In this blog I am providing a short description of GTD or Getting Things Done. See at the end for references and links.
GTD started to be popular when David Allen wrote his book with the same title. The concept has been there since the 1970s. What was different was that David Allen had the timing factor with him. Not at the publishing date, but later when he promoted the book online. Nevertheless, GTD has become a very important subject on the internet and there are several very good resources available.
GTD in short
The purpose is to get control over your life both professionally and private. To be honest you cannot detach those two anyway. David introduces several simple techniques for getting organized.
Here is a quick insight to these:
- Start by doing a brain dump to clean up the mind.
- Organize and prioritize. He provides several techniques for this.
- Start working with your lists of prioritization.
- Have a way of not “saving” things in your head. Jot everything down and file it immediately.
There are three major concepts.
- If you can handle something within 2 min. do it, don’t save it for later
- File everything in their proper place directly.
- Have weekly reviews.
Here is an image of the workflow from Komarketing Associates.
Once you have started to incorporate GTD, you will find room for other things in your life. What you do with the time is up to you. David gives some examples of what this “extra” time can give you.
More time with the family. You will be more concentration when you are doing something, you mind doesn’t have to constantly work for “not forgetting” all the things that you should/would/have to do.
All in all, I like GTD and have used in since many years back. However, once the GTD is in your blood and you have found a good way of keeping your life organized, you will look for other things. If you are in for this, for increasing your capacity, creativity, effectiveness and being great at what you do, you will need something else. GTD is the first step.
What you need is other techniques to set your mind in a state of resourcefulness. Exercise you mind not to get stale and keep you in the same tracks. You will also need a reward system to chrysalis your success to something recognizable. It is very important to know when you reach a goal, recognize success!
More on these in the coming blogs, please provide feedback!!
THE RESOURCES AND LINKS
David Allen’s website davidco.com
links to purchasing the book, http://amzn.to/e1yxtg
[…] Recently I have started to work with something I call GMD (Getting More Done). See earlier blogs on GTD and setting the right […]