This is a Community Contribution from Mike Vardy

Some people need silence to be productive. Some people need music. Some people need an extreme amount of light. Some people don’t need anything specific. Some people don’t need anything at all.

To anyone who falls into one “some” category, they are not likely to fall into another. There’s a subjective nature to working environments. The same goes for distractions.

[Read more →]

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Defining your work isn’t always easy when you’re caught in its tentacles, as cartoonist Rob Cottingham illustrates.

Reposted here with Rob’s permission.

Thanks Rob!

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A little Twitter humor for your holiday weekend!

Reposted here with permission from the talented cartoonist Rob Cottingham. Thanks Rob!

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Rob Cottingham, a very clever cartoonist, came up with his idea for a sequel to Getting Things Done.

Enjoy your weekend GTDers!

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We’ve all been there!

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Community Contribution from Mike Vardy

I’m about to state the obvious.

We’re all human.

Ergo, we make mistakes. Like creating words like “ergo.”

Beyond “The Royal We,” we’re individuals. I’m sure you didn’t create the word “ergo” but I am pretty certain you’ve made other mistakes. I know I’ve made my share. For example, starting off this article as I have. That’d be one.

Another I make is getting off track rather than Getting Things Done. Hey, it happens to the best of us, right? [Read more →]

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A Community Contribution from Mike Vardy

As the first quarter of 2010 passes us by, I’m going to ask it: How many of you have stuck to your “resolutions” that you made at the start of 2010?

I’m betting that some of you – perhaps most of you – have faltered on them in some form or another.  It’s to be expected.  In fact, it can be preferred.

I’ve heard David Allen say you need to make a bunch of resolutions – essentially goals – and the real challenge is making some of them stick.  When I first heard this, I couldn’t believe it.  I mean – c’mon – surely we should have some focus on what we want to get out of ourselves and the year ahead.  Why not hone in on a few resolutions from the onset? [Read more →]

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Hello David,

I was in the middle of reading and applying your book when I came home  one day and found it like this.

Yep my dog ate it on a day when he was bored because I was so busy I didn’t get him out for a walk. Did I mention that I was in the middle of applying your recommendations?  Well, I am keeping the book because I can still read most of it and it  is a reminder that I must complete the process I started so I will not lose any more books.

Thanks, Joy

~~

Joy,

If your dog starts getting more bones buried, odors smelled, and books eaten, let me know. (Most people haven’t absorbed as much GTD as he obviously had!)

Thanks for sharing!

David

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This article is a community contribution by John Lewis.  Enjoy!

As a follower of GTD, I am fortunate to receive many things, including the Productive Living newsletter. This particular edition included some “food for thought” about decision making, which I found extremely nutritious!

Information and accuracy

It brought to mind two things that I have often thought, and perhaps there is a link between them.

Firstly, there is a feeling that if we gather enough information about something that the decision can often become obvious. We sometimes even say things like “the decision made itself”!

Secondly, if there is very little to separate two (or more) choices then we often have difficulty in accepting that the inaccuracy of our assessment of the benefit of any choice may be greater than the actual difference between them; as in the story of the donkey which starved because it was unable to decide between two equal sized piles of hay. In other words, either one will do; and next time it might be a good idea to pick the other one so that we learn more about both! [Read more →]

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“The short-term memory part of your mind–the part that tends to hold all of the incomplete, undecided, and unorganized “stuff”–functions much like RAM on a personal computer. Your conscious mind, like the computer screen, is a focusing tool, not a storage place. You can only think about 2 or 3 things at once.”

- David Allen (p.22 of Getting Things Done)

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