Introduction to David Allen & GTD

Dear Collaborators in Exceptional Learning,

For about four years I have been following the advice of David Allen about how to get things done--GTD, as he calls it.

I still have much to learn.

My wife and I went to his day-long workshop in Chicago and found it helpful. He has smart ideas--what he calls advanced common sense--about how to organize your time and your life to accomplish what you want to accomplish.

And yes he does live in California--Ojai, to be exact. But Wall Street and Fortune 500 companies rely on his advice. And now so do I.

I was introduced to Allen by an article in the Atlantic Monthly by James Fallows, former speech writer for Jimmy Carter and once the editor of US News & World Report.

Also my friend at Poynter, Chip Scanlan, told me about Allen's template--"Natural Planning"-- which is a set of useful questions to ask when you are doing a big project, such as a book.

Allen and his company are very tech savvy and has introduced me to many things, including a new brainstorming software--Mind Manager.

One of the strategies I have adopted is the Weekly Review. That is the time to go over everything--which I have stored mainly in my Entourage Tasks lists. There are about 480 items there today--anything from return a book to Amazon to write one hour today on an article. These are my Next Actions.

The idea of the Weekly Review is to review the things you need to do. This can take one to three hours. This is not time spent completing the actions. But the idea is to get all these things off your mind so you can then focus on what you need to do now and not be distracted by thinking: "I need to return the Amazon book" while I am drafting an article today.

Anyway, in this spirit, I ask you today to consider the rest of your semester.

What do you need to accomplish?

What are the discrete steps that you must take for each major project?

When will you do them?

When is the best time of the day to do these tasks?

And here are questions that David Allen asked me today in my Friday email I get from him:
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Do you need to be scheduling blocks of time for yourself in the coming two weeks?

Do you have any actions that require more than an hour of uninterrupted time, and which are "heating up" now in terms of urgency?

This is a very important benefit of your Weekly Review giving you tactical perspective and permission to bracket valuable space for yourself to get some of those things done.

"It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself." Johann Goethe
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May you move closer to getting done what you want to get done--including finding a balance in work and play.

BH