GTD and Me

Has cancer taught you to slow down, to savor the moment, to spend more time "being" and less time "doing"?

If so, then I'd like to be more like you. But I'm just not wired that way.

I do worry far less about the future than I used to, but I live with a heightened sense of urgency. I have big plans, and I'm afraid that I'm going to run out of time.

As a result, I love January and the promise of a new year. I can't relate to people who resist resolutions. So what if I make the same (or similar) resolutions year after year? I don't care. I like to have goals. I like to make lists. I like to dream big.

For several years, I have been loosely operating with David Allen's Getting Things Done method of productivity. While I have a shelf full of time-management books, this one really changed the way that I do things.

You can find GTD all over the web. There's the David Allen Company's official site, and a concise description at The Executive Assistant's Toolbox with lots of links to GTD-stuff in the blogosphere. But if GTD intrigues you, I highly recommend reading the book to capture a complete understanding of the methods and benefits.



I draw from some other organizing methods, but this is the one that I rely on the most. The reasons that I like it so much? Here you go:

• I keep a list of projects, but it is imperative that I break those projects into action steps. This way, I am forced to identify exactly what it is that I need to do next. Do I need to make a phone call? Send an email? Do an errand? If I've blocked out time to work on a project then I don't want to spend that time dawdling around. I want to jump right into the zone.
  
• Instead of a to-do list, I have groups of next actions. I have a list of calls that I need to make, emails that I need to send, errands that I need to run, etc.
• These are some of the structural aspects, but the other aspect that really makes an impact is that just getting ALL OF THE NOISE out of my head allows me to actually get things done. Do you ever think about how much less stress you'd have if you weren't trying to keep everything together in your head? When I can relax and know that I'm not letting things fall through the cracks -- that's when I feel the most productive.

However, while I am completely sold on the GTD method, sometimes I drift terribly far away from it. It's only when I get back on it that I feel like I've corralled my interior life. A fundamental concept of the GTD method is the weekly review. which I almost never do. This is bad. It's like dieting without exercise. It doesn't quite get you there.




So goal #1 for 2008: Use GTD faithfully. I have a lot to do!