Not long ago, I had the chance to spend a couple of hours with a group in the Minneapolis suburbs—20 people doing a GTD Weekly Review® together. The best part? They were having fun. Even better? They were 8-, 9-, and 10-year-olds. How cool is that?
Mark Wallace, a second-grade teacher at Highland School in the Edina School District, has been teaching his students GTD. It’s fascinating. This was their structured review session—get clear, get current, and get creative. The kids worked independently with their computers and smartphones, fully engaged.
“Get clear” meant cleaning lockers and tidying up. “Get current” was about checking in on their homework. So I knelt down with probably a dozen of kids and asked what they were working on. One said “I’m just cleaning up right now.” Another told me, “I’m getting current because I’m behind on some math stuff.”
Then I asked two students working together what they were up to. “We’re researching how to design a great interview program on TV.” I said “Well, what about all your other stuff?”. Without missing a beat, they answered “Once we get clear and get current, we have the freedom to get creative. And so we got to pick a creative project to work on.”
And these are kids saying this! It was incredible to see how structured fun could make productivity so natural. Before I left, a girl walked up with an old, beaten-up copy of Getting Things Done and said “My mom would really, really like you to sign this for her.” It was just so cute.
Seeing kids light up as they gain control over their world made me wonder—what if every student had access to these skills? Imagine growing up with GTD as second nature. That’s exactly what Mark Wallace is doing with GTDK-12.
[Note: This essay appeared in David Allen’s Productive Living Newsletter. Subscribe for free here.]
