F.D.’s GTD Story

Note: F.D.’s GTD story is in the form of an email he sent to David Allen. In it, he describes how he came across GTD, the positive impact it has had on his life, and the tools he uses.

Hello David!

I’d like to wish you, your family, and your team a Happy New Year.

It’s now over a year since I first picked up GTD lying in my bed thinking about whether I should quit my job from stress.

Your work has inspired me and opened up my mind/soul beyond comprehension.

This year, thanks in a huge way to GTD, I started my MBA, finished my legal bridging course, maintained a full-time job, and achieved every goal (including losing 8 kilograms and becoming debt free) that I set out to do in 2019. No, I didn’t misread GTD as a personal exercise regime or financial advisory book, but the clarity, calmness and focus I have from using the simple methodology forced me into action.

In Australia, and indeed across the world, I don’t believe we’ve even scratched the surface of how many people would practice GTD (if only they had the clarity, calmness and space to know). I want to teach this to the world. In fact I’m trying to teach it to everyone I meet, with mixed success—ha! My little brother is slowly coming along, and cousins are reading GTD for Teens. My study and work colleagues were shocked and weirdly scared by how much I was able to produce with everything “on my plate” and how little affected I appeared by it.

I consider the practice of GTD as a base to be at least understood before adopting other work productivity practices or thoughts. I’m reading Deep Work by Cal Newport at the moment, and I can’t help but think, whilst I associate myself with his argument for depth, he provides a case for GTD in his one paragraph summation of it in his book.

Anyways, thanking you once again David. You really have no idea how much you’ve helped me and I know you’ve touched the lives of millions of others.

God bless and enjoy the holidays. Bring on the 2020s!

Cheers,
FD

Note: We followed up with FD to ask what tools he uses in his GTD practice.

My in-tray is my own email inbox which I “throw” stuff in using the Braintoss^® app, otherwise if I’ll use my paper in-tray at the office.

My GTD list manager is Microsoft^® To Do using tasks.

For calendar I use Outlook^® on computer and native app on iPhone^®.

For reference material I have everything in OneDrive^®, OneNote^® or in paper form at my office.

Read and review, both like and must, I have in Microsoft To Do and paper trays in the office.