We’ve all had experiences in life that feel like an sucker punch to our world.  In a matter of minutes, things are not as they were.  We received this heartfelt letter from André, who wanted other GTD’ers to know how he dealt with a difficult family situation using the GTD principles and practices.

The last three weeks were the most bizarre in my life so far. Thanks to GTD I didn’t get lost. I want to share my story with you and all interested GTD’ers:

On Saturday 26 September 2009 my dad passed away because of a sudden brain hemorrhage. He was on a trip in Israel with members of his church. It was his dream for 35 years to see The Promised Land himself.

Wednesday 16 September 2009, 16:07h. It was my second workday after a four-week-holiday. I had my Areas of Focus clear and my Project list straight to get back on track again. Ready to dive into the details.

Then the phone rang. It was my dad’s pastor calling from Eilat, Israel. My dad had an accident on the beach of the Red Sea. His body functions had stopped. After a succesful reanimation he came back to life. Immediately he was transported by ambulance to the Intensive Care of the nearest hospital. Dad was in coma and has not come out of it again. [Read more →]

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GTD enthusiast Kerry Gallivan has been working with a wonderful project in Maine that is bringing MacBooks,  OmniFocus & GTD to nearly 60,000 students and educators.  It’s an amazing story and congratulations to all involved in making this happen.  Truly a remarkable achievement which will greatly benefit the students, teachers, their families and communities.

As a GTD evangelist myself, last March I was fortunate to attend the GTD Summit in San Francisco. This was a first-ever event hosted by David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, and his company, David Allen Company. It was a networking event which brought together all of the best and brightest GTD practicers from literally around the world. It was at the GTD Summit that I met Ken Case – the President of the Omni Group.  Being a Technology Director at a school district in Maine and a GTD evangelist, I encouraged him to consider donating OmniFocus to the MLTI program as a first step in exposing the educational community within Maine to the benefits of the GTD system.  Read more–>

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We love hearing from GTD’ers around the world who are getting value out of David’s work.  This one came in from Richard in Japan:

Dear David,

I read your book and I wanted to share with you the incredible change it has made to my career. Since picking it up at a JFK airport bookstore during a business trip, I have implemented many of the techniques and I have developed ‘trust’ in my system to keep me on top of things. Not only has my career been taking off– [Read more →]

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Carley, a life coach and mom, recently attended a public GTD class and was so inspired about a tip she learned, that she created a little video to share with other GTD’ers.  Enjoy!

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A couple of weeks ago (during an In Conversation that will be posted later this summer on GTDConnect), David Allen asked me if I practice GTD with my kids. In response, I laughed and said, “No.” After all, my daughter is three years old and my son is just nine months. They can hardly do GTD, can they?!

But, in the weeks since we talked, I paid more attention to how GTD factors into our family life and realized that — though they are quite young — there are elements of GTD that I am already teaching my kids.

Of the five levels of control in GTD (capturing, clarifying, organizing, reflecting, and engaging), most of what my kids are learning right now has to do with capturing, clarifying and organizing. [Read more →]

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Mike Williams, speaker at the recent GTD Summit, and longtime friend of David Allen Company, sent us this story with us about his experience sharing GTD with his kids. We thought this was fitting to share on Father’s Day.

I am always running experiments with my kids (queue the evil scientist laugh!).  I would love to share these experiments or test new things (experiments, gear) to help start the GTD thinking at an earlier age.

Here is a recent post I wrote on one of my experiments.  It resonated with several GTD moms and dads at the GTD Summit.

I am also experimenting with home design, backpack gear, homework routines, school routines and home routines to build systems that enable the GTD systemic approach.

Read more about Mike’s experiment>>

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Over the years, many people have reached out to us asking how they can share the GTD techniques with kids and young adults.  This letter below is from a GTD’er who got value from the article one of our senior staff wrote about his experience using GTD’s Natural Planning Model (p.54 of the GTD book) with his son entering college.

Wayne,

I was doing my daily review this morning, which always includes a  daily discipline of ‘read something’.  I ran across your article about  the Natural Planning Model and College applications.  I thought I’d  share a story.

About a month ago, I took a young man away for a weekend retreat to  because he was feeling great pressure from his family to decide ‘where  to go to college.’  He is 17.  We spent the first day and a half doing  various exercises to help him tap into the 50,000 foot stuff that most  people never consider.  Midway through the retreat, I shared the  Horizons of Focus model with him in totality.  It was the first of  several epiphanies that he experienced over the weekend.  “Where did  you get this stuff, Mark?  It is great!”  And then I handed him his own copy of GTD.  Anyway, we never  touched the ‘where should i go to  college’ question until about an hour before the retreat was over.  By  spending time at 50,000 feet (which involved significant delving into his backstory, strengths, habits, hobbies, dreams, ambitions, etc), we were finally able to envision (40,000) life in 5-years (post college), goals for the next year (30,000), specific projects (10,000 within his areas of focus (20,000 – student, son, and friend, in particular), and next actions (runway) to get him moving.

I’m sure you understand from your own life how liberating and empowering it felt to this young man when he was able to connect his runway (like “study for my physics test” and “go online and get an application for community college”) to his 50,000 Purpose For Being On The Planet.  Wow.

Be encouraged that the advice you are giving on Coach’s corner is being read and appreciated.  Have a stree-free day.

Here to serve,

Mark

In our experience, the best way to share GTD is to share what works for you.  If you look back on your life before GTD, what’s different and better now?  What are you doing and experiencing differently?  People will resonate with that.  Then you can tell them how long your lists are…

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A Community Contribution from Nathaniel Stott

At this time of the year we are all greeting one another with “Happy New Year!”
How happy are you? And what difference does being happy make to you and your work? Or life with your children for that matter?

GTD helps give me more time for fun. GTD helps me to achieve  balance and meaning in life. For me, GTD is about making the right choices for my life and work. At least that is what I am working towards even though I sometimes fall off the wagon.

I’ve resolved to do more  with GTD in 2009. To reach new heights (thanks Oliver) and achieve even greater happiness.

Martin Seligman is a positive psychologist who tells us more about what being positive can do for us (see his TED talk and The BBC happiness formula).

I also recommend taking a closer look at the Authentic Happiness testing center. Measure your overall happiness, your current level happiness and your approach to happiness. You might also find it interesting and useful to test the character strengths of yourself and your children—I found this particularly insightful—I am curious and have an interest in the world.

Finally, be sure to take a  listen to the happiness anthem!

GTD makes me a happier person! Here’s hoping it does the same for you! And wishing you all a very Happy 2009!

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“Work and play are words used for the same thing under differing conditions” —Mark Twain
All good things come in three’s—just like the steps of the weekly review:

1. Get Clear
2. Get Current
3. Get Creative

Getting work done

First get clear. Collect everything in one place—the loose bits of paper, assignments, toys, (school) books and randomly ordered thoughts. Put it all in one place, like the IN basket. Then work it down until you get it is empty.

Doing this for myself regularly keeps me in control. Similarly with my children, the effects are most obvious when I am not asked where the clean socks or trousers are—the wash-IN basket is empty.

Or where that missing library book is to be found. And when my daughter has the conversation with me about doing less English at school so that she can concentrate more on her Russian. (We speak German together at home).

The balance between work and play

Then get current. Connecting with everything and identifying what to do with or about it, is a balancing act.

This is most obvious to me in the moment of now. In reviewing everything, I know how and when to keep in balance. That careful balancing act between work and play.

“The richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve inner balance between 3 realms: work, love and play. That to pursue one realm to the disregard of the other is to open oneself to ultimate sadness in older age. Whereas to pursue all 3 with equal dedication, is to make possible a life not only with achievement but with serenity.” —Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Doris Kearns Goodwin on learning from past presidents | Video on TED.com

How often do you get to play?

Get creative. Creative ideas seem easy for kids. Wild outrageous and seriously fun things are so easy for kids because it’s most like play.

Sometimes it is also important to do just nothing. Sit out in the garden and enjoy the view of how the seasons change. Or enjoy a coffee in your favorite café—doing nothing. Not even with your notebook. Just doing nothing can be the most productive time of the day. Kids do it (almost) all the time.

“Hey what are you doing?” — “Oh? Nothing!”

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Yes! I fell off the wagon this summer—I just had too much going on in my head. The summer holidays swept me away—not just the flooding we had in the cellar or even the rain and spectacular heights of the Swiss Alps—I simply had a lot of things going on. A lot to get done with more than the usual interruptions.

The kids at home

Why and how did I get into GTD? “Getting Things Done” was such an interesting book title, that it was the title alone that grabbed my attention. And that in combination with a huge period of changes—just moved, settling into a new country and then separation and divorce. Alone and at home with the kids.

There was more, but I needed to focus on the essentials.I have a lot to do and GTD gives me the peace of mind just to get on with it. That is why I think falling off the wagon is such fun–I mean when else do you get to roll in the grass? Or take a hike up the mountains. To really experience what it is like at high altitude. Breath taking!

Forgetting and remembering

Summer holidays are a time to reflect and to forget. By falling off the wagon—by forgetting everything—I get the chance to review everything anew. The kids get to do this too. They fall off all the time. And climb back on. And sometimes just run allongside the wagon. In fact it is part of the expected rhythm of a the year. Intensive periods of learning and of rest. The summer holidays are a time to forget everything and do something altogether different.

Wow! what a time in your life! The school day and week is fully organized and structured and then there are 6 weeks of chaos. Nothing. Actually the weekend can be a bit like that too.We have been back at school for 3 weeks now. And what a refreshing way to take stock and a new look at everything.For example our weekly review takes on a new perspective. Also new importance as commitments and structure take hold again. New projects are appearing everyday! Class trips to London, plays, music lessons and choir and then of course The Circus! The twins joined the Circus last year…

In growing up we acquire responsibilities and independence. Charlotte is taking on a review all by herself. Organizing her week, homework and practicing her violin. With some help new steps can be taken to independence.That is why we need time to play! Next summer I will jump off the wagon and roll in the grass. I remember now how much fun it is to play and just forget about things for a while.Where are you making time for fun?

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