{"id":3562,"date":"2010-04-05T09:00:02","date_gmt":"2010-04-05T17:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/?p=3562"},"modified":"2021-05-23T17:16:16","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T00:16:16","slug":"a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/","title":{"rendered":"A journey of reading Getting Things Done"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A few months ago, a new GTD implementer named Michael started sending me his experiences of reading Getting Things Done<\/em>.\u00a0 He read a chapter a week and would recap what he learned. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading these, as it’s been fun to see GTD through a newcomer’s eyes.\u00a0 He just finished the book and sent his final summary. I thought you might all enjoy this.<\/p>\n

Over the past few months, I\u2019ve gone through Getting Things Done (GTD) with the proverbial fine-toothed comb, reviewing one chapter each week. During this time, I\u2019ve completed a second draft of a novella and moved into a new apartment.<\/p>\n

At the very least, GTD prepared me to fully complete these two tasks and any other task that I might happen upon. The novella is a complete story, beginning to end. I\u2019ve organized my new apartment into a livable space, and I\u2019m completely unpacked.\u00a0 Learning how to identify a task and follow it to completion has been a key element of my GTD learning experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most important GTD tool for me has been defining actions.<\/strong> For example, I know what action I need to take in regard to my application to a writer\u2019s workshop is to \u201ccomplete the required components, print, and mail by March 31\u201d makes the process much easier. First, I know the parameters of the task. Second, I\u2019m confident that following this task will get my application to the right place, at the right time. I don\u2019t need to worry that I\u2019ll miss a scholarship or fellowship, either of which could save me a lot of money<\/p>\n

What GTD really gives me is confidence. <\/strong>I know that as long as I do my weekly review and keep everything on a list, nothing is going to fall through the cracks. However if something does, I am in a better position to deal with problems, as I know where everything else stands and when events are happening.<\/p>\n

Some of the tips in GTD are very helpful, and I would not have tried them, if I had not gotten so much benefit from the rest of the book. At the top of this list is the labeler. When I first read about the labeler, I was convinced it was just an expensive toy. Frankly, I\u2019m still convinced it\u2019s an expensive toy, but I\u2019m also convinced that it works wonders, anyway. I don\u2019t know why the labeler works better than handwriting, it just does.<\/p>\n

What got me started in GTD was a simple Google Search for \u201cGetting Started in Life.\u201d I was attracted to GTD because I already had the book, which means there\u2019s a lot more to this book than just reading it or owning a copy. The work required to implement GTD to its effectiveness is a lot. It\u2019s something I had to think about on a constant basis:<\/p>\n

What is my relationship to my work?
\nWhat do I want to accomplish?
\nWhen do I want to accomplish it by?
\nWhy does this need to be done?
\nHow am I going to do it?
\nWhich should I do first?<\/p>\n

These are questions that GTD does not answer, but it helps me create an environment in which I can answer these questions. The beauty of GTD is that it allows my brain to prioritize by controlling the flow of stuff that needs to be processed.<\/strong> I still scan, look to see where the fires are, but I can identify fires before they light, now. I can look at something and say: This will take five minutes now or five hours two weeks from now.\u00a0 I can deal with it accordingly and somewhat in advance.<\/p>\n

I still have room for improvement. The filing system I have at home still needs work. Specifically, I\u2019m short on hanging folders, and my cabinet just becomes a pile of mess if it doesn\u2019t have hanging folders. I still have large projects, like write a screen play, which are ambiguously defined and have near deadlines in comparison to the amount of work they require.<\/p>\n

By in large, next month looks like it\u2019ll be better than this month. And, I get the feeling that I can keep improving month after month. This has a lot to do with GTD and organization.<\/p>\n

Kelly, thanks for reading all my emails over these past months. For April, I\u2019m turning my attention to Script Frenzy, which is to write 100 pages of script in a month. I hope to move on to Ready for Anything<\/em> and Making It All Work<\/em> very soon. These past two or three weeks especially, I\u2019ve been doing just a little more than I feel comfortable with\u2014probably only because of GTD that I can do that.<\/p>\n

Best,<\/p>\n

Michael<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few months ago, a new GTD implementer named Michael started sending me his experiences of reading Getting Things Done.\u00a0 He read a chapter a week and would recap what he learned. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading these, as it’s been fun to see GTD through a newcomer’s eyes.\u00a0 He just finished the book and sent … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A journey of reading Getting Things Done”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[22,69,83,739],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA journey of reading Getting Things Done<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"X Community Contributions X Getting Things Done X Implementing GTD X Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A journey of reading Getting Things Done\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"X Community Contributions X Getting Things Done X Implementing GTD X Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-05T17:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-24T00:16:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"A journey of reading Getting Things Done\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-05T17:00:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-24T00:16:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/\"},\"wordCount\":810,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Getting Things Done\",\"Implementing GTD\",\"Community Contributions\",\"Inspiration\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Productivity Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/\",\"name\":\"A journey of reading Getting Things Done\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-05T17:00:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-24T00:16:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"X Community Contributions X Getting Things Done X Implementing GTD X Inspiration\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A journey of reading Getting Things Done\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\",\"description\":\"David Allen's GTD\u00ae Methodology\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"width\":370,\"height\":338,\"caption\":\"Getting Things Done\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gtdtimes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\",\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7e6cca53b54e1192e3459333751eb5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7e6cca53b54e1192e3459333751eb5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"GTD Times Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A journey of reading Getting Things Done","description":"X Community Contributions X Getting Things Done X Implementing GTD X Inspiration","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A journey of reading Getting Things Done","og_description":"X Community Contributions X Getting Things Done X Implementing GTD X Inspiration","og_url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/","og_site_name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","article_published_time":"2010-04-05T17:00:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-24T00:16:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg"}],"author":"GTD Times Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gtdtimes","twitter_site":"@gtdtimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GTD Times Staff","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/"},"author":{"name":"GTD Times Staff","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4"},"headline":"A journey of reading Getting Things Done","datePublished":"2010-04-05T17:00:02+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-24T00:16:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/"},"wordCount":810,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg","keywords":["Getting Things Done","Implementing GTD","Community Contributions","Inspiration"],"articleSection":["Productivity Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/","name":"A journey of reading Getting Things Done","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg","datePublished":"2010-04-05T17:00:02+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-24T00:16:16+00:00","description":"X Community Contributions X Getting Things Done X Implementing GTD X Inspiration","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/04\/theend-300x199.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/04\/a-journey-of-reading-getting-things-done\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A journey of reading Getting Things Done"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","description":"David Allen's GTD\u00ae Methodology","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization","name":"Getting Things Done","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","width":370,"height":338,"caption":"Getting Things Done"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/gtdtimes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4","name":"GTD Times Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7e6cca53b54e1192e3459333751eb5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7e6cca53b54e1192e3459333751eb5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"GTD Times Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21072,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562\/revisions\/21072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}