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Getting Things Done
The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
In Getting Things Done (2001), David Allen introduces his famous system for stress-free productivity. With this system, you can face an overwhelming amount of things to do, but still be productive, creative and relaxed as you tackle them.
Why you should care: Learn to do more and stress less.
- Anyone who feels stressed or overworked
- Anyone who wants to be productive in their work and personal lives
- Anyone curious about the widely acclaimed Getting Things Done method
David Allen is an American writer, businessman and consultant. His coaching company trains executives in the Getting Things Done method. He has written many books and articles on self-management and productivity, and is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the world in these fields.
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Getting Things Done
The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
- Read in 22 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 14 key ideas
Synopsis
In Getting Things Done (2001), David Allen introduces his famous system for stress-free productivity. With this system, you can face an overwhelming amount of things to do, but still be productive, creative and relaxed as you tackle them.
Why you should care: Learn to do more and stress less.
Key idea 1 of 14
Your brain is great at thinking but terrible at remembering things.
These days, work can be hectic. A typical morning might look something like this: You’re in the middle of writing a document when an email comes in telling you to update your antivirus software. Then, just as you’re about to do this, your aunt Sheila calls to say you should RSVP to her wedding, and, as you hang up, your boss marches in demanding you start working on a new document.
Now, what were you doing again?
Knowledge workers in particular spend their days juggling dozens of tasks and projects at once, while being constantly bombarded by still more. To survive this onslaught, most people cram everything into their heads, trying to keep important information, appointments and upcoming tasks “on their mind.”
Unfortunately, this approach squanders the brain’s wonderful capacity to think by cluttering it up with a jumble of information.
What’s more, trying to remember everything eventually leads to an inability to concentrate fully on the work at hand, because your brain will still try to work out all the unsolved problems and undone tasks that you’ve stored in it.
These are open loops – they haven’t been brought to closure – and your brain will constantly remind you about them, whether you want it to or not. This is distracting; you can’t possible focus properly when thoughts like “Remember to pay this month’s electricity bill” keep interrupting your flow.
So what can you do to master the modern workplace’s web of tasks, meetings and information so that you can truly focus on what you’re doing?
This is where GTD comes in.
Through a specific and powerful five-stage workflow, you can get back in control of everything on your plate:
- Capture your thoughts. Instead of keeping all those ideas, to-dos, decisions and so forth in your head, you need to capture them in some external platform, whether on paper or digitally.
- Clarify what each item is and what you can do with it.
- Organize the outcomes into a structure of lists.
- Reflect on what is important to you and review the items in your system.
- Engage your tasks. Pick which action you wish to undertake at this time and do it.
It’s as simple as that. GTD enables you to feel a greater sense of control over your work, which produces a sense of relaxed control, better decisions and more flexibility when faced with changing circumstances. But before diving into the details of each step in the GTD process, let’s get your workspace and tools set up.
Key ideas in this title
- Your brain is great at thinking but terrible at remembering things.
- To fully implement the GTD system, you need the right workplace, tools and filing system.
- Capture all your tasks, ideas, reminders and more in trusted external collection tools.
- Clarify: empty all your external collection tools weekly.
- Organize: empty your collection tools and put things in the right place.
- Use a Projects list to keep track of your current projects and always insist on clear next actions.
- Natural planning clarifies the goals and next concrete steps of your projects.
- Instead of a daily to-do list, maintain a Calendar and Next Action lists.
- Waiting For lists can be very helpful when you work with other people.
- All ideas with potential future relevance should be put onto a Someday/Maybe list or a tickler file.
- Reflect: Constantly reviewing your system is indispensable to working productively.
- Engage: Choose what to do in each moment based on the current situation and your priorities.
- Understand your own priorities through a bottom-up examination.
- Final summary
