The idea is that as anything comes at you, you decide if there is an action for you to do based on that item and you record the action in the system based on when/where you can do it. This can and will require a bit of time to initially get everything in there.

Once everything is in there, you have a list of actions that you can take to progress everything in your life that you have agreed (either to yourself or to others) to do. When it comes time to do some work, you can look at all of your actions and make an intuitive decision about which of the next actions is best to work on. As a writer, you need to write to make money. Often you will look at your lists, determine that there is nothing urgent to do that day, and then decide that the rest of the day will be spent writing. Having a list of all the actions you need to do gives you freedom to determine that everything else can be done later and leaves your mind free to be creative in your writing.

Issues for me are still mostly of the variety of saying no (especially to myself! there’s only so many directions a person can go in) and of avoiding things I know I should do. I find the hardest thing is getting out of my comfort zone.

Peter, I’d be a little careful of the “work out every day” method. It depends on what you’re doing, but generally it’s a good idea to have at least one day of rest so the body can recover. Personally, I’ve found Ross Enamait’s methods and keepting an exercise journal for myself have been helpful.

I do think having software may help with GTD. I’ve been using ThinkingRock (which is free and just had a new version come out) combined with a PDA (mostly for setting alarms). This way you can easily enter and sort your tasks without getting bogged down in re-writing tons of things.

I also agree that it can always be a danger from any productivity system that you spend too much time on organizing instead of doing, but you just have to try to be aware of your own mental state and when you’re procrastinating.

I am self employed; I cut down and prune trees. As a business owner this involves 20% knowledge work, the remainder is actually just doing things. GTD has been a godsend for me; really it has changed my life.

Many of the individual TODOS on my projects are greatly separated by both time and space. With a traditional TODO list I was always making more trips than I needed to, and as a result using my valuable motivated time just driving around.

Now, using David Allen’s system, when I’m at the video store or the pharmacy I also walk over to the hardware store buy not only the washers that I need for the garden hose, but also paint brushes to paint the gas meter that I’ve been wanting to do for ever, also a gallon of oil, a cheap tool kit containing a half inch socket and a new role of nylon string for the shop.

This prevents the hit or miss guessing at the store that leads to unwanted purchases and not having the things that I need to get things done.

I guess for me the biggest change is now having the right tools, information or physical, on hand, and being able to find them, to complete my projects. Before my TODO lists were all about getting my stuff together, now they are about getting things done.

But to return to my original premise of GTD working for a certain type of person regardless of circumstances; I would be unable to focus because of a certain sense of dread that I was not doing something that I should be doing. Then, once it was well and truly past due I would become frightened of the reactions of those people involved in the project; and so get even deeper into the procrastination loop.

GTD has completely eliminated this sense of dread, and as a result cured my procrastination habit. I can’t believe the difference.

Those are just 2 specific areas in which the system has improved my life, there are many more.

I’ve recommended the system to a few people, but in reading the posts here I wonder of its usefulness to them. To those who have read the book but do not practice the system, was it worth reading?

1) Never keep things in your head. I carry a notebook everywhere. Inspiration or a to do strikes me – it gets recorded.
2) Whatever gets recorded gets processed and sorted into a ‘next action’ or ‘someday’ category at a convenient time.
3) 2 minutes or less – do it now and get it over with.
4) Refer back to the ‘someday’ category at regular intervals. There’s often useful stuff in there would have long been forgotten.
5) Never keep anything in my “Inbox”. I am a religious practitioner of ‘zero inbox’ rule. Email either gets
(a) A response because it’s something that I need to take action
(b) Filed away because it’s information I may need later
(c) Deleted because it’s not (a) or (b)

This is how I appear in control, on top of things, and organized (even if I’m a giant ball of stress on the inside).

Absolutely. The whole problem with the GTD “system”, is that the last thing a person who has trouble concentrating and following through on things needs, is another system and more tasks to keep track of.
A huge percentage of the time, the GTD system takes longer and creates more work than just doing the task and being done with it.
There is someone at work who I think follows this system and he’s impossible to work with. Even small tasks take him hours because he only works on a single thing at a time and has to keep lists about what he has to do and wastes tons of time reorganizing the lists.

If I were working a 9-5 job (none of this 8-5 nonsense – that’s an American thing), my time wouldn’t be my own to structure how I want.

I’ve worked for myself for two years and I’ve found GTD to be extremely helpful in raising my productivity. I might occasionally write daily lists but that’s taken directly from my next actions list and just reflects the priorities for the day.

I would say this is probably the key to doing most things….at most times

Consequently, systems like GTD, and even old-fashioned methods like blocking out time, seem to overthink things. I’ve made lists, schedules, and so forth many, many times, but have always found them nearly impossible to even implement, yet alone live by. It’s been far more effective for me to implement a policy of simply doing things, stupid as it may sound.

Instead of wasting time chalking out a schedule or refining my to-do list, I just DO it. I do keep a task list at work, but it’s merely a general reminder. It is usually intentionally short and vague to avoid bogging me down via over-analysis of a task. Like most people, I think, I know what needs to be done – I just need to do it!

The same principle is effective in working out. I know I need to lift (upper and lower body) and do cardio. My schedule is simple: alternate daily. To make things even simpler, I work out 7 days a week. This way I don’t have to worry about scheduling days off. Also, I find it easier to work out every day than to get back into exercise after a day or two off. And so instead of messing with schedules or blocking out time, I simply adopt a mindset of getting out there and doing it!

The next action is literally that: the next physical action you need to take. Cross one off your list and immediately add the next action required to complete your goal to the list.

Traditional to-do lists are often times counter productive. They use vaguely worded goals that are often dozens of steps long and do nothing but discourage you from being productive by permanently sitting on your list, mocking you.

Productivity is hard to nurture when you’re your own boss, but it’s even more important. I agree that the key to getting things done at this stage is doing things, and I thank you for your well-written explanations.

I start out my week writing down everything I want to do. From there I put them in order of days when I want to work on them. I have that many things can throw off my schedule and that will always happen.

I do not let that frustrate me, I have just learned to live with it.

When you have days that it seems there is way to much to do. Just start plugging away and you end up getting more done than you think.

I believe the key is scheduling your work outs in your day. You will find by working out your stress level comes down and you have way more energy.

Doing this allowed me to put aside the tasks that I can’t possibly take care of at this very moment so that I can concentrate on the tasks that I can take care of right now.

The upshot is this: multitasking doesn’t exist. Studies show that people are much more productive when they set aside time to get things done — one thing at a time.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5784740380335567758

Like many busy people I’ve developed my own system over the years. When looking at tasks I mentally sort them into the classic urgent/important, not urgent/important, urgent/not important, not urgent/not important hierarchy, and tackle them in that order, often letting the “not important” tasks slide until they magically disappear.

I manage most of my work through Microsoft Outlook. When emails come in that require action on my part, I drag them to my task bar and assign them a deadline and a reminder. Appointments go on my calendar. As task reminders come up, I look at them and decide how long I can snooze them based on how urgent/important they are. Some tasks get snoozed weeks into the future or I set new deadlines for them; others get addressed right away.

I do tend to break down big tasks into manageable steps, following Anne Lamott’s advice to writers in her book “Bird by Bird.” The title was inspired by a homework assignment that her older brother had months to do but left til the last moment: was supposed to write a report on birds. On the night before it was due he was sitting at the kitchen table immobilized by the enormous task ahead of him. His father walked over to him and put his arm around his shoulder, saying “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” That’s good advice, and I find it helps me a lot. The “chunking” of big tasks into little ones gives me a sense of progress and momentum.

The other major key for me in getting things done is accountability. When my clients give me an assignment, I require them to give me a deadline. “Oh, whenever you get to it is fine” is the kiss of death, and I tell them so. If I didn’t have deadlines and people to be accountable to, I’d probably never get anything done at all; I’m a lazy and disorganized person at heart, but give me a deadline and suddenly I’m focused and productive. I’ve also learned that far-off deadlines have a way of slipping off my radar screen, so I work with my clients to set intermediate milestones with short-term deadlines that will keep me on target.

But the fact is that there are many, many jobs today that are not particularly new or different. Yes, blogging is new, but blogging is essentially writing (with research and everything else it involves), and writing is nothing new. I’ve also never heard of GTD working on the floor of a factory. Maybe in a factory’s back offices, but not on a plant floor.

I have practiced GTD consistently for more than four years now, and I find it incredibly helpful and very suited to my various knowledge-related needs. (It seems to be of no help when it comes to doing my laundry, for instance!) Personal finances are certainly included–bills are the ideal sort of thing to go in an inbox.

Many people see GTD as too complicated or strict. I actually see it as something that lets me relax and go with the flow. Saying, “I am going to set aside this block of time and do a certain thing then” is really artificial to me–and I’m likely not to be in the right frame of mind (or not have enough energy). That said, GTD still allows you plenty of room to do that sort of scheduling.

Every few months I think about my system and make any tweaks that I need to. But in general, it’s totally in the background. I spend my time actually doing things. And thanks to GTD, I spend almost no time at all worrying about what else I have to do that I might forget about.

Thanks for the guest post!

I think the main thing is finding a trigger that alerts me when i am procrastinating and not getting the things done that need to be done. I find that an alarm clock is the best method for me.

What happens is that if I get off track, I usually get so into whatever has gotten me offtrack that unless there is something physical to alert me, I just never get back to what needs to get done. By setting an alarm clock to go off every half hour, it ensures that I don’t waste the entire day and only a short period of time if I do get off track.

Probably won’t work for most, but it does for me.