“Getting Things Done” Book Review
About a year ago I read an article titled, “How to Get Your Email Inbox to Zero Every Day” over at Matt Perman’s blog. The result of reading this single blog post was a massive overhaul not only in how I handled e-mail but in the total picture of my work flow. Perman’s article consistently referenced a system of productivity called GTD (Getting Things Done), which is where he got most of his productivity principles from.
As I began to research the topic of productivity and to sharpen my system I kept running across the name David Allen and the book Getting Things Done, so I asked my wife to get it for me for Christmas and read it over Christmas break. Having finished reading Getting Things Done I now understand what all of the excitement is about!
Allen’s basic point is that everyone, from businessmen to housewives, needs some kind of a trusted system that they use in order to capture ideas, turn them into tasks and keep them organized so that they don’t feel like their work life is out of control. Prior to reading Getting Things Done I would routinely look over my pile of things to do and feel a sense of anxiety. What I didn’t realize was that the anxiety wasn’t the result of the work, but of my perception of the work. It all just looked like one massive pile (which it was), rather than an organized set of tasks that could be prioritized and accomplished one by one. The result of reading Getting Things Done has been a tremendous sense of freedom and control over my work life. I now look at my inbox with a sense of excitement and anticipation, rather than dread over what’s lurking in the pile that I’d forgotten about.
Here’s the basic formula that I’ve developed using the tools from Getting Things Done:
1) Anything that I need to do or want to think about ends up in one of three inboxes. I have a physical inbox in my office, my e-mail inbox, and my evernote inbox (I also have voice mail, but I don’t really get a lot of messages that way). What these inboxes do is serve as hoppers for me to store information, or tasks until I can get around to dealing with them.
2) Each day I process my inboxes by dealing with each item and deciding what to do with it. If something is in my inbox there are only two things that it can be there for. It’s either for reference or for me to do something with. If it’s for reference I can look it over and decide whether to throw it away or to keep it for later reference. If it needs an action associated with it I will either do the action (if it takes less than 2 minutes), or put it on a list that I review every day and get to it when I can.
3) In conjunction with my calendar, each day I review my action list and my project list to see what needs to get done and I do it.
4) There are a few other steps like reminders for items that I want to get to later, weekly reviews, etc. but this is the basic system.
I know this sounds incredibly simplistic and that’s really the beauty of the whole system. Because I know that all of my work responsibilities have been captured in this system, I can approach each day with a clear mind and a sense of confidence that nothing has slipped through the cracks.
Getting Things Done won’t improve your spiritual life, help your relationship with your kids, or give you a better marriage (that’s what the Bible is for), but it is an excellent tool for clearing your mind from all of the clutter of day to day life and helping you to focus more intently on the things in life that really do matter. I highly recommend it.
March 08 2010 05:00 am | Blog
Getting Things Done Quick Review and Summary : What’s Best Next on 08 Mar 2010 at 7:50 am #
[...] Buell has posted a good, brief review of Getting Things Done, which summarizes the system into four very good [...]
Matt Tonne on 08 Mar 2010 at 9:48 am #
funny, i have been meaning to read that book for some time now, but haven’t managed to get it done.
thanks for consolidating his ideas.
Lisa notes... on 08 Mar 2010 at 8:22 pm #
I am currently reading this book right now (almost finished) and am LOVING it. I’ve already revamped my e-mail folders, and have cleared out lots of file folders in my home office as well. My mind is already beginning to de-fog, and I feel I’ve only just begun using this process. I will definitely be recommending this book, too. Nice summary you have here.
Meleah on 09 Mar 2010 at 11:47 am #
I’ve been following David Allen since 2002-2003 (it was early on enough that I even got to go to a 2-day workshop he led). I highly recommend reading “Making it All Work” as well, gives great perspective on the horizons of focus above the runway. Glad you’re finding his principles beneficial. I love hearing how many ministry leaders are finding improvements to their ministry work by following these principles!
Drew on 09 Mar 2010 at 12:58 pm #
Thanks Meleah, I’ll be sure to check out “Making it All Work”.
Shepherd’s Notes » How I Use Evernote on 03 May 2010 at 4:05 am #
[...] Things Done. A few weeks ago I wrote a review on the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. Evernote is one the key tools I use for that [...]