action in the moment: Consider your context (are you at work, in your car, lying on your couch at home?), time available, energy available, and priorities. Daily work: Allen says we engage in three kinds of activities-pre-defined activities (things already in your calendar or on your lists); work as it shows up (phone calls, emails, people turning up at your office door); and defining your work (planning, scheduling, making lists, setting priorities, brainstorming). It's key that none of these overwhelms the other two.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- Clear the Decks
GOAL: Record all your commitments to free up mental energy and start accomplishing things.
GTD is a totalizing system, so don't expect to just ease yourself in. The first big push is key, and it requires a major, two-day collection process, in which you're supposed to gather up every single thing that requires action on your part: unopened mail, emails, voicemails, countertop clutter, reading materials, scary catch-all cabinets you can barely open. For larger items that don't fit into a desktop inbox-a broken fridge, a leaky faucet-just make an individual note and add it to the pile. Allen suggests that you devote a separate sheet of paper to each idea or project. A discrete, physical object helps make an idea more concrete, and it lets you track each item individually, increasing its chances of getting done.
When all your physical rubble is more or less in one place, it's time for a "mind-sweep": the processing of writing down everything in every aspect of your
- Repeat Weekly
GOAL: Set aside time each week to review your action lists, so that no items go uncompleted.
Life is a moving target. New data, new demands, and new opportunities keep showing up. You've just organized all of them, sure, but the system begins to age as soon as you go through a morning's worth of email. Hence, the "weekly review"-the linchpin of GTD and also, by all accounts, the place where adherents are most likely to get sloppy.
Essentially, the weekly review is an abbreviated version of all the preceding steps. You gather all your stray documents, notes to yourself, desktop clutter, and detritus of the week, then submit each item to your "process" and "organize" routine. Once you've done this, Allen includes a checklist of steps, best completed in order:
Review previous week's calendar for outstanding items.
Review and update upcoming week's calendar, so you know about time-sensitive items on the horizon.
Conduct a "mind-sweep," i.e. write down all those id
- minimum start up cost: $50 (some of Allen's acolytes spend hundreds on seminars and sessions with personal coaches)
two full days, back-to-back and with minimal interruption, then one to four hours a week, ongoing
Office Supplies: file folders, paper-holding trays, a pen, a calendar, and some paper are all you need to get started
Allen's Book: you don't have to buy it, but Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity has lots of helpful details on implementation
Adaptability: GTD requires small actions throughout the day-at your desk, in meetings, at home, while commuting-that may require a serious change in mindset.
(Optional) GTD Software: GTD hackers are constantly creating free templates and applets that bring GTD functionality to programs like Outlook, Gmail, and Lotus Notes.
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