Words Of Wealth

“Getting Things Done” is a book that teaches you how to do just that: get things done. If you’re like most people today, you’re busy trying to juggle business, family and personal items all at once, and sometimes a ball (or two) gets dropped.

In this book, David Allen provides a complete system to help. The process itself, affectionately referred to as “GTD” by loyal followers, is one of the most useful I’ve personally found.

The problem is almost universal: Knowing what you want or have to do in life is one thing, but actually moving forward with it can be a huge challenge. This is especially true for all of us that have never-ending task lists and/or large, long-term projects on our plate. Looking at the mile long task or project list can be overwhelming — and cause you to simply not do anything at all. In this book, David explains how to break projects, goals and tasks down into single item, doable, actions.

Now this is an extremely simplified explanation of the GTD process, but it is comprised of a few key items: The Project List, The Someday/Maybe List, and the Next Actions list. Integrated into these key items is: Inbox, Outbox and File Cabinet management.

While all of these components are integral and useful parts of the entire system, the Next Actions list is where the majority of your productivity takes place. In short, a Next Action is the very next thing you need to do in order to move something forward. So instead of looking at a project and wondering how you’ll ever be able to handle it, you simply break off a very small chunk — the very next thing that has to be done — and focus on that chunk by itself. Once that chunk is completed, you then break off another — the next thing that has to be done — and so on.

I won’t try to explain all of the intricacies — David did that with over 250 pages in this book — but I will tell you this: David’s system is extremely useful and easy to learn.

You can start reaping the rewards of “Getting Things Done” before you’ve even finished the book. I’ve also found it very handy to keep on the reference shelf for further consultation as I’m refining and customizing my own enhanced productivity system.

I am a fan of practical, informative books with examples — this one really fits the bill and I highly recommend it.

Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-free Productivity
David Allen
Viking Books
c/o Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN: 0670899240, Hardback, 267 pgs

Kathy Burns
Reviewer

The above was originally published October 2002 in The Midwest Book Review

Added Feb 23, 2010… Eight years later and I still find myself referring back to my original–well loved and dog eared–hardback version of GTD. At the very least I include it as part of my yearly review process because it helps me get back on track when I’ve strayed, and helps me reflect on both sides of the coin… both from the “what did I accomplish this past year” and a “what do I want to accomplish in the new year” perspective.

I, like many others across the web, have gotten side tracked by the latest gadgets, gizmos, cool tech toys and software that’s all supposed to make life so much easier. I’ve had my short jaunt with trying to link and control everything in my project lists and I’ve gotten frustrated enough with it all to go back to plain paper planning too.

With so many restarts along the years though, I’ve really become much more comfortable with the whole GTD process. And I’ve decided it’s not rocket science. It’s not some passing trend. And it’s not meant to be a micro management ‘track every crossed “t” and dot every “i”‘ project planning or project management tool either. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be but in the end, it’s all about helping you keep track of commitments you have in life.

People stress out about how to track all of the different actions for a project when they first start using the GTD system for example, but it’s not needed. The “Next Action” list isn’t about breaking down every single action needed on a project, it’s just about helping you “bookmark” where you currently are in the project. The project planning and individual steps belong in your reference or project support files. The only action that needs to be on the next action list is the very next thing that can be done: Plan, review, talk to, call, write, etc.

I’ll be the first to admit I still haven’t completely adopted every single part of the GTD plan over the years. I’ve been very weak on keeping up with the weekly reviews for example, and I’ve found myself with “Projects” on my next action lists too… where they stagnated until I realized it was a project that still needed processing. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve gotten much better at keeping my inboxes at empty as well–email particularly. I’ve gone through times of putting something on the projects list that needed to be on the Someday/Maybe instead, and I’ve gone for months without updating my lists too.

In the end though, when it all gets overwhelming or I start feeling out of control and off track–as soon as I go back to my lists I start feeling much better about everything.

This has been the case so often for me that I’ve decided GTD is ultimately a book about success and wealth building.

“Nothing happens until something moves.” This may be a mis-quote off the top of my head but it’s true. You can’t become a success in this world and you can’t build wealth without taking action. And it’s difficult to take action when your head is crowded with everything it’s trying to keep track of. It’s also difficult to take decisive action when you can’t find the files and reference materials you need for making progress on important projects, or worse: Forgetting you have an important project to work on.

Getting Things Done gives you a step by step, practical approach to keeping everything together while freeing up your mind to do the really productive work needed to become wealthy.

A followup book to GTD is “Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life.” I just purchased the Kindle version of this one last month and plan to write a review on it soon. It covers much of the same material as GTD does, but where GTD is a hands on step-by-step system, Making It All Work covers the philosophy and science behind why all of the steps work and how they all work together. This difference in approach really helped me understand much more about GTD overall, and helped me start fixing some of the areas I’ve been weakest in over the years.

Bottom Line: Whether you need to start taking more action on important projects, stop forgetting to buy milk, or start new wealth building habits I highly recommend both “Getting Things Done” and “Making It All Work.”

Other Perspectives:
- The Simple Dollar: Getting Things Done Summary
- 43 Folders: Getting Started With Getting Things Done
- 20 Something Finance: A GTD Summary & Review of Allen’s Getting Things Done
- Wired: A Guide To Getting Things Done