An easy way for me to explain the “Doing” phase of GTD is to simply say “trust your gut/butt/intuition/hunch/heart.” There is gold in that, and ultimately that’s what it will come down to. But how do you even get to the point of trusting whatever part of you makes a trusted decision?  Here’s where the “ecosystem of GTD” starts to make more sense:

Capture everything that has your attention (Collect)

Make decisions about what it means and what you are going to do about it (Process)

Park those decisions in trusted places (Organize)

Step back to reflect on those choices from a clear, current, and creative place (Review)

So that you can make the best action choice  (Do)

So how will that help narrow down a To Do list the length of your driveway? You’ll want to pull in the  Criteria for Choosing model: [Read more →]

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You can participate in special GTD® webinars featuring two of the most popular and requested topics:  Keys to Mastering Workflow and Implementing GTD with Microsoft Outlook.  These webinars are presented a la carte for $49 each.

GTD Webinar: Keys to Mastering Workflow

Offered live only on Tuesday, November 29^th or Tuesday, December 13^th from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm PT

This fast-paced and inspirational webinar is based on the best practices of GTD’s five phases of mastering workflow. From capturing everything that has your attention to making trusted choices – this webinar will elevate your productivity levels and prepare you to get the right things done.

GTD Webinar: Implementing GTD with Outlook®

Offered live only on Thursday, December, 1^st or Thursday, December 15^th from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm PT

Join this structured and practical webinar to learn to effectively track projects and next actions, set up your email folders, and create a system for reference storage on Outlook. Get your life in control by managing your bigger vision while tracking the small details. 

Note: These webinars will be held live only and will not be available for replay. Don’t miss your opportunity to learn from an expert coach through these live events.

Register now for these live 90-minute interactive webinars. To increase learning and interaction, implementation questions via chat will be encouraged and answered throughout the webinars.

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David Allen calls the Weekly Review the “critical success factor” to GTD. Why? It’s the glue that keeps it all together.  It’s also one of the steps people tend to resist the most.  Here are some keys for getting the most out of the Review phase to keep your GTD system humming along.

WHAT TO REVIEW:

There are 11 steps in the GTD Weekly Review.  David Allen recommends leading yourself through this every 7-10 days to get clear, current, and creative.

Get clear – ensure all your “stuff” is processed

Collect Loose Papers and Materials
Get “IN” to Zero
Empty Your Head
[Read more →]

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We’re continuing our series on the best practices of GTD’s five phases of Mastering Workflow:  Collect, Process, Organize, Review, and Do.  Let’s look closer at the Process phase.

WHAT TO PROCESS:

Processing is the core fundamental thinking that defines the meaning of each item collected. Outcomes and next actions are determined for actionable items, and the non-actionable items are identified as trash, something potentially actionable in the future, or reference material. This decision process transforms unclear stuff into defined work.

Download a free version of the GTD Workflow Map illustrating Collect, Process, and Organize or view the classic version on page 32 of the Getting Things Done book.

KEY PROCESSING QUESTIONS:

1. What is it?
2. Is it actionable?
3. What’s the desired outcome? If it is multi-step, write it on your Projects/Outcomes list.
4. What’s the next (physical/visible) action? Write it on the appropriate Next Actions list. [Read more →]

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How well do you know the GTD’s five phases of  Mastering Workflow?  In case you could use a refresher, we’re going to do a five part series on the best practices of each phase: Collect, Process, Organize, Review, and Do. Let’s start with Collect!

WHAT TO COLLECT:

Every commitment unfinished is an “open loop”; and when it is tracked in your psyche, instead of your system, it will require energy and attention to track and maintain. Once the open loops are captured, you can manage completion by using an external system that takes much less energy than keeping it in your head. Every commitment unfinished requires management in a trusted system until it is done or discontinued.

COLLECTION SUCCESS FACTORS:

Capture it all (Get it out of your head)
Every open loop must be in your collection system and out of your head. Keep collection tools nearby so that no matter where you are, you can capture anything that has your attention. The result of this practice is to have everything out of your head. The less you track in your mind, the clearer you will be, and the more important and functional the collection tools will become, which allows for your mind to be optimally clear. This will make your collection tools more important. [Read more →]

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David Allen Company has just released a new Setup Guide that includes great coaching advice for structuring a solid GTD system in Lotus Notes. Written by David Allen and his senior coaches, this guide explains how to:

• Set up Lotus Notes To Do’s for your projects and actions
• Use the calendar as a critical foundation for actions
• Get email to zero consistently
• Create useful reference lists
• Organize contacts
• Move faster with speed keys and shortcuts

Instructions in the Guide are primarily written based on Notes 8.5, with helpful references to differences in previous versions.

Read a free sample from the first few pages

Buy now from the DAC Store

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Get help in your journey with GTD. Join two Senior David Allen Company Coaches for a 14-day GTD Challenge, designed to bring your productivity to a whole new level.  The Challenge will take place between September 22  and October 6 and is hosted by our online learning community, GTD Connect. Free and open to all GTD Connect members (including those on a two-week guest pass.)

Part one will kick off with a live webinar on September 22nd, going over GTD best practices and giving you tools to design a game plan for maximizing your efficiency and GTD systems. In other words, how well can you “do” GTD? How much better could your systems be?

At the end of the 14 days, on October 6th, part two will bring participants back together on a webinar to look back on your successes, lessons learned, and tips for making positive changes stick.

Intended for those who have at least a basic understanding of GTD, as it will build on the core models for control & perspective.

Login to GTD Connect to register through the links on the home page. Questions? Contact us at connect@davidco.com.

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Question: How do you handle reading material? I have magazine articles, web articles, books, newsletter special articles, blog interesting articles, etc.  Do you input them into “context” just like any other task?

Senior Coach Kelly Forrister: I consider reading materials fall into two categories: nice to read and must read. Nice to read is like a newsstand. I can read it or not. Those are not tracked on any lists. they are organized into a plastic folder called “Read/Review”.  For must read items, those are tracked on my Next Action lists, just like any other action I am committed to complete. Those are organized based on where the reading takes place (@Office, @Home, @Anywhere or @Computer). The reading is typically stored in a project folder if it’s related to a project, an @Action email or hard copy folder, or I simply paste the URL if it’s a website into the note field of the next action in my list manager.

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Question: In your book, you talk about the 3 kinds of work:

1/ Pre-determined work
2/ Doing work as it shows up
3/ Defining your work

What percentage of a person’s time should be dedicated to defining work?

David Allen: No rules here.  “Defining work” usually takes about 30 seconds per input (email, notes, paper, thoughts, etc.), which means 30 to 90 minutes a day for most professionals.

If you want a great guide to help you define your work, grab the free GTD Workflow Map illustrating the steps for processing & organizing.

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