For whatever paper filing you still have that hasn’t gone digital yet, here are tips from David Allen for setting up your paper filing system.

• Keep general reference files at arms’ reach.
• Have lots of fresh folders at hand.
• Avoid the unnecessary complication of color-coding your files.
• Label your files with an automatic labeler. This is faster for one-off labels than printing from your computer.
• Get comfortable filing even a single piece of paper that you might want to refer to later.

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People who are enjoying the benefits of getting started with GTD often ask how their organization can be persuaded to adopt the GTD methods.

“The microcosm of how people deal with their in-baskets, e-mail, and conversations with others will be reflected in the macro-reality of their culture and organization. If balls are dropped, if decisions about what to do are resisted on the front end, if not all the open loops are managed responsibly, that will be magnified in the group, and the culture will sustain a stressful fire-and-crisis siege mentality. If, in contrast, individuals are implementing the principles of Getting Things Done, the culture will expect and experience a new standard of high performance.”

—David Allen, Getting Things Done

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Many people have asked for a summary of the GTD best practices that we share in our Keys to Getting Things Done webinars. Here they are!

Collect
Pay attention to what is grabbing your attention
Empty your head

Process
Make decisions when things show up, not when they blow up

Organize
Sort your inventory into trusted buckets with “clean edges”

Review
Keep current and “ahead of the game”

Doing
Notice how you choose to spend your time (Threefold Nature of Work)
Make trusted choices

What stands out for you as your biggest improvement opportunity in any of those areas?

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What’s your level of GTD expertise? No matter what it is, these interactive and concise 90-minute webinars will deepen your mastery of the GTD best practices. David Allen Company offers these on an “a la carte” basis, giving you the flexibility and affordability to choose just the ones that work for you.

Keys to Getting Things Done®
This live Webinar will give a fast & fun overview on the keys for Getting Things Done, led by a Senior Coach. Learn about the best practices and tools for managing the five phases of your workflow: Collect, Process, Organize, Review & Do. Experience a “mind sweep” and walk through the decision making model for moving your input from “stuff” to clear outcomes and actions. Get tips for setting up a seamless system. A great overview if you’ve been wanting a better understanding of the “big picture” of managing your workflow with GTD.

February 16
March 15
April 19

GTD® & Outlook®
This live Webinar will give a detailed overview of the best practices for implementing GTD in Outlook. You’ll learn tips for setting up and managing Outlook Email, Calendar, Tasks, and Notes to support a seamless GTD system. See a demonstration of processing email (No, “inbox zero” isn’t an urban legend!) See examples of Task “contexts” and suggestions about how to structure your project and action lists.

Includes complimentary copy of our GTD & Outlook Setup Guide to assist you in your implementation of the recommended steps.

February 23
March 22
April 26

All webinars are held from 11am-12:30pm Pacific Time (California). Each webinar is $49. If you are planning on taking both, Keys to Getting Things Done is recommended before GTD & Outlook to build the foundation of best practices before the practical application.

Questions? Contact us at webinars@davidco.com.

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Q: Any tips for those of us who get paralyzed by perfection?

David Allen: Just focus on doing the next action perfectly, which is a lot easier than trying to be perfect about how you approach something bigger. Be as retentive as you want. The only problem is when it stops action. Be a perfectionist about the process, which will require, of course, making decisions on the front end that might not be perfect. Think about what might go wrong if you avoid decisions and action! (If you need a negative motivator.)

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A great way to kick off the New Year is with a review of GTD’s five phases of Mastering Workflow:

Collect

Process

Organize

Review

Do

For each area, ask yourself:

What’s working well for me in this area now?

What would I like to improve upon in the coming year in each of these areas?

How I could support myself more in that?

Acknowledge yourself for how far you’ve come. Be realistic in your commitments about where you want to be.  GTD is a journey…

Happy New Year!

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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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Have you wanted to get your kids or teens to use GTD tools? Then this webinar is for you. Join David Allen Company CEO and GTD expert Mike Williams and Senior Coach Meg Edwards as they discuss some fun and engaging ways to share GTD with kids and teens.  The live webinar is on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST. 

This webinar is free for GTD Connect members.  You can sign up for a free trial membership, and when you log in, you’ll find the webinar information on the home page of GTD Connect.  You’ll also see an extensive list of previous webinars you can access in the archives. (Partial listing shown here.)

The free trial membership is easy to begin—just first name and email address—with no cost or commitment.

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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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