This community contribution comes from Tara who uses GTD to care for her ill mother.  It’s a wonderful story from someone who–already naturally organized and productive–found ways to improve on her systems to provide the best care she could for her mother.

Dear David,

I’m probably in the camp of those who need GTD the least and who benefit from it the most. I’ve always been an “organized” person and have been praised for my ability to get things done and not let things “fall of my plate” or “radar screen” depending on the metaphor you prefer. That said, my life has taken a turn for the more complex and chaotic recently and I’ve found GTD to be the thing that helps me keep it together. [Read more →]

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Some of the most common questions we get are about managing projects.  Here is how one of the Coaches replied when a new GTD’er was asking how to manage projects and all of the related steps.

There are 3 components to consider with your projects:
1. Tracking the outcome on a Projects list(s) that serves as an master inventory of your Projects.  For example, “Complete 2010 Budget.”
2. Tracking the project support, future actions and reference for your projects.  For example, budget research you have been gathering, than you will use when working on the project.
3.  Tracking the next actions for the projects, on your context-sorted next action lists.  For example, “Call Jose in marketing for his dept. budget figures,” or “Book meeting to go over taxes.”

The key to your next action lists is that they only hold your next actions. [Read more →]

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Personal relationships are among my GTD Areas of Focus and Responsibility. I maintain a list of all persons with whom I have friendly relations. I informally call it my “friends list” even though I think it would be too presumptuous to call all of these people friends:  There are well over 300 people on it right now. It is a work-in-progress and whenever someone pops into my consciousness and I am unsure whether he or she is on my list, I make a note on my ubiquitous capture tool and add them to the list later. [Read more →]

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A longtime stalwart of David Allen’s personal GTD setup is his Tickler File System.  This 43-folder system is like having your own post office to mail things back for your attention and awareness–exactly when you need to see them again.

“The Tickler File demands only one-second-per-day new behavior to make it work, and it has a payoff value exponentially greater than the personal investment.” – David Allen

It’s easy to set one up.  Get 43 folders and label 12 for the months of the year and 31 for the possible days of the month.  Or, get a snazzy pre-printed set from us.  Read chapter 7 of the GTD Book for the details on how to work it, or grab this free article.

Still not convinced it’s for you or what you might use it for?  Here’s what David shared about what you might find in his: [Read more →]

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It certainly has been a while since I’ve written anything for GTD Times, so long that one might think I’d fallen off the wagon.  Not true – somewhat.  It’s not as if I’d fallen and couldn’t get up – it was that I was buried and couldn’t dig out.

Like most of you, I have a lot going on.  Between my writing and the regular day job (the one that I enjoy a ton and it pays regularly), I’d taken on a couple of speaking engagements and started work on a book.  Apparently, I also have a wife and daughter.  I found I wasn’t doing my Weekly Review because my weeks seemed to blend into each other.    Then when I did sit down to do it, I’d felt shameful because I had made limited progress in several areas, but hadn’t finished anything to completion.  That’s when I realized I had fallen into the dangerous realm of “professional crastination” – or procrastination for short. [Read more →]

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We wanted to share this amazing letter from Kevin, who recently attended a GTD Mastering Workflow class.  He describes what he did after the class, including a wonderful experience of connecting with his daughter.  For those of you feeling like you’re in “always on” mode in your work and personal life, Kevin’s story may be inspiring to you to see what’s possible…

[Read more →]

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The Wall Street Journal took a closer look at the phenomenon of Getting Things Done.  They also reviewed some time management approaches like Covey and The Pomodoro Technique.   While there are quite a few differences in each of the 3 (GTD is actually not time management and much different than what the other 2 approaches are intended to do), it’s a good, quick read.  Here’s a link to the article.

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Readers of my site know that I am a big fan of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” methodology, which the cool kids call “GTD” (see my 5 must read business books post).

GTD for some is a life changer. I can tell you that I personally went from work drawers full of paper piles to an organized filing system and, every once in a while, a clear desk.  But GTD isn’t about organization. It’s about capturing your commitments in a trusted system and using your now free brain to make decisions about what you should be doing right this instant. [Read more →]

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Q: I think email is becoming a two-headed monster. It is vital but more and more people ignore them, don’t read fully etc. How can we move forward with accomplishing goals in this environment? Are there ideas you can offer regarding effective corporate communications and task handoffs?

David Allen’s answer: Essentially email is no different than paper or verbal communications, with the same weaknesses if things are unfocused, unclear, and/or unnecessary. Because of its accessibility e-mail has just magnified those problems when those standards in communication are allowed. The key is [Read more →]

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Check out this 5 minute podcast from David Allen on what he suggests for getting started with GTD.  If you’re not yet a subscriber to our free podcast series, here’s how to get started.

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