Black Belt Productivity

Starting with Chapter 4, David Allen gets into the nuts and bolts of setting up your GTD^® implementation. These next six chapters are the foundation of setting up your system.

- Michael

Chapter 4: Getting Started: Setting Up the Time, Space, and Tools

This section of Getting Things Done moves from concept to implementation. The first chapter in Part II deals with setting up your workspace (both personal and work) for implementing your GTD^® system. David Allen suggests that both your personal and professional spaces should be setup identically. This ensures continuity in your life. To ensure “Stress-Free Productivity” you need to use GTD^® in all parts of your life. How stress-free can you life be if only one aspect of your life is organized.

The other thing that DA states is that you do not have to go full boar into GTD^® implementation. Any little tricks that you can do to make yourself more productive will make your life better. I think that sometimes this is a barrier to some of our implementation. GTD^® is so open and customizable that it may hinders our productivity. There is no one perfect implementation of GTD^®. Jason and I have vastly different implentations. But we are united in the concepts that keep us going.

To start getting yourself ready for GTD^®, DA recommends setting some time with no interruptions to get all of your inputs together and collected, getting them processed and get all of your NAs in place. He says that two days is an adaquate timeframe to get all of this done. I, personally, did not set aside time to get my system in place. Mine has been a gradual adoption over about 6-8 months (along with 2 readings of Getting Things Done) before I had the principles straight in my head and ready to adopt the principles.

Another point that is stressed is that you need to have your own workspace. Do not share your workspace with wives, girlfriends, work associates (you may not have any say in this one). People need a sense of ownership in their tools. They need to know that the tool that they need that minute is available and not being used by someone else.

Allen lists a set of Basic Processing Tools:

• Trays, for your Inbox
• Paper, to make your notes
• Pen/Pencil
• Post-Its
• Paper/Binder clips
• Stapler with staples
• Tape and rubber bands
• Automatic Labler
• File Folders
• Calendar
• Trash can

Most of these tools are self-explanatory. The one that is really critical is the Automatic Labler. It is used to label your file folders. I have one, and I love to use it. My handwriting can be neat, but when I need to get into my files quickly, being able to quickly read the label is key! DA recommend Brother Labelers, so I went and got a Brother Labeler.

You still need to keep a Calendar as your “hard landscape”. It will be used for time-specific items. Some use them as modified Ticklers as well. My calender is a Moleskine 2006 Pocket Weekly Planner, and I love it. I am evaluating some online calenders as a backup for my Moleskine.

Lastly, the discussion centers around the filing system and how critical it is to your implementation. The recommendation is that you have at least two different filing systems: one for general reference material and one for your project files. I use a general reference filing system and have it setup in two places. The main files that I use regularly is in my workstation desk, and other more permenant filing is in another drawer across the room from my workstation. Your filing system needs to be as simple as possible. DA recommends a simple A-Z system. I have my main files group by function, and then sub-organized A-Z.

Your initial implementation is crucial in getting the principles set in your mindset. But the beauty of Getting Things Done^® is the fluidity of the system. You can always tweak your system (continuously unfortunately). The biggest recommendation that I can make to anyone starting GTD^® is to set your system and let it roll for a couple months, then look into tweaking it.