I want to share this wonderful email I received from Gerald today.  Not only because he shares about GTD Connect (which of course we think is terrific!)–but he shares a common experience I think some people have in trying to implement GTD.  Some people try GTD, put it (kick it) aside, then come back to give it another go and it just pops for them.  If that’s you, give it another go. You may find you have fresh eyes and a deeper understanding to make it work for you.  And if it’s not for you, that’s OK too (although I doubt you’re even reading GTD Times if that’s the case.)

I want  you know that since I have returned to GTD (over 2 months now), I have joined GTD Connect and listened to 38 podcasts out of the 145 from Connect [Read more →]

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One of the most common questions we get is how to get started with GTD.   New people, especially, will ask this after coming to us dazed and confused by what GTD is really about.   And, lots of people seem to be hoping a piece of software will teach them GTD.  Sorry, but that’s kind of like buying a car and then learning how to drive.  You’ll make your way down the road, but it won’t be pretty.

As a GTD Coach, and also intimately involved in the education and offerings from David Allen, I would suggest one of the following products:

The GTD System – This is, in my opinion, one of the best educational products we offer.  You get a ton of resources to learn GTD at your own pace.  You get the GTD book, coaching CDs with David Allen, GTD Connect and more. Good stuff. [Read more →]

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A GTD’er wrote to us to ask what resources we have for helping her manage email. She wrote that email is “vying for top ten on my list of overwhelming.”  Here’s what one of our coaches shared:

There are a few excellent resources from the David Allen Company for applying the GTD methods to your email:

1. The GTD Setup Guides, specific to your tool, will cover the best practices of email.
2. There is a terrific free article called “Getting Email Under Control” that covers this issue as well.
3. Our GTD Connect online learning center also runs regular Webinar classes on topics such as email. There is a Webinar in the Archive Library called “Managing Email” that you should find useful. GTD Connect is $48 per month (cancel anytime) or $480 per year (one-year commitment.)
4. Our public GTD Mastering Workflow classes cover email best practices.  These one-day classes are a great way to learn all of the GTD essentials, including email.
5. There are loads of posts on GTD Times on the topic of email. Search on the keyword “email” or follow the tag.

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Do YOU know the best practices of GTD?

Although they’ve been recorded for our GTD Connect online learning center, we have been posting the GTD Best Practices series to our free public podcast as well, for all to benefit from.  These informal podcasts are a great way to learn the essentials of GTD.  Here are the first 4 in the series.

Best Practices of Collect

Best Practices of Processing

Best Practices of Organize

Best Practices of Review

The final phase, the “Best Practices of Doing,” will be recorded in early March.  It will be released for GTD Connect members first, then put into the public podcast feed some time after that.  If you like these podcasts, GTD Connect has over 110 recordings like these, with more added every week, that you can play on the Connect site or  sync to iTunes.  It’s a great way to learn coaching tips from David and the staff, listen to interesting interviews with GTD’ers (Evan Taubenfeld being one of the recent ones), watch the “Slice of GTD Life” videos and more.  Good stuff.  Check out the free trial of GTD Connect.

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Here’s a great Q&A between David and a new GTD’er.  To appreciate David’s response, it helps to understand the GTD definitions for projects and next actions:

Projects = Your outcomes that require more than one action step.

Next Actions = Your next physical, visible action steps. Some are project-related, some are not.

Question:

If a project requires, by your definition, at least two steps, I am not clear about how many of the needed steps to put into my action list.  For example, say I have a project with 20 steps.  I may be able to do the step 1, but if I had also put down 2  or 3 steps of that project, I might have done more on the project.   Presently I have about 57 projects, but some are monster projects I’ll be working on for months.  Others I can list two steps and it’s done very quickly.  A few projects are so trivial–but important enough to be listed–that some days I don’t do the one item I listed as the next step for that project.  I could put it into the “Someday” list, but I know I’ll do it sooner than that, so it stays around not being done.  I’d rather do step 2 and then 3 and then 4 of a more important project (I might be on a roll!) than complete one whole project that is easier to do but less important.  So I’m a bit unclear about how much of one project to put in my action list.  I find myself doing the “Weekly Review” every day, so I can add more steps from more important projects.  Could you share any thoughts about how to solve this concern?    [Read more →]

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One of the features of our GTD Connect program is “Ask the Coaches,” which gives members a chance submit email questions to our Coaches on anything challenging to them in learning or implementing GTD.  Here’s an example of one that came in from a member about how to deal with voluminous and relevant reading input. We get this question so often that we wanted to share it with the whole GTD community.

Dear Coaches at GTD Connect,

I am struggling with how to incorporate the GTD methodology into a specific, but important, part of my job.

Surely I am not the first GTD Connect member with this challenge.  I am a Portfolio Manager and Investment Analyst for a wealth and investment management firm.  Daily, I receive about 100 emails containing research reports from various Wall Street and independent research firms.  In addition, there are a few investment-related research websites that I should check on a daily basis to read what reports and analyses have recently been published by those firms. [Read more →]

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For those of you looking for the best ways to implement GTD with Lotus Notes®, join the next Webinar class on GTD Connect, our subscription-based online learning center.  It will be held February 4th at 12pm Pacific Time.  If you can’t make the live event, the replay will be posted to the GTD Connect Media Library (screenshot shows all of the replays currently available.)

GTD Connect is a great way to get practical & tactical coaching advice on implementing GTD.   Webinars are held about twice a month on a wide range of topics for GTD’ers.  If you’re not a GTD Connect member, check out the free trial (which will also allow you to take a Webinar class during your trial membership.)  If you decide to join beyond your trial, it’s only $48 a month and you can cancel anytime.  The free trial is a great way to see if GTD Connect is for you.  Trial members can access to the full site except for podcasts and downloads.

I’m a retired teacher who now has a tiny gem or a business called ‘Life in the Flow Lane.’  I read Getting Things Done a couple of years ago and implemented some things.  I am a GTD Connect newbie.  The Webinars are simply invaluable.  You have given me a much greater understanding of the whole GTD process.  For example, I really get that I need to have a list that attracts rather than repels me!  It seems obvious, but you show how to make that happen.  All the resources on Connect work well together.  I think the mix you have put together is simply outstanding. – Sharry Teague

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David Allen was recently interviewed by Scientific American on goal setting.  Do goals really work? Have most people already broken what they set just 3 weeks ago? LISTEN NOW (4 min)

Like this podcast? Subscribe to our free podcast series.  We also do frequent podcasts with David and the Coaches on GTD Connect®, our online learning center (over 108 podcasts available to Connect members more added all the time…)

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