GTD or Getting Things Done is a time management methodology to help improve productivity.
David Allen’s book Getting Things Done GTD classifies it as a work-life management system giving you the power to clear your mind, while sharpening focus, so enabling you to accomplish more. Simply put bring order to chaos.
Creating a technique of getting all your to-dos done by going through a systematic series of steps.
Your mind is for having ideas, not storing them’
That’s right, our minds are not meant for the endless storage of facts and figures, especially in a world where we can capture all of that information externally via apps and good old fashioned pen and paper.
When it comes to work-life management David Allen believes we should empty our minds of busyness and clutter, capture it all, and then start doing the tasks instead of just thinking about them.
GTD Empty Your Mind
GTD is not just about getting-things-done, but a way to break them down into a step-by-step way so you can accomplish tasks by transferring ideas from your mind into an external system. Saving your brain from having to remember and keep track of everything you need to do.
Many of us spend our lives reacting, and fire fighting to put out the fires of things we have forgotten to do.
The brain is for having ideas, not storing them.
5 basic steps to the GTD methodology
Capture
Clearing your mind of all the clutter by putting it into a system.
Transfer all tasks into a task management system.
Clarify
We are all hoarders of facts and figures.
Ask yourself “what is this?” Distinguish between actionable and non-actionable tasks using GTD decision tree.
Clearing up some brain memory.
Organise
Create actionable tasks list, categorise and prioritise according to dates or urgency.
Reflect
Review your workflow frequently.
Don’t let things pile up and as it will get harder and harder.
Engage
Simply do it!
An organised system correctly will identify what you need to get done each day, open your checklist and execute the action plan.
Increase Productivity
Productivity has a different meaning to different people.
Most often productivity is focused on how we can use our time more efficiently. How we use our time to get our daily work done.
We often don’t realise how unproductively we really are because our minds are not meant as an endless storage device for the facts and figures we use them for. We should think of our brains a processing tools rather than as storage devices. But to allow us to clear space in our brain we need a secure place to store the information.
In the age of technology, we can use computer RAM memory instead of our own to free up space.
Task management tools like to-do lists and checklists can offer use freedom.
Focus On What Actually Needs Doing
Overwhelmed with too much todo which stresses you out because you’re afraid you may forget about something important.
Have less on your mind while being more productive. That amazing feeling of feeling more organised, because you can actually see exactly what you need to do and what is your next priority.
Clearing your mind so you can focus on the things that are truly important!