By far, one of the most popular implementations of GTD on a Mac, is with OmniFocus. It does an elegant job of GTD project and action management on the Mac and iPhone. There’s a great write up from the “Mac Samurai”about his journey with GTD & OmniFocus. We thought you might find this useful.
(Yes, we know many of you like “Things” by Cultured Code too!)
A Community Contribution by Erik Hanberg
January’s Wired magazine carried an article by freelancer Chris Hardwick testing out different systems for helping him structure his work and life better.
He sums up:
Now, I know that David Allen is the head vampire of productivity, but if you only have the fortitude to read a single book, I’m gonna throw my lithe frame behind The 4-Hour Workweek. Ferriss lays out a series of nimble yet perfectly legal cons to help you break out of the corporate Bastille — and work from the actual Bastille, if you want. That sly creativity best fits the rogue nature of the freelancer.
David Allen is head vampire? I’ll have to check for fang marks from my book to see if he got me.
As it happens, I am also a freelancer and I have read Timothy Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek. So I feel like I can respond to Hardwick appropriately. He is right about some things–like the idea that the books can supplement each other–but I think his recommendation is way off target.
For those who haven’t read it, The 4-Hour Workweek is essentially based upon two big ideas:
Idea One covers strategies for separating your work from a physical location–the office–so that you can work from home, work from Europe, or wherever it is you want to be.
Idea Two argues that for very little capital, a single person can get an Internet business going that will provide them enough money to live on with a barest minimum of work (hence the title of the book).
I believe his ideas are sound. In fact, I’m testing out an Internet business right now with Google ads to see if I can start a side business for some extra income.
But what Hardwick misses about the GTD system is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re a corporate CEO working 80 hours a week or whether you’re living off the wealth of your Internet business and only work 80 hours every year. You still have to get things done. You still have to pay taxes and bills, enrich your relationships with family and friends, plan your vacation, and maybe–as in the case of Ferriss–learn to tango (Ferriss holds a world record in tango).
For me, GTD has helped me get out from under the feeling of always being behind, helped me stop thinking about work when I shouldn’t, and introduced a system that means I can remember to buy batteries at the store when I’m actually at the store.
Only with that in place could I really seriously consider the suggestions of Ferriss. Now, one of my projects is creating the website for my Internet business. If things are successful, I’ll add new projects like setting up marketing and shipping.
But I just can’t see tackling those things successfully without having Getting Things Done under my belt.
Venkatesh Rao is a quintessential GTD’er. Seven years in the trenches and he’s probably forgotten more about GTD than most people every learn. He’s also one of those individuals gifted with the intellect and the energy to manage a level of productivity that few people even aspire to, let alone achieve.
In a mammoth post Venkat relays how a day that starts off terribly and only manages to get worse is made not merely manageable, but actually successful by virtue of his GTD habits. What’s more he manages to gracefully articulate exactly why GTD proved invaluable in the trying circumstances he describes and even more surprisingly he seamlessly weaves in an insightful review of David’s new book, Making It All Work
Although only an overachiever like Venkatesh would consider an epic like the one he’s penned a mere blog post, it is absolutely worth the ten or fifteen minutes it will take you to read and digest his post. Not only is it time well spent because of the information it contains and the inspiration it will provide but also for the powerful examples he delivers in what was a very personal blow by blow of a day that he artfully shows us was saved by David Allen and a pair of swim trunks.
Editor’s Note: Venkatesh has previously contributed to GTDtimes. You can find his other post here.
A Community Contribution by Erik Hanberg. Please note, this is Erik’s personal opinion. Things is not affiliated with or endorsed by David Allen Company. But we’re happy to pass along an objective review from a community member!
Too Much to Do
In April of this year, I left my full time job to “go freelance.” My schedule has been all over the place as a result. Between writing and doing web development for my fiancé’s graphic design firm, managing my coworking office space in downtown Tacoma, operating my small theater production company, presiding over my condo association, trying to get a novel published, and last – but most certainly not least – getting married at the end of the year; you could say I’m a pretty busy guy. While no single one of these activities takes up a full work week, the number and variety of things I needed to do made me feel like I was dropping the ball on all of them.
