Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity by David Allen (Nicole Schlinger Book Review
Getting Things Done is not just a book, it’s a life changing revelation.
Have you ever wondered why your “to do” list is a waste of your time and energy? Why can’t I get the important stuff done?
Well, David Allen will let you in on a little secret. The problem is not that you are “too busy” … it’s that your mind is too full of clutter.
You need to get everything out of your head and into a reliable, sortable system of storage. That frees up your mind to do what it does best, thinking!
The other problem folks have is how they classify their loose ends. For instance, they group a whole series of tasks together as one thing. Let’s say “Plan Mom’s Birthday Party.” Even if you are great at keeping a “to do” list, the fact is, planning Mom’s party is really long series of tasks. So you stare at this one line, knowing there are so many things to do, and as a result, you do nothing.
Ever heard the old saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
Planning Mom’s birthday is a project, not a task. Start with the project, make a line item for each task.
That’s the life changing magic right there.
That’s why I’ve given this book to more people than any other.
I always encourage people not to take David Allen so literally. If you don’t like using a label maker for your file folders, you don’t have to.
I’ll let you in on a little secret — I don’t follow GTD strictly by the book. You don’t have to either. You just need a way to universally capture every open loop.
But if you want to run around being busy the rest of your life, without getting the important stuff done … go right ahead.
EXTRAS … Here’s the GTD workflow diagram.
And buy the book here … https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity-ebook/dp/B00KWG9M2E/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
A great blog post on lifehacker from Nicole Dieker, 10+ year GTD enthusiast … https://lifehacker.com/getting-things-done-ten-years-in-1795707084
And last but not least … https://gettingthingsdone.com/
