GTD is an organizational system. It doesn't put rules around how you actually do your work. Instead, it focuses on how you capture the work you need to do, organize it, and choose what needs your attention
DAVID ALLEN
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GTD is a productivity method for organizing your to-dos, priorities, and schedule in a way that makes them all manageable.
Its 5 principles are:
- Capture
- Clarify
- Organize
- Reflect
- Engage
Capture everything. Your to-dos, your ideas, your recurring tasks, everything. Put it in a pen-and-paper notebook, a to-do app, a planner, whatever you prefer to use to get organized.
Clarify the things you have to do. Don't just write down something vague, but plan actual steps that are clear and sheds light on the details, the time and the exact action required.
Organize those actionable items by category and priority. Assign due dates where you can, and set reminders so you follow up on them. Make sure all these are done keeping in mind the priorities
Reflect on your to-do list and review it often. If done right, this is a very helpful step to trim the list or do the action right away.
Get to work on your list. Choose your next action and get to it. Your system is, at this point, set up to make figuring that out easy. You know what to work on, and when.
Find a GTD-friendly system that works for you, like a paper notepad,a planner, or a certain app like Evernote, or the default App in your Smartphone like Apple's Reminders or Google Keep.
RELATED IDEAS
- Fixing things is empowering. Our confidence increases or decreases based on our ability to make progress.
- Any progress builds momentum (and your mood): No matter how small the task is, crossing it off your to-do list gives you a boost of momentum and enhances your mood.
- Small steps turn into habits: When a task is easy to do and quickly completed, it’s much easier to turn it into a habit.
Getting Things Done is a productivity system that helps us capture our work in one place and manage where our attention is going to be. The five steps of GTD are:
- Capturing one’s ideas in a tool which is an app of your choice.
- Clarifying each task to its next most easy step that reduces any friction.
- Organizing each task by priority level and due date.
- Review and reflect on your to-do list.
- Engage yourself and get in action mode, implementing the list.
For your to-do list:
- If the task takes less than 2 minutes to complete, do it immediately and get it off your list.
- If the task takes longer than 2 minutes to complete, set it aside for later.
- If someone else should do the task, send it to that person right away.
- If the task doesn't require any action, delete it immediately to get it off your list.
- If you just need to file the item for reference, put it where it needs to go right away.