We are fortunate to receive many wonderful letters from people across the globe telling us how GTD has affected their lives in a positive way. This letter was sent to David Allen from Jason, who said that GTD may have saved his wife’s life. We thought you would all like to hear his wonderful story:
Dear David,
A friend suggested that I write you the following GTD story which essentially saved my wife’s life.
Last year we were living in Serbia and my wife was pregnant with our twin babies. While we were living there I read Getting Things Done and was totally inspired by it. I took three days off of work and dedicated myself to reorganizing my work and our life. It had an amazing impact on my productivity.
About a month later, my wife, while six months pregnant, was burned on 20% of her body when a barbeque essentially exploded. Because I had implemented the GTD program, I had all of the emergency information that I needed right in my hand and was able to react very quickly. Because we were in Serbia, getting emergency help wasn’t as easy as dialing 911. The GTD methodology may have literally saved her life.
Best,
Jason
Here is Jason, with his beautiful wife and children:
If you have a GTD story you would like to share, please write to us!
Absolutely incredible! Super glad to hear that it helped you!
Wow. That really shows the importance of getting organized. I always run through a ‘getting ready for travel’ checklist before I go anywhere. One of the items I make sure to do is find out the local emergency numbers.
Hopefully I’ll never have to use it, but if I do, GTD may well save my life or my wife’s.
There’s no replacement for having the information you need when you need it most. We rarely have to think of it that way, but being prepared not only makes life work more smoothly, it can make all the difference in some situations. Thanks for sharing your story.
That is an inspiring story. Thank you for sharing it with us. It is super how such a simple concept as making a list can have such an impact on life itself!
Thanks for sharing this story. My wife and I have always kept some emergency supplies handy and a well-stocked first aid kit. It came in handy during the northeast’s blackout a few years ago and was especially important while living in Maine last year, when electricity and cable and phone service would go out for a day or two. That happened 3 times during the winter, with cable and phone being out for a week at one point.