David Allen's Blog, page 50
October 27, 2016
The 2017 GTD Organizer is here!
The 2017 GTD® Organizer is an elegant and functional editable PDF organizer, built on the GTD principles. Available in letter or junior size.
Format:
The GTD Organizer comes as an editable PDF that can be used in several effective ways:
1. As a PDF file that you type into and store electronically
2. As a PDF file that you type into and print for your paper organizer
3. As paper forms that you print and write on in your paper organizer
The GTD Organizer includes:
1. Notes/In
2. 2017 Calendar, in week-at-a-glance format (Mon, Tue, Wed on one page; Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun on the next page)
3. Next Actions Lists
4. Agendas Lists
5. Projects Lists
6. Project Support Pages
7. Someday/Maybe Lists
8. Focus & Direction Pages
9. Reference Pages
10. Contacts Pages
11. Extra Pages
The complete package includes:
1. GTD Organizer in an easy-to-use, editable letter size PDF, as one complete system and in segmented sections if you wish to customize which sections you use
2. GTD & Paper Organizers Setup Guide with extensive educational support about how to use your GTD Organizer
3. Instructions on how to edit the GTD Organizer PDFs, including options for printing on other paper sizes
October 26, 2016
October 24, 2016
Why GTD Matters to Your Organization
David Allen shares 3 keys to why GTD matters to your organization.
October 20, 2016
Episode #23 – GTD and The Organized Mind
Join David Allen for a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation with Daniel Levitin, author of The Organized Mind. Daniel is a professor of psychology, a cognitive scientist, a musician, an entrepreneur, and more. He brings recent cognitive research to bear on GTD, validating obectively what GTD users know subjectively — that getting things off your mind frees your mind for more creative and productive thinking. David and Daniel discuss why the brain pays attention to some things and ignores others, the limits of short-term memory versus long-term memory, and why the Mind Sweep is not just a good idea, but a critical part of dealing with our modern lives.
Listen Now
Subscribe or Download
October 12, 2016
October 10, 2016
GTD Community Story with Rosalie Gale
We discovered Rosalie Gale’s love for GTD on Facebook. We interviewed her so our community could hear her story. Enjoy!
1. How did you hear about GTD?
I used to be the queen of making to do lists. I would write them out over and over again and become very overwhelmed by everything I needed to accomplish. It seemed like I never actually made any progress on anything I wanted to do. For Christmas one year, my husband thought it would be funny to get me an audio book called Getting Things Done. (Get it? Because you never get anything done? Get it? He’s hilarious.) The joke was on him though because I listened to it. Then, I listened to it again. Over the years — I’ve listened to that audio book many, many times and it has honestly changed my life completely.
I went from someone who was just wishing and hoping to accomplish things — to someone who maybe learned how to be TOO productive (is that possible?). When I started GTD, I was working for someone else — and now I run three businesses of my own. My husband and I invented Shower Art – waterproof art you can hang in your shower. I also created and maintain a website called Unanimous Craft where people can find places to sell their handmade and small batch work. In our spare time, we opened a retail shop in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market called Ugly Baby and La Ru.
2. How has your GTD system evolved since you started and what tools do you use now?
When I first started, I used index cards and pens. I love office supplies, so being able to splurge on cool stuff to track my projects made me love GTD even more. I maintained it that way for about a year before I decided I was just repeating too much work and went for an electronic system. I’ve tried just about every electronic to do list and project management system out there — and have been very happy using Asana for the last two years. I use Asana to track all of my projects, due dates and recurring tasks. Then, every morning I make a pen & paper list of what I need to accomplish that particular day. Best of both worlds!
The main way that my GTD approach has evolved over the years is that – when I first started – I assigned everything a due date. It was a mistake because it didn’t give me any flexibility and I was often frustrated when I had to move a task over to the next day. Now, I just assign due dates to things that actually have a specific due date. Everything else I hope to accomplish is just assigned to be done anytime within the month.
3. What’s your favorite thing about GTD?
The part of GTD that really blew my mind was breaking projects into actionable tasks. When I was making my to do lists — I would put huge projects on the list and then never get to feel like I was accomplishing anything by checking something off. For example, I would put “Build website” on my list of things to do. Well, that’s going to take a long time and has many, many tasks required to make that website happen. When you break up those projects into smaller tasks it makes everything seem manageable and possible. Life is much less overwhelming that way.
4. What’s still challenging for you, if anything, around your GTD practice?
I’m still a big procrastinator. I’ll do anything as long as it’s not the thing I’m supposed to be doing. It still makes me super productive but there’s a level of stress that comes with procrastination that I would like to banish from my life for good.
September 28, 2016
Episode #22 – GTD and Balancing Family Life
How do you balance a daunting project list representing multiple roles and outcomes? David Allen chats with Meghan Wilker, a tech whiz, mother of two and GTD enthusiast. Listen as Meghan shares how she uses GTD in her work and family life.
Listen Now
Subscribe or Download
September 27, 2016
GTD Setup Guides
One of the best ways to implement Getting Things Done is to follow our expert advice in configuring one of the many tools we 
have found to work well for GTD. See a sample or buy a Guide now.
Here are the current GTD Setup Guides available to support you:
GTD & Outlook for Windows
GTD & Outlook for Mac
GTD & OneNote for Windows (just released!)
GTD & Evernote for Windows
GTD & Evernote for Mac
GTD & OmniFocus
GTD & Google Apps for Desktop
GTD & Google Apps for Android
GTD & iPhone
GTD & iPad
GTD & Paper Organizers
GTD & Lotus Notes
GTD & Wunderlist (coming soon!)
While the Guides are not a replacement for learning the GTD methodology through reading the book or taking a course, they will give you good, tactical advice for getting up and running in one of these popular tools.
GTD and Getting Things Done are registered trademarks of David Allen & Co. All other trademarks are held by their respective owners.
September 26, 2016
The treadmill of stress
Thanks to Suzanna Makkos for sharing her GTD story:
In 2009 I had a baby. Three months after she was born I got a pretty big promotion at work. No problem, right? I can do both. Wrong. My life completely exploded out of control. I was seeing a therapist weekly to try to manage my anxiety and feeling of loss of control. I would say, “I am running on a treadmill full speed and people are throwing balls at me and I’m only catching 10 percent.” He would nod and try to give me solutions but nothing was working.
When my daughter was four, I went to a spa for the weekend in the worst emotional state of my life. I randomly picked up a magazine and read an article about managing email by someone named David Allen. It made a lot of sense and I started to feel better. I bought the book and spent a vacation day going through the backlog and doing an install. The treadmill immediately slowed. First I was jogging, then walking, and then it stopped. I still make mistakes and drop balls but at a MUCH lower rate. I am so thankful to David and everyone at the David Allen Company!
September 20, 2016
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