“If it helps your business. If you can do business better, something there that is worthwhile and useful. I think a combination of underlying principles and practical applications.”
- David Allen, interviewed in Fast Company.

David Allen, Author of “Getting Things Done,” by Kevin Ohannessian in Fast Company

Has productivity changed as technology has evolved, from the utility of iPhones to the connectedness of Facebook? We continue our examination of the business book Getting Things Done with an interview of author David Allen.

Why do you think the book was so successful and resonated with the business world?

I think people were hungry for a model that was hip enough and current enough to deal with the kind of world everyone was in. Most of the other models that had to do with time management or personal organization or any of that all had good stuff, but most of it was way too structured for the speed and volume of change that people were dealing with.

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Someone new to GTD asked David Allen for advice on making GTD simpler to adopt.

David answered this way . . .

It’s hard to get it any simpler than this:

• Keep meaningful stuff out of your head
• Make action and outcome decisions about the stuff sooner than later
• Organize reminders of those items in easy to view places
• Review it all and keep it current

Any one of those elements without the others won’t really produce that much value.

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Frazzled mind? This recent issue of Scientific American affirms what GTDers already knew. Proactive steps such as planning and delegating are the best way to manage stress.

Fight the Frazzled Mind:

Proactive Steps Manage Stress

A new study suggests that preventive, proactive approaches are the most helpful—and that our stress management IQ is painfully low

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Have your GTD lists become listless? David Allen explains the three common causes when we find we’re less interested and involved with our lists.

• The list is out of date
• The list is incomplete
• The list is not really what the list is about

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

HAVE YOUR LISTS BECOME LISTLESS?

We’ve all had this happen. We create a set of lists of relevant items, appropriately categorized. We’re excited, we feel in control, our brains relax, and life is good.

Then, over time (and often not a very long time), the luster fades. We only look at the lists when our guilt overcomes our apathy; and we gird our loins, committing to some sort of review of them, just because we know we “should.” Then we begin to resist looking at the lists at all, even though we know it’s the answer to renegotiating our agreements with ourselves. Then we go numb to our system, or at least a part of it. The thrill is gone. We’re in productivity purgatory.

Subscribe to Productive Living. It’s free and sent about every 4 weeks. You’ll find essays from David Allen, thought-provoking quotes, and productivity tips you can use every day.

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David Allen Company has just released a new Setup Guide that includes great coaching advice for structuring a solid GTD system in Lotus Notes. Written by David Allen and his senior coaches, this guide explains how to:

• Set up Lotus Notes To Do’s for your projects and actions
• Use the calendar as a critical foundation for actions
• Get email to zero consistently
• Create useful reference lists
• Organize contacts
• Move faster with speed keys and shortcuts

Instructions in the Guide are primarily written based on Notes 8.5, with helpful references to differences in previous versions.

Read a free sample from the first few pages

Buy now from the DAC Store

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Arthur wrote in to David to share how he’s become a “powerhouse of productivity.” We thought others would get value from his letter too:

I have recently taken the terrifying step of transferring all of my CRM tasks, previously handled separately by Salesforce, in to my single GTD system. The results are… amazing! I had not appreciated (and probably still do not fully understand) the full power, scope and flexibility of your marvelous, simple, bottom-up, next action approach. I am now tracking, as of this morning, 105 projects and 595 next actions with an ease that I would once have considered impossible. Nothing slips through the net. I have become a powerhouse of productivity.

Do you have a GTD story to share? If so, we’d love to hear from you at editor@gtdtimes.com.

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Yes, you sure can.  GTD Times reader Angela wrote to share her format for tracking action items.

GTD has made a significant impact on my life, and I’m glad to share a specific technique that has worked for me.

I format my Action Items list in a spreadsheet. It’s really convenient to add items as they come in chronologically or during the processing of  ”in.” Then the items can be sorted according to context. This is easily done by just having three columns in the spreadsheet:

1) Context (errands, @computer,  etc.)
2) The item itself
3) Notes such as phone numbers, reference data, referral name, etc.

You can process “in” without wasting time inserting rows in order to put like items together. Just add more items at the bottom of the list. It is a simple procedure to sort the data by context, and BAM – action items are grouped according to context. 

[Read more →]

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Question: Do you review your lists/@folders everyday in the AM, decide what you are going to do, and then leave them or constantly flip through them?  I only ask because it’s 11 separate pages of lists (calls, computer, at home office, etc.)  Is the weekly review when you update with checking things off as you go during the week?

David Allen: You need to review everything on your list as often as you need to, to feel comfortable about whatever you’re doing, and that you’re not missing something that you should be doing instead. As you start doing regularly weekly reviews, it shouldn’t take but a quick glance to know what you’re not doing. I’ve met some people who look thru their digital lists and make a 3×5 card hand-written list of the hottest items, and work from that during the day! Do whatever you need to do, to get to confidence about your choices.

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Lots of interesting nuggets in this new interview recorded by Andrew Mason over at the 8BIT podcast.  David answers a wide range of questions, including if he personally procrastinates.  Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

“The ability to make a creative mess, I think, is the optimal state to be in terms of your productivity, creativity, and it’s just a cool place to be.”

-David Allen

Listen now (about 20 minutes)

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This post is from Maureen, a coaching client of the David Allen Company.  She describes her experience using both paper and computerized GTD systems.

I have been practicing GTD for about 8 years. I use the word practicing deliberately, because it takes time, effort and patience to improve my skills.  Early last year, I made the bold decision to go from a paper-based system to using tasks in a computerized system.  I had observed how much of my work was generated on the computer.  It seemed that I ended up never fully capturing the totality of my work in my paper system because of this. I thought switching to a computer-based system would be the perfect way for me to finally get on top of all my work, get clear on my projects and their outcomes, etc.

I was so very, very wrong.

I have spent the last year in agony, enslaved to an elegantly designed system, which had me sucked in at such a minute level that the whole thing revolted me. I almost never did a weekly review. Looking at my lists happened sporadically. I dreaded trying to locate something in the system. I was miserable.

Then about 2 months ago I chucked it. I went back to paper, and a sense of calmness has enveloped me ever since. Am I perfect in my weekly reviews? Hardly. But happier? You bet. Here is what I learned through all this: [Read more →]

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