In the early 2000s my first child was born, I took on a mortgage and my biggest client decided to stop using freelancers. All within a week. To cope I knew I had to improve my time management. Reading Getting Things Done by David Allen I adopted his GTD model.
With half of Australia about to emerge from months of lockdown, life is getting hectic. Photography jobs postponed since July are booking up all of October and December. GTD will keep me from dropping the ball.
What is GTD?
GTD is a productivity system. Others you may have heard of are Kanban, Pomodoro, FranklinCovey, Eisenhower Matrix, etc,. They can be taken in part or as a whole depending how zealous you are. Below are five GTD concepts I’ll use help me manage this period.
1. Your mind is for having ideas not storing them
Our brain is an amazing creation. It has allowed us to put people on the moon. However our mind is not a very efficient for storing information. Einstein is quoted as saying, “Why should I memorise something I can so easily get from a book?“
2. Trusted capture device
Continuing from above, find a method of capturing information. Something that you always carry with you. When you have an idea or someone gives you information jot it down. Previously I used pen and paper, now it’s the Things app.
3. Two minute rule
If something comes across your desk that takes less than two minutes, do it then. It will take more than two minutes to record it in your capture device.
4. Minimise inboxes
Today we have inputs from so many areas of life: email, social media, mail, in trays, phone calls, SMS, meetings, etc,. The inboxes should be reduced to as few as you can get way with. Mine all end up in a single capture device making it easy to review.
5. Weekly Review
Perhaps the most important component, you should review your system every week. This prevents projects getting stale and stops tasks slipping through the cracks.
Of course there’s a lot more to GTD. Here is a link to Getting Things Done in paperback, audiobook and ebook on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity-ebook/dp/B00KWG9M2E/
LinkedIn Training has a GTD overview by David Allen himself:
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/getting-things-done/benefits-of-getting-things-done
Check your local library; many have free access to Linkedin Learning.