Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
(or How To Change Your Life With An Electronic Labeler)

I loved this book. Loved it. And I am, by nature, distrustful of self help books.

This is the book that I mentioned which has set me off on an organization tear. I heard it mentioned¹, read the wikipedia page about it, and I found it really intriguing.

I’m not going to describe the whole system that this guy lays out for Getting Things Done² (the Wikipedia page does a fine job of that), but there’s a few key points to mention that I think are going to make a major difference in my stress level and productivity.

First, Allen fully acknowledges the imposing nature of To Do Lists. I’ve tried many, many self-designed “systems” for keeping track of what I needed to do. And they all fall down, in one way or another. Throughout the book, Allen kept mentioning different ways in which methods fail, and I recognized myself in at least half of them.

One such flaw, and one of the simple brilliances of GTD, is that To-Do lists are often composed of projects, and “you can’t do a project,” you can only do the actions that will lead to the completion of the project. “Design a settop,” “Remodel kitchen” and “Teach my son to read” are projects, not actions. To-Do lists should have Next Actions, like “Call Tom to set up a meeting re: new settop feature list,” “brainstorm with on what we want our kitchen to be like” or “Do a Google search for tips on teaching kids to read.” Break it down, and then to-do lists look very doable.

A big thrust of GTD is getting rid of the existential stress of having too much to do and not knowing where to start, or starting and not being sure that what you’re doing is REALLY the best thing to be doing at any given time. I’m feeling better already about things.

Also, he stresses the importance of owning an electronic labeler, because they’re fun. And I love any book that encourages me to buy office supplies and feel good about it.

Of course, it could all fall apart. But the geeksphere seems to be pretty on board, and they’re good folk.

If you’ve ever felt pulled in too many directions, read this book.

¹ Special thanks to kaughy for mentioning this book in his LJ.
² Every online review or blog I’ve read about GTD starts off with “I’m not going to describe the whole GTD system” and then goes on to describe the whole GTD system.