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23 Nov 12
I get a lot of email about Getting Things Done (GTD), mostly from people just starting out who have various questions about implementation, starting out, or sticking to the system. I thought I’d start a FAQ to help those with similar questions.
gtd productivity lifehacks faq tips self-improvement timemanagement management zenhabits procrastination self-employment freelance
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- Capturing anything and everything that has your attention
- Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps
- Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on
how and when you need to access them - Keeping current and “on your game” with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your
commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)
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etting up an easy reference filing system.
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Creating context lists for all of your actions, along with a project list, a Waiting For list and a Someday/Maybe list.
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Using a calendar or tickler file to remind you of future tasks or appointments.
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David Allen recommends you set aside a big chunk of your time for a day or two to clear everything off and get it set up.
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Just start with capture. All you need is a notebook and a pen, and start writing everything down, so you never forget stuff again, and you get it out of your head.
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context lists
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Clear out your inbox. The next step, if you’re ready, would be to process all your papers.
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If you’re feeling ambitious, take the next step and do the same with your email inbox.
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Filing
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a minimal setup would include a notebook, pen, inbox, filing drawer, folders and labels
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What is a tickler file or 43 folders, and do I need it?
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pick your tools, and go with them. Focus more on actually doing your tasks than what cool tools you’re going to use.
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you need to ask yourself, “What is the very next physical action necessary to move this project forward
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and a project is anything that takes more than 1 action
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It is this “next action” that you put on your to-do list
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Realize that you don’t need to do all of these next actions today or even over the next few days. It’s just good to know all of your commitments, instead of having them pop into your brain over and over at the wrong times.
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If this list cannot be accomplished this week, move the less urgent ones to your Someday/Maybe list and just leave the ones you intend to accomplish this week. Then, in your Weekly Review, move those tasks you can accomplish next week back up to the current context lists.
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Simplify — eliminate or delegate those tasks that aren’t really essential, or that no longer need to be done.
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Perhaps they aren’t really next actions. Often there are projects on our list that are disguised as actions. See if the task actually involves more than one step (for example, “Call Larry” might actually be, “Call Nina to get Larry’s number”), and then put the real next action on your list instead.
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every active project should have at least one next action on an active context list
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When you’ve completed a project’s next action, don’t just check it off. Be sure to write the project’s next “next action” on your list, so the project continues to move forward. If you forget, that’s OK — during your Weekly Review, one of the most important parts of the process is making sure that each project on your projects list has a next action listed on your context lists.
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If you start to notice that there are next actions on your context list that you cannot actually do right now, that is either because 1) your contexts need to be re-examined; 2) the task is not actually a next action but a dependent task or project; or 3) the next action belongs on your Someday/Maybe list.
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The key to sticking with GTD is the Weekly Review. Keep it short and simple, but be committed to it.
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Instead of doing the whole system at once, try a minimal version (see the top of this FAQ for more).
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30 Jun 07
Alberto FernandezI get a lot of email about Getting Things Done (GTD), mostly from people just starting out who have various questions about implementation, starting out, or sticking to the system. I thought I’d start a FAQ to help those with similar questions.
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25 Jun 07
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21 Jun 07
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17 Jun 07
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16 Jun 07
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15 Jun 07
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14 Jun 07
Gordon HerdGood article on gtd.
gtd self-help productivity personal_development reference organisation
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13 Jun 07
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GTD embodies an easy, step-by-step and highly efficient method for achieving this relaxed , productive state. It includes: * Capturing anything and everything that has your attention * Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps * Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on how and when you need to access them * Keeping current and “on your game” with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)
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12 Jun 07
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