Quite recently I was looking for a perfect solution that would transform me into titan of productivity. After reading Getting Things Done by David Allen.
Even though I failed miserably trying to implement the GTD system into my life, there are still 3 things that I learned and that I found very useful.
1. INBOX
According to David Allen, every thing that you could handle in less than 2 minutes should be done right away. The rest should go into an “inbox”. The inbox could be a notepad, not taking software or a physical inbox – anything that enables us to gather incoming information and tasks. They are not handled right away, but processed and then grouped.
Benefit: having and inbox helps you to foucs on the most important strategic tasks and leave the minor ones that come your way to do later while still keeping track of them.
2. GROUPING TASKS ACCORDING TO CONTEXT
In the GTD system all taks are grouped accoring to context sucha as: errands, online, computer etc. This means that when you’re out and about you can have a list of all errands that you want to do without specifically creating it before hand. I you find yourself having more time than planned you can tick off more things off the list
3. PUTTING DOWN ALL YOUR IDEAS IN ONE CENTRAL SYSTEM
Well, this one is quite hard to implement, but it made me realize that it’s very good to havea central system where you can keep track of the various projects and tasks that are going on in your life, especially on a strategical level. In my case I found myself spread too thin betwen many projects, hopping happily from one another, sometimes not realizing that I have absolutely no space in my agenda to add anything. Having such a stragegic overview helps me to maintain focus.
In the end I found the GTD system quite hard to implement. Many of the solutions require much more effort that they’re worth. Nevertheless, Davi Allen makes some valid points and I think that everybody should read this book as he makes many great points in it. Grab your copy from Amazon: Geting Things Done (Amazon affiliate link)