Black Belt Productivity

This is the last chapter of Part 2 of Getting Things Done^®. Part 2 was all about getting into the nuts and bolts of GTD^®. This chapter tackes projects and getting them situated into your GTD System.

- Michael

Chapter 10: Getting Projects Under Control

We have covered getting our day-to-day actions under control, so let’s look at getting our projects straightened out. Allen states that we all need to plan our or work and our lives so that we can ease the stress that we put on ourselves every day. He also states that a side effect of more planning would be the increase in “creative output with minimal effort.”

This is the last chapter discussing the 5 Phases of Getting Things Done^®. It is time to take our lists and make some things happen.

- Michael

Chapter 9: Doing: Making the Best Action Choices

There are many different ways that you can get things done…once you have a system in place to tell you what needs to be done. The methods described here were briefly mentioned in Chapter 2, but I did not go into any detail then, knowing that they would be covered in depth here.

I missed the Thursday posting of Chapter 8 and then I was out helping my in-laws move on Friday, so this post got put in the @Waiting list.

- Michael

Chapter 8: Reviewing: Keeping Your System Functional

This is the chapter that details the hardest step in the process to actually complete…the Weekly Review. A recent poll from 43Folders stated that 32% of the respondents (75) found that reviewing was their GTD weakness. I believe that is how I voted in the poll.

OK. Now you are down to one pile of stuff to mess with…see how easy this is! After today, you will have all of your stuff put ‘away’ into your trusted system and all of the pile will be gone. It will be a good day, I promise.

- Michael

Chapter 7: Organizing: Setting Up the Right Buckets

Today is the day that we really cement our system in our head and in practice. We will be setting up and filling all of the buckets that will be our trusted system. This is the part of the program that can be the most confusing while, at the same time, the most straightforward. We will be working on the outer part of the Workflow Diagram.

Now, how do you feel about your productivity? You have a huge stack of actions sitting on your desk, or worse yet, in your entire room! I know that it is a little daunting, but stick with us…we will lead you out.

David Allen includes a very nice diagram to overview the process. You can get it at David Allen’s site or you can click here to view it. (The last time I downloaded the diagram from the official site, it gave me the one in Spanish…not so productive for me!) There is an Advanced Workflow Diagram available, but I would not worry about that at this time.

Chapter 5 starts the section of chapters that details the 5 stages of Getting Things Done^®. There will be several “freak out” moments while going through your collection. But remember that you are starting something that will add stress-free productivity to your arsenal.

- Michael

Chapter 5: Collection: Corralling Your “Stuff”

This chapter will talk about how you begin your GTD^® journey: collect all of your inputs.

Allen recommends that you take your time in this first step, up to 6 hours if needed. You need to really think about all of the things that are happening in your life, both personally and professionally. He states that you need three things to start the collection:

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.

Chapter 3 begins to delve into coming up with Projects within your system. Since I am in the IT Industry, I do not use Projects very much. I do have three fairly big projects that I working on right now. These are mainly because this is a new position for me, and our network is about 8-10 years old. So my main focus is to get us up-to-date.

Re-reading this chapter has given me some insights into some things that I can do to better manage these projects that I do have.

- Michael

Here is the second part of Chapter 2. It will go into the Organizing and Doing stages of GTD^®. I hope that you enjoy it.

- Michael

Chapter 2: Getting Control of Your Life: Mastering the Five Stages of Workflow

Now that you have processed all of your items, you will need to organize them all into one of eight categories. If you remember you have 3 options for non-actionable items. The corresponding organizational bins are:

I decided to break up the Chapter 2 material into 2 parts. This is one of the MOST important chapters in Getting Things Done^®. I did not want a really long post that glossed over the points, so I decided to post the first part today, and I will post Part 2 on Wednesday.

Thanks for all of the great comments on the Chapter 1. I really appreciate them. Jason and I are working hard to keep great content coming.
- Michael

Chapter 2: Getting Control of Your Life: Mastering the Five Stages of Workflow