David Allen will be leading a “GTD Success Strategies” Webinar for our GTD Connect members next Friday, August 27th @ 10am PDT.  He’ll share the keys for what makes GTD stick, including:

• The habits and rituals to create
• What to do when you fall “off” GTD
• Creating a trusted home base for yourself
• Creating a supportive environment around you

We’re giving away 5 seats to attend this Webinar to the first 5 people who reply with a comment (directly on GTD Times–not other feed sites) letting us know one thing you’ve implemented with GTD that has worked well for you.

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Countless questions have been e-mailed to me asking for the best ways and tools to organize project thinking, or how to relate project pieces to each other and to all the other projects and their pieces.   Ninety-nine percent of the time, my answer is: “Do the Weekly Review. If you do, it all works. If you don’t, nothing will work. – David Allen

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Q: I write down everything but I always seem to end up having problems controlling all the pieces of paper and lists; what are your suggestions?

Coach Janet Riley: Writing everything down is a great first step.  All those “notes” where you’ve captured and collected what’s in your head, need to be put into an “IN” box and then within a day or two they need to be “processed” so that you make decisions about what the work is to be done (an email to send, a call to make, etc.).  Once you process them, put reminders of the work to be done in your Next Action lists or on your calendar.  If you travel, your “IN” box can be a folder, for example. On a regular basis, stop to gather up any notes, business cards, loose papers, etc. that you might have left in a pocket, briefcase, wallet, or which are still on a notepad (tear them off) and put all those in the “IN” box or tray to be processed.  You can read more about Collection and Processing best practices in David’s first book Getting Things Done and we have loads of Webinars and educational resources on GTD Connect about this.

Listen to David’s podcast on the Mind Sweep process for clearing your head. Check out the GTD System Folders or create your own.

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A Community Contribution from Carolyn J. Sullivan about her experience with the GTD Weekly Review. We would love to hear your experience with the Weekly Review in the comments.

I’ve been using GTD principles since I was first introduced to them in 1994-95. I was part of a consulting group at Polaroid responsible for supporting cross-functional new product development teams in the areas of effectiveness, organizational learning, and functional expertise. After some research, a colleague found the Time/Design system, and before long we had arranged for David Allen to come in and deliver what was then called the “MAP Seminar.” I don’t exaggerate when I say it changed my life, and I have applied the questions “What’s the desired outcome?” and “What’s the next action?” to every conceivable personal and professional issue since.

The thing that astounds me most about GTD is the fact that, 25 years later, I discover nuances and have epiphanies on a regular basis – this is truly an organic approach that grows with the user. My latest epiphany came a few weeks ago and concerns the dreaded Weekly Review. I thought: “If I feel stress in any given week, it’s because I’m trying to think about several ‘big pictures’ while simultaneously reigning in the chaos that threatens to run away with my sanity!” [Read more →]

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Question: When/where do I evaluate what to do?

Coach Danny Bader: I am evaluating my options for “doing” anytime I have doing time. The first place I look is my calendar to see what specific things I have committed to doing on the day.  The next place I review is my action lists depending on context  — calls, home, computer, etc.  I will also evaluate the volume of new inputs that are in my collection buckets — email, legal pads, etc – to determine if Processing & Organizing is where I need to focus.

During my Weekly Review I do a thorough evaluation of my entire GTD system to ensure that it is clean, current and complete.

This daily engagement with my calendar and action lists — as well as the “deeper” evaluation of my system during the Weekly Review allows me trust that what I am doing is what I should be doing.

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One of the most common questions we hear from GTDers is which list manager they should use.  You’ve heard from us on this in loads of webinars, podcasts, articles and blog posts. We thought we would pass along a fellow GTDers comment to someone on our Forums, which we thought was great advice, especially for someone new to GTD:

Buy the new GTD Implementation Guide in PDF, and David’s first book. Read them carefully and use paper for a few weeks. You will become a far-better informed shopper for any digital solution for managing lists. -  rdgeorge

The GTD Implemenation Guide

David’s first book, Getting Things Done

Coach Kelly Forrister’s article on How to Choose a GTD System

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Clear your head with the man himself…

This is an excerpt from a Webinar David did for GTD Connect, our online learning center.

Listen now (20 min)

We have hundreds of audio and video selections like this on GTD Connect, with more added every week.  Hook into the most active Getting Things Done community in the world.  Check out a free guest pass (no credit card required and we won’t nag you when you’re done!)

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In response to our recent Productive Living newsletter, a GTDer wrote to David Allen and said:

Please provide a less complex version of the basic GTD chart/system for me and the hundreds of thousands of organizationally challenged managers just like me who have tried and failed to maintain the GTD system. Simpler is better.

David responded:

I empathize with desire for the “GTD for Dummies” approach.  I suggest just not letting the visual chart get in your way… it’s as simple as:

Write it down
Decide what’s next about it
Park that somewhere you’ll trust you’ll look at as a reminder
Keep your head empty and your list(s) current

Hope that helps.

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