Getting Things Done
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
By David Allen
I finished my first reading of the book, and I'm going to give the system a try. I'll try not to get all atkins diet about it, but the system just seems to make a lot of sense. It's all about getting stuff out of your head and written down somewhere so you can devote 100% of your brain to the task at hand. I'll probably try to give the book another quick read before doing the cathartic "first processing" where you, essentially, try to identify all of the open loops in your life in one fell swoop.
I've also found some good resources on-line to help implement this system, such as 43 Folders, Tip and Tools from David Allen, and Getting Things Done Zone. I plan on adapting my personal Ecco template to fit GTD as well.
I'll let you know what happens after I take the plunge and have lived with it for a few weeks.
Original entry from October 1:
Okay, I'm intrigued enough by such excellent sites as 43 Folders to check out this GTD cult. I've never been what my wife would call "organized", but I'm willing to give this system a try. For example, I've always kind of kept my IMAP email inbox as my email archive, so as of about a week ago my inbox had about 4,000 messages in it. The afore-mentioned 43 Folders site inspired me to clear that out and use my inbox the way it's supposed to be used: as a temporary holding space until the item can be shuttled into the appropriate container. So, it took me about a week to clear it out, but now it's empty.
I'll let you know what else I can learn from this book, and I'm looking forward to seeing how I can apply some of the suggestions to my use of Ecco.