Boot Camp | THE GTD METHOD (10)

"Your mind is for having ideas. Not Holding them." - David Allen ​

In the last 9 emails, we discussed various productivity tactics, including setting up our schedule, maintaining a to-do list, and creating proper emails. In this 3-day session, we will learn the Getting Things Done (GTD) method, a well-known and the most well-received productivity system, and use it to re-examine our productivity suggestions from a different perspective.wrapping-up.html

Day 1: Understand the GTD Workflow (30min) 
The GTD method defines a five-step knowledge management process that includes collecting, clarifying, organizing, reflecting, and executing. In short, people call it the CCORE principle. 

• ​Collect is about capturing things that need to get done and storing them in a task management system. David Allen believes our brain should focus on analysis and thinking instead of remembering what to do. The task system can free our minds and record the tasks in a trusted system. We will do the job that can finish within 2 minutes right away. Others are recorded for future planning. 
• Clarify the list, and determine what is needed to get things done. The step secures items with an acceptable reason, a clear goal, and an understandable outcome. 
• Organize estimates efforts, prioritizes the choices, and organize the tasks in batches. 
• Reflect is a regular review going back to the list to update, empty, and adjust. ​
• Execute is about trusting the system, focusing on things, and emptying the list constantly. 

Read our Getting Things Done (2001) book summary for more details. 

Day 2: Review our System Using the GTD principle (30min) 
We have involved the GTD method in our tactics as we speak, let's look at them:

• Collect: This is our to-do list. We used a simple note to store what needed to be done. 
• Clarify: During our weekly review Friday, we set goals, grouped and sorted the tasks into projects, and defined milestones. We decided what must be done in the coming week and assigned them to our daily study time. 
• Organized: During our daily morning review time, we group similar tasks and batch process them during our study time. 
• Reflect: We review our daily work during our afternoon review time. 
• Execute: Our to-do list and calendar guide our daily work. We empty the to-do list constantly. 

Review the process that we have gone through the view of GTD principles. 
  
Day 3: Reflect on the GTD View for your Task Management System (30min) 
Let me know what you think of the GTD method by writing your thoughts and answering one or all of the following questions. 

• Does the GTD workflow make sense to you? 
• How much have you applied the method in practice? 
• What do you think still needs to be added to your perspective? 

Now, you can see productivity is part of your everyday practices. Let's focus on what we want and maximize our time to get things done.

Next Topic: Wrapping Up