GTD® focus - GTD® for Beginners - Organizing Made Simple

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Set up your organizational buckets, the trusted lists and homes for captured items, before or alongside capturing and clarifying, so you have a place to put everything. Meg Edwards, a GTD coach, uses chapter seven of David Allen's 2015 Getting Things Done as the basis for this approach, discussing the basic lists David outlines (project, someday/maybe, next actions, errands, agendas, and waiting for), with other lists added over time.

Key Points

• Starting with organizational buckets reduces the nervousness people feel during a mind sweep, because they already know where captured items will go.
• Chapter seven is 49 pages and dense, so populate just one item on each list at first and get comfortable with the system rather than trying to master everything at once.
• Non-actionable items sort into three options: toss them, scan them (reference), or tickle them (tickler system or someday/maybe).
• Some items belong on checklists or discrete lists, such as books to read, movies to watch, or places to visit, rather than on a someday/maybe list.
• Areas of focus, the level above projects (for example, "I want to be a good mom"), are a frequently overlooked idea and can be kept on a checklist.

Details Worth Noting

• Concrete instructions:
  • Read the chapter thoroughly, then decide which organizational lists you need.
  • Start with the basic lists on page 142: project list, someday/maybe lists, next actions list, errands list, agendas list, and waiting for list.
  • Optionally add more lists later, such as a calls list or an office list, organized by topic, time frame, or context.
  • Populate one item on each list to get comfortable deciding where things go.
  • If you don't yet have an electronic list management tool, Meg suggests checking the Getting Things Done website store for organizational setup guides as a starting point; if you already have a tool, you can adapt it to the methodology.
  • If you have many next actions (Meg mentions 60 or 70), break them into separate lists by topic, time frame, or context.
  • Review the best practices for the waiting for list and the tickler system described in the book.
• Meg notes that the book's end-of-chapter material (tickler system, checklists, lists, and areas of focus, around page 162) is where many overlooked gems appear.
• The calendar holds appointments and time-specific items; everything else goes into the other buckets.
• Meg mentions her own practice of coaching people by setting up the buckets first and then manipulating the tool to match the methodology.

Bottom Line

Build your trusted homes for items before you capture and clarify, and use the book's lists and areas of focus as a foundation you add to gradually.