GTD in 2 minutes

    Often found strange letters GTD? Are you afraid that this is another sect?
    Do not be afraid. Now I’ll tell you everything.

    What is this GTD in general?

    What happens in your head when you hear the name GTD? I asked my friends here, and a funny picture was drawn. Everyone I know imagine GTD like this:

    GTD stole a man

    Even somehow it becomes embarrassing. People with higher education, but imagine such nonsense.


    GTD, Getting Things Done (in Russian you can safely read as Ge-Te-Te) is a system for self-organization, invented by American author David Allen. Since the publication of the corresponding book in 2000, millions of unorganized people have finally found happiness and peace of mind. After all, the system, as stated, allows you to greet things in order.

    How does GTD work?

    The basic principles of GTD are very simple. It is based on three habits *, which every effective person should accustom himself to.
    1. Write down your affairs
    2. Quickly decide what to do next
    3. Do what you wrote down

    1. Write out the cases (from the author - Collect)

    Why do many people experience constant stress and do not have time? Because they keep everything in their head. And the human brain is able to simultaneously hold only 7 objects in memory. If you keep too much garbage in your head, many things are simply forgotten and remembered only when it is too late. The result is all these “Forgot”, “I didn’t”, “Ah, I’ll do it tomorrow” ...

    The first step on the way to a bright head is to put aside all things for 10 minutes, take a piece of paper and write out all the things, questions, ideas and other things that haunt you. Thus, we free our heads and transfer all our affairs to an “external medium”.
    Example? You are welcome. I listen to the radio, and suddenly I hear an advertisement about the upcoming holiday on March 8th. The thought “It would not hurt to buy a gift for mom” immediately comes to my head. Without delay, I immediately write down: "Buy a gift for mom on March 8th."
    Are you done? Go to the next item.

    2. What next? (Process)

    At this stage, you need to go through all the recorded cases and for each of them ask yourself one important question: what is the next step?
    This simple question is not as simple as it seems. For example: you need to buy a gift for mom and you diligently wrote in a notebook “buy a gift for mom on March 8th”.
    What will come of it? Most likely, you will look for excuses for a long time, and the gift will be bought on the last day. Well, as a result, on the eve it will be necessary to defend half a day in lines, although a week earlier they could buy in five minutes.

    a present

    Let's see what GTD advises in this case.
    GTD says this: first you need to highlight the specific next step for buying a gift. A concrete step means that you break away from the chair and really do something. For example, “Call Aunt Ola and ask for a gift.” The task has suddenly become much more concrete, isn't it? Now you don’t have to think long: you need to take a phone and call right now.
    So we came to the third point.

    3. Take and do (do)

    If everything was done correctly before that, then at this stage there is a simple and clear task: “Call Aunt Ola”.
    This is because the end result of using the GTD system is a “crystal clear” list of “next steps” for all tasks. This list contains specific and understandable things that you can do without hesitation. All thoughts have already been carried out at the “What's next” stage? ..

    Now, with such a crystal clear list, you can calmly and without distraction click the case one by one, like seeds. No unnecessary torment, no doubt - a continuous concentrated flow of action. Personally, when I go through tasks in this state, I feel like a terminator.

    Total

    Here is such an interesting and useful system. I hope this review helped to get an idea about it. If you like it, you can try it yourself. But keep in mind that GTD is a bit more complicated than the three points I wrote about :)

    Where else can I read about GTD?

    Here are paper books:
    English version , Russian version . You can download it .

    The official podcast .

    Well, actually on the Habr .

    Good luck

    * This article does not claim to be a complete description of the GTD system. GTD has many details that I did not include in the article. Nevertheless, I think that to start the proposed information is enough to make an idea of ​​GTD.

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