Getting Things Done - Book Notes

An Exhaustive, Potentially Life-Altering, and Possibly Migraine-Inducing Exploration of David Allen’s Productivity Bible

The Paradox of Productivity in the Age of Distraction

Picture, if you will, the modern knowledge worker[1]. There she sits, surrounded by a veritable cornucopia of productivity tools - smartphones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, and god knows what else - each one ostensibly designed to make her more efficient, more productive, more on top of things. And yet. AND YET. Our hapless hero finds herself increasingly overwhelmed, drowning in a sea of inputs, her mind a chaotic maelstrom of half-formed ideas, forgotten commitments, and the ever-present, low-grade anxiety that she’s forgetting something important.

Enter David Allen, our productivity messiah, brandishing his opus “Getting Things Done” like a lighthouse keeper wielding a beacon in a storm of inefficiency. Allen’s premise is deceptively simple: your mind is for having ideas, not holding them. Revolutionary? Perhaps not. But in its execution, potentially life-altering.

The Five Pillars of GTD, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My To-Do List

1. Capture: Imagine your mind as a butterfly net, and every thought, idea, or commitment that flits through your consciousness is a rare and exotic butterfly. Your job? Catch ‘em all[2]. Write them down, record them, tattoo them on your forehead if you must (note: the author does not actually recommend forehead tattoos as a capture method), but get them out of your head and into a trusted system.

2. Clarify: Now you’ve got a net full of butterflies. Congratulations! But what the hell are you going to do with them? This is where clarification comes in. For each item you’ve captured, ask yourself: Is it actionable? If yes, what’s the next action? If no, is it trash, reference material, or something to incubate for later?[3] This process might seem tedious, but remember: clarity is the antidote to anxiety.

3. Organize: Once you’ve clarified your butterflies (and at this point, I sincerely hope you’ve abandoned the butterfly metaphor in favour of actual productivity items), it’s time to organize them. Projects go on a projects list. Next actions go on a next actions list. Calendar items go on your calendar. Reference material goes into a reference system[4]. It’s like creating a complex taxonomic system for your commitments, except instead of genus and species, you’re categorizing by actionability and context.

4. Reflect: This is where the magic happens. Regularly review your lists. Weekly, at minimum. This review process is so crucial that Allen practically elevates it to the status of religious ritual[5]. And why not? In a world of constant flux, the weekly review is your anchor, your North Star, your… okay, I’ll stop with the metaphors now.

5. Engage: At long last, we arrive at the point of it all: actually doing stuff. But here’s the kicker - if you’ve done steps 1-4 correctly, this step becomes almost effortless. You’re no longer deciding what to do based on what’s screaming loudest in your head. Instead, you’re making calm, contextual choices based on your clearly organized system[6].

The Weekly Review: Your New Favorite Obsession

If GTD were a religion (and for some devotees, it practically is), the Weekly Review would be its holiest ritual. Picture this: you, alone with your thoughts and your lists, like a monk in contemplation, except instead of enlightenment, you’re seeking productivity nirvana[7].

During this sacred time, you’ll:

• Gather and process all your notes, tickets, receipts, and random scraps of paper
• Review your Next Actions lists
• Review your Projects list (and Previous and Upcoming Calendar lists)
• Review your Waiting For list
• Review any relevant checklists
• Review your Someday/Maybe list
• Be creative and courageous

It’s like a spa day for your productivity system. Refreshing, rejuvenating, and absolutely essential.

The Two-Minute Rule: A Productivity Hack for the Impatient and Easily Distracted

Here’s a rule so simple, so elegant, it’s practically Zen: If an action will take less than two minutes, do it now[8]. Don’t bother writing it down, don’t bother deferring it, just do it. It’s like the Nike slogan, but for small, annoying tasks.

This rule is the productivity equivalent of eating your vegetables. It’s not always fun, but it’s good for you, and it prevents a build-up of small, annoying tasks that can clog up your system like plaque in an artery. (Note: The author apologizes for the somewhat graphic medical metaphor and wishes to remind readers that productivity systems are not, in fact, part of the circulatory system.)

The Horizons of Focus: From the Nitty-Gritty to the Meaning of Life

Allen presents a model of perspective that’s like a productivity version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, except instead of self-actualization at the top, you have… well, actually, it is kind of like self-actualization. Here are the levels, from ground level to the stratosphere:

1. Ground: Current actions
2. Horizon 1: Current projects
3. Horizon 2: Areas of focus and responsibility
4. Horizon 3: Goals and objectives for the next 1-2 years
5. Horizon 4: Long-term visions
6. Horizon 5: Life purpose and core values

The idea is to regularly zoom in and out between these levels, ensuring that your daily actions align with your life’s purpose[9]. It’s like being the protagonist in your own epic hero’s journey, except instead of slaying dragons, you’re slaying inefficiency. (Is it less exciting? Perhaps. But it’s significantly less likely to result in third-degree burns.)

The Zen of Getting Things Done

The ultimate goal of GTD is to achieve a state Allen calls “mind like water” - the ability to engage appropriately with whatever is happening in the moment, free from the nagging feeling that you should be doing something else[10]. It’s a state of productive peace, of focused calm, of… okay, let’s be real, it sounds great in theory but in practice it’s about as easy to achieve as actual enlightenment.

But here’s the thing: even if you only implement a fraction of this system, you’ll still probably be more organized than 90% of the population. So why not give it a shot? The worst that could happen is that you spend more time organizing your to-do lists than actually doing anything. But hey, at least that’s productive procrastination, right?

---

Actionable Steps to Implement GTD (Or: A Step-by-Step Guide to Productive Obsession)

1. Perform a mind sweep: Spend an hour (or two, or three - who’s counting?) writing down every single thing that’s occupying any amount of psychic ram in your brain. No thought is too small (“buy milk”), too big (“solve climate change”), or too embarrassing (“figure out what that weird rash is”).

2. Set up your capture tools: Choose your weapons. A note-taking app? A physical notebook? A voice recorder? Interpretive dance? (Okay, maybe not that last one.) The key is to have something always at hand to capture those fleeting thoughts.

3. Process your inbox: Go through everything you’ve captured and decide what it means and what needs to be done about it. This is like being your own therapist, except instead of childhood traumas, you’re dealing with overdue library books and half-formed project ideas.

4. Create a projects list: List out all your current projects. Remember, in GTD-land, a project is anything that requires more than one action to complete. So “buy milk” isn’t a project, but “host dinner party” definitely is.

5. Identify next actions: For each project, determine the very next physical action that needs to be taken. Be specific. “Work on report” is not a next action. “Open laptop, create new document, type title of report” is.

6. Set up a filing system: Create a simple, alphabetical filing system for reference materials. Yes, even in this digital age, you need somewhere to put those warranties, contracts, and takeout menus.

7. Set up a tickler file: Create a system of 43 folders (31 for days of the month, 12 for months of the year) to send reminders to your future self. It’s like time travel, but for admin tasks.

8. Schedule your first Weekly Review: Block out 1-2 hours each week for this sacred ritual. Treat it with the reverence it deserves. Light some candles. Play some soft music. Commune with your to-do lists.

9. Start using the Two-Minute Rule: If it takes less than two minutes, do it now! This is your new mantra. Repeat it to yourself as you quickly respond to that email, file that receipt, or finally throw out that ancient yogurt container in the back of your fridge.

10. Experiment with contexts: Try organizing your next actions by context (@home, @work, @computer, etc.). It’s like creating little productivity zones in your life. Welcome to the future, where even your chores are contextual.

Remember, implementing GTD is itself a project. So what’s your next action? Reading this list again? Excellent choice. Now, get to it!

[1] Not to be confused with the modern knowledge shirker, who is an entirely different species and not the target audience of this book. [2] Pokémon reference entirely intentional. Gotta catch ‘em all, indeed. [3] “Incubate for later” sounds suspiciously like procrastination, but Allen assures us it’s not. We choose to believe him. [4] If you’re feeling overwhelmed at this point, congratulations! You’re doing it right. [5] No animal sacrifices required, though you may feel like sacrificing your smartphone by the end of it. [6] “Calm, contextual choices” would make an excellent band name, by the way. [7] Productivity nirvana: a state of being where you actually finish everything on your to-do list. Warning: may be mythical. [8] Unless that action is “quickly check social media,” in which case, don’t. Just don’t. [9] Assuming, of course, that you’ve figured out your life’s purpose. No pressure. [10] Not to be confused with “mind like a sieve,” which is what most of us are working with before implementing GTD.