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Alvin · 11-04-2006, 07:03 AM

I read the GTD book after seeing so many rave reviews of it online, especially from 43 Folders and Matt's productivity blog (both excellent!).

I didn't completely get everything in the book but I tested it out and while the results weren't mindblowingly fantastic, it changed my life enough that I wouldn't go back to doing what I used to.

The best practices that I love doing from GTD:

1) Write everything, everything and everything down.

Or capture it in any way. I agree with David Allen 100% on this one, ideas and thoughts float around in mindspace with too much randomness to trust that they'll stay there perfectly, always and until the right time.

Good ideas usually come at the strangest places, I can be riding the train and go 'hey, I should read that book I saw online yesterday!' but forgotten a while later, unless I capture it down.

2) Process things immediately.

GTD has a 2 minute rule, if it can be down within 2 minutes, do it now, or process it immediately either as unactionable, in which case you store, or actionable, you schedule.

Using the above example, it's great to capture the 'read-the-book' idea, but troublesome if I'm reminded of it all the time. So I create a 'locations-read' category where I file it in so I'm only looking at that list where and when I can do something about it.

3) Only schedule in things you really, really want to do.

I can't help it. I'm an idea nut, I love generating ideas and I want to do everything. Pretty soon, my tasks lists became more bloated than a sinking ship and I got stressed just by looking at it.

That's when I realized the power of the GTD 'Someday/Maybe' list where I could throw everything I would have liked to do, but didn't really want to commit to do.

And filling up my tasks lists with stuff I really wanted to do didn't only make me less stressful, it also encouraged my ability to make real decisions on what to focus on, and get more things done.

GTD Primer: What To Do When You Know Nuts About GTD

A great resource for GTD newbies is Black Belt Productivity's GTD Primer.

11-04-2006, 07:03 AM	#5 (permalink)
Alvin Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 433	I read the GTD book after seeing so many rave reviews of it online, especially from 43 Folders and Matt's productivity blog (both excellent!). I didn't completely get everything in the book but I tested it out and while the results weren't mindblowingly fantastic, it changed my life enough that I wouldn't go back to doing what I used to. The best practices that I love doing from GTD: 1) Write everything, everything and everything down. Or capture it in any way. I agree with David Allen 100% on this one, ideas and thoughts float around in mindspace with too much randomness to trust that they'll stay there perfectly, always and until the right time. Good ideas usually come at the strangest places, I can be riding the train and go 'hey, I should read that book I saw online yesterday!' but forgotten a while later, unless I capture it down. 2) Process things immediately. GTD has a 2 minute rule, if it can be down within 2 minutes, do it now, or process it immediately either as unactionable, in which case you store, or actionable, you schedule. Using the above example, it's great to capture the 'read-the-book' idea, but troublesome if I'm reminded of it all the time. So I create a 'locations-read' category where I file it in so I'm only looking at that list where and when I can do something about it. 3) *Only schedule in things you really, really* want to do.** I can't help it. I'm an idea nut, I love generating ideas and I want to do everything. Pretty soon, my tasks lists became more bloated than a sinking ship and I got stressed just by looking at it. That's when I realized the power of the GTD 'Someday/Maybe' list where I could throw everything I would have liked to do, but didn't really want to commit to do. And filling up my tasks lists with stuff I really wanted to do didn't only make me less stressful, it also encouraged my ability to make real decisions on what to focus on, and get more things done. GTD Primer: What To Do When You Know Nuts About GTD A great resource for GTD newbies is Black Belt Productivity's GTD Primer.