Getting Things Done

"GTD by David Allen is an incredible book. I think it might have changed my life! He describes his philosophy on time (and life!) management in excruciating detail. He's all about how to get everything out of your head and into your task management system. He offers advice on how to set goals for different time scales in your life. His big theory is about how getting stuff off your mind and onto paper lets you have a "mind like water" and reduce stress while functioning more effectively and at a higher level."

"One of my go to books on productivity that provides real world applications and processes for being productive."

"I listened to this as an audiobook on a road trip this past week. For the first half of the book, I found myself thinking, "Yep, already do that--yep, already do that too." I didn't think I'd get much out of the book in the end. But when I'd finished listening to the whole book, I'd decided I needed to buy it so I could go back through and highlight some things and I was inspired to immediately put a couple of habits into action as soon as I got home. I'm already pretty well organized in my work life--I use Outlook tools and OneNote like nobody's business. Still, though, there's always room for improvement to catch those things that pretty routinely fall through the cracks; plus, my personal responsibilities tend to lag a bit in the organizational department. If I know I have to call a contractor or set up an appointment, it tends to take me several days (or weeks) to get around to doing it. As I've got some new developments in my life that will require an even higher level of organization in the months to come, it's time for me to assess what I'm already doing and tweak it to make it better. I will be going through some of the processes he outlines in this book to get myself back up to speed.<br/><br/>Although he does sometimes reference particular tools he doesn't rely on one product or another--he talks, instead, about looking at what you're already using and seeing if you can use it more effectively; he also talks about categories of tools you'll need (calendar, file system, etc), leaving the decision about what exact type of tool in that category works best for you. His website has a store and you can buy his brand of organizers and such, but the book doesn't talk about his own brand of things, so I didn't feel I was getting marketed to the whole time. I did purchase a book written by someone else on using OneNote with his system, again, in the context of trying to see if there are more effective ways I could be using what I'm already using. After listening to the book, I also was inspired to get back in the habit of using an app on my smartphone, LifeTopix, more fully. I've been using it consistently for some aspects of my personal life (I like to keep my personal business out of my work Outlook), but wasn't using it as effectively as I could have been. His book inspired me to update some information in it and recommit myself to using LifeTopix more. <br/><br/>If I were starting from scratch, I'd probably have rated this book higher than three stars. I think for people who are feeling really scattered, there's a lot of good information in here about ways to pull it together. I wasn't keen on the level of seeming-dependence on paper in his system, but he does talk about digital options if one doesn't want to do paper--I try to be as paper-free as possible in all things. I think it will be a fairly simple proposition to adapt his system to my more highly digital life. <br/><br/>So, I'm rating it 3 stars for me as it has good information but wasn't exactly life-changing for me. (The book The Power of Full Engagement was more so an eye-opener for me.) But if you're feeling the need to really get yourself organized, this would likely be more of a four-star or five-star book for you.<br/><br/>**Later Update**<br/>I've now finished reading the Kindle version of the book and updated my rating to four stars. I really have found myself using several of his techniques pretty regularly the last few weeks, so apparently more sank in than the original three stars I had given it. It does help me feel more in control, despite the fact that I kept coming up with more things I needed to remember to take care of every time I sat down to read another chapter."

"Not as helpful as other books in this field "

"I found this recently to really help me learn how to organize my thoughts and learn how to plan things out"

"Written from a judgy white point of view, by and for people with severe anxiety and control problems. If it wasn't so occupied with proving itself and talking about anxiety it would be easier to glean some kind of knowledge from this book. "

"[Source: twitter.com]"