Here are the upcoming Webinars on GTD Connect, our online learning center:

• Project Planning, with Coaches Wayne Pepper & Kelly Forrister – April 8, 11am PDT.  The Coaches will go over common questions, like:  How do you plan out a project? Where do project plans go? How far out should you plan a project when you first get it? What project steps go on the action lists? and more.

• Q&A with the GTD Coaches – April 22, 11am PDT.  Two of our senior coaches will take your GTD questions. No question too big or small. Ask away!
• Coming in May – a 3-week Webinar series that will be like a “gentle GTD boot camp”

Watch now in the Archives: [Read more →]

No Comments »

Thanks to all who participated in the Guided GTD “Tweekly Review” I did this morning.  If you want a refresher, or missed it and want to follow along yourself, here’s the path.

Some of the other great resources for the GTD Weekly Review:

• The Book. It’s all in there. Really!
• GTD System Guides (which has the 11 steps on a laminated card)
• Weekly Review Set on CD or MP3
• Audio, Video, Articles and Webinars on GTD Connect
• Blog articles on GTD Times
• Free Podcast on the Best Practices of Review

Cheers!   Kelly

1 Comment »

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 →]

2 Comments »

The mistake I see many new GTD’ers make is expecting to find a tool to “do” GTD.  A tool doesn’t do the thinking for you, it stores the thinking for you.   So,  then does it even matter what tools you use when it comes to organizing your projects & actions?  Sure.  Here are some questions to ask yourself when choosing what your GTD system will be:

• Are there any tools already in place that you plan/need to still use? Like a corporate calendar?
• Where is your email?  Not required, but certainly helps to have your email and lists near each other.
• Who else needs to see your data?   Does it need to be on a shared server or would local be fine if you go digital?
• What do you tend to be drawn to–paper or digital?
• Is security a concern?
• How would you back it up, if needed?
• What are you willing to carry around?
• What tools are you already familiar with?
• Would you trust putting almost anything into it?
• Is it scale-able?
• Can you easily learn how to use it?
• What are you willing to pay for it?
• What does it need to sync to?

Is there a perfect GTD system out there? Sure, it’s the one you trust and use so your mind is free.

27 Comments »

I will be hosting another free GTD Twitter class this Thursday, October 15th at 9am Pacific Time.  Just 30 minutes of clearing your mind. Here’s the scoop:

What: It will be a working Twitter session. I’ll guide people through the GTD Mindsweep process through a series of Tweets.  Mindsweep is part of the Collect phase of GTD (read chapter 5 of the Getting Things Done book to get a quick overview of this process.)  It will be up to you to then process & organize it (chapters 6 & 7 of the book.)  When I’ve done these Guided Mindsweeps for GTD Connect members, many commented how great it was to have someone else jogging their brain on things they hadn’t thought of on their own. They did a much more thorough collection of the loose bits in their brain.

When: Thursday, October 15th – 9am PDT (Los Angeles time) Find your local time.

How: Follow @GTDSpecialEvent or just launch this web page during the event to follow the Tweets. Have a blank electronic document or pad & pen handy to do the exercise.

Who:  Anyone who wants a clear head. Truly.

If you’re like most people, you’ll move too fast and be engaged in too many things during the course of a week to get all your ideas and commitments outside your head. But it should become an ideal standard that keeps you motivated to consistently “clean house” of all the things about your work and life that have attention. – David Allen

4 Comments »

In my last post, I challenged you to look at how much you’re choosing to sit in your email inbox versus work from your lists.  That sure seemed to strike a nerve of truth with some of you.  So WHY can lists start to repel us? Here are a few reasons why and some ways to resolve that:

• You know your lists are not current so you dread having to clean up while you scan (Done a Weekly Review lately?)
• You know there are things on there that require more thinking (Ask yourself, “Do I have all of the information I need to do this?” If not, you don’t have the next action. Get more specific.)
• You have things on your lists that you don’t think are your job (Get clear on your Areas of Focus & Responsibilities–what’s your job and what’s not)

[Read more →]

9 Comments »

In case you hadn’t heard, I will be hosting a free, guided GTD “Tweekly Review” through Twitter tomorrow.

What: It will be a working Twitter session. I’ll guide people through the 11-steps of the GTD Weekly Review through a series of Tweets. You’ll want to be in front of your system (at least calendar, lists, email, inboxes etc.) to take action based on the Tweets.

When: Thursday, Aug 13, 9am – 10am PDT (Los Angeles time–find your local time)

How: Follow @GTDSpecialEvent or just launch this web page during the event to follow the Tweets.

Who: Probably good to have at some basic understanding of GTD workflow model and at least a basic structure of GTD setup for yourself already.

1 Comment »

I’m planning on offering another free, guided GTD “Tweekly Review” for you Twitter fans.  If you missed the last one, here’s how it will work:

On Thursday, August 13th from 9am-10am PDT (Los Angeles, California time), I will lead a one-hour GTD Weekly Review through Tweets sent from the @GTDSpecialEvent Twitter account.  Approximately every 5 minutes, I will send out a Tweet with one of the 11 steps of the GTD Weekly Review.  I will intersperse them with tips, tricks and helpful advice about that step. [Read more →]

6 Comments »

These guys, lurking at the back of the room aren’t playing video games, at least I hope not. They are two of the newest team members at The David Allen Company, John Ward and Chris McIntyre. Both seasoned presenters, they are here to audit Kelly class and sharpen their GTD presentation skills. We enjoyed a nice lunch together, I look forward to seeing them in action, soon.

Kelly just gave us a tour on how to setup Notes and Outlook as GTD implementation tools. Even though I think I know this stuff, I still learn new things and I got to share some tips of my own. Listening to some of the questions from the audience that inspired some ideas for features I can build into eProductivity for Lotus Notes to make getting things done with Lotus Notes easier. I’ve got those items on my agenda list to discuss with my team.

The seminar is going well, Kelly’s in peak form, people are learning and laughing at the stories she’s sharing from her work in the GTD trenches. (Example: Most full e-mail box? 87,000 emails. True story from Kelly.)

Well, time to get back to the seminar. I’ll try to post another highlight, soon.

Update: Chris is ahead by 45,000 points.

No Comments »

Kelly just gave an interesting illustration of thinking about projects from a…z.

Here’s how this works:
Z represents the successful outcome – what your project will look like when done.

A represents the next single physical action to take to move forward.

b…y represents any additional action steps (but not the next action) along the way.

Now, here’s the secret: Z (the project) goes on your project list. A (the next action) goes on the appropriate action list. Everything else (b…y) needs to be parked somewhere, but if they are not next actions they do not belong on your current working list. [Read more →]

5 Comments »