One of our GTD fans on Facebook recently posted about dramatically reducing her email backlog. Good job! How much email backlog do you still have? How would you tackle that as a project? Post a comment about how you would phrase the successful outcome (what does done look like with backlog?), and what your next action is.

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The GTD Natural Planning Model is a great way to plan any project.  A key step in the model, after deciding on the purpose and sucessful outcome, is to do some brainstorming. Here’s a key for successful brainstorming: Have lots of ideas! How? By encouraging everyone to present their ideas without censoring. Sometimes the apparently bad ideas need to get expressed to clear the way for the obviously good ideas. In the brainstorming phase, do your best to encourage complete expression, be open, non-judgmental, and resist critical analysis. Don’t worry—an idea that really doesn’t fit will get sorted out in the organizing and next action phases. And who knows? The idea that doesn’t fit for this project may be just what is needed for another project.

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How much interruption do you allow? How much choice do you have in that? Is your answer different after you read this quote?

“There are no interruptions. There are only mismanaged inputs.”
—David Allen

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In the Job Market section of the New York Times, you’ll find an interesting article on the value of working with paper. David Allen weighs in on how he uses paper, in addition to doing his writing on a computer.

In Defense of the Power of Paper

By PHYLLIS KORKKI
Published: September 8, 2012

Paper, says the productivity expert David Allen, is “in your face.” Its physical presence can be a goad to completing tasks, whereas computer files can easily be hidden and thus forgotten, he said. Some of his clients are returning to paper planners for this very reason, he added.

Mr. Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, does much of his writing on a computer, but there are still times when writing with a fountain pen on a notepad “allows me to get my head in the right place,” he said.

Read the complete article here.

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The ProGuide interview with David Allen is a fascinating, far-ranging podcast that covers the history of GTD and plenty of inspirational nuggets.

Key Points:

• What is GTD?  Why did David make this methodology?
• What are his plans for the future of GTD?
• What are some of the things he struggles with?  Procrastination?
• And more!

 
You can listen or download the podcast here.

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You can get practical, targeted GTD training with webinars scheduled in September and October. Choose from these topics: Keys to Getting Things Done®, GTD® & Outlook®, and Guided GTD Weekly Review®.

Whether you are setting up your GTD system for the first time, or want to get better at working what you already have, these webinars are the way to go. You’ll get tips for improving your productivity right away in these lively, interactive, bite-sized chunks of GTD learning.

The overview is here, or you can learn more by clicking on the date below that works for you.

Keys to Getting Things Done
Friday, September 14, from 10:00am-11:00am Pacific Time
Thursday, October 18, from 10:00am-11:00am Pacific Time

GTD & Outlook
Friday, October 26, from 10:00am-11:00am Pacific Time

Guided GTD Weekly Review
Friday, September 28, from 10:00am-11:00am Pacific Time

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Here’s concise advice from David Allen, on asking yourself two questions that can calm the waters of your mind.

Everything that is outstanding in your world and mind, that hasn’t been somehow put onto “cruise control,” will be holding some part of your psyche hostage.

So, simply ask yourself, “What has my attention now?” And then ask, “What do I need to decide, do, handle, and organize, to be able to have my mind let that go?”

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How’s your perspective, after a 3-day weekend? (Or did you have a 3-day weekend?)
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Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose your power of judgment. Go some distance away because the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony or proportion is more readily seen.
—Leonardo Da Vinci

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