GTD: a resume

Do you know the famous best-seller GTD, also knows as Getting Things Done ? If not, let's get right to the point: the GTD method is very famous, it's a best seller and is featured in a lot of web sites and blog, so you could just do a research on Google to figure it out. You will found ether articles - a lot ! - to help you get things done, or software to go with it - a lot too, more than one hundred today.

What this book teach us ? Basically, that to be efficient, your mind must be crystal clear, like spring water; to get to that point you need to get rid of all the parasitic thoughts that permanently distract you, which you can accomplish by putting everything that you want to, or must do into an external automated system, thus relieving your brain of the need to think - which it does badly, without directed prioritization and without consciously choosing the right moment.

The author, David Allen, is a business management and productivity consultant since the early eighties, and he begins by telling that the world of work has evolved and that managers have to multi-task more often to get several things done at once, and even if they could dedicate their whole life to it, they would not have enough time to do things. What's more, a lot of organizations have had their internal boundaries eroded, and their effectiveness rest on endless collaboration and communications using different services - and you can no longer avoid any of the many mail services in use. Executives therefore generally need to multitask more than before. This evolution by organizations must necessarily come with new tools and new work approaches.

Si imagine if you could choose to focus entirely on your tasks, without any interruptions, daydreams, parasitic thoughts, and other sources of distraction, while remaining alert and in full possession of your faculties. Sound like a dream? It's possible. David Allen recommends with his method something that martial arts practitioners call "Mizu-no-kokoro" (mind like water), or psychologists call "the flow", a state of mind that is free from worry and totally focused on the goal you want to reach. You have no doubt already experienced it from time to time. Were you able to perform better, feel more satisfied with yourself and your accomplishments in that moment? The autor recommends a system to make those moments the default behavior.

How ? Basically, it is with the help of writing, but not writing on a lot of small pieces of paper you could not trust, but in a very reliable system that you can trust, so your mind don't have to bother with all the stuff you have to do and can be calm and focused. Your mind will be then like water.

GTD is not so easy to implement, but you can start slowly, using just a few techniques, and then you can adopt it more heavily. It is a lot of work, but you will be rewarded with a really great productivity boost, and you will achieve a so powerful peace of mind that it will make you calm and peaceful even in the most awful moments of work stress !

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