Trent Hamm's 14-part Series (in order) on David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD)
I really enjoyed discovering Trent Hamm's mutli-part series (14 of 'em - that's commitment!) on David Allen's methodology for getting one's life under control first espoused in the book Getting Things Done. The articles are linked in sequential order at the end of this post.
Now commonly referred to as GTD, Hamm offers a serious primer for those interested in learning more about it and how to get started as well as maintain it over the course of time. What I enjoyed most about his series was his introduction and explanation of how he specifically engages the concepts and theories of Allen and puts them into practice, from managing his freelance writing career to building a shed and cooking his family dinner, Hamm breaks down the components of GTD and explains them in language everyone can relate to.
GTD has often been referred to (as even Hamm does through-out the series) as a "time management" system or "advanced to-do lists". Sure, one could put those labels on it, but it would really diminish what can be achieved using this methodology and the life changing potential it offers. Sure GTD will help you manage your time and can also help you with your todos, but it’s really a methodology for managing all the resources in your life and freeing the brain from “stuff” overload so that you can open the channels of creativity and have the potential to not only get things done, but thrive in the area(s) you’re truly striving for.
With Hamm's articles, it's really just semantics as he does discuss the potential that GTD has and in his clearly drawn examples, shows exactly how he tackles each component of GTD. His continued use of everyday examples clearly helps demystify the "process" of getting you into GTD and he's quite honest about what he does (and hence, what you could do) to get back on it should you fall a bit behind.
I'm especially enamored with the brain-dump as part of the weekly review. As Hamm's points out, I'm paraphrasing here, if things that you already brain-dumped previously are appearing again, it's a big clue that maybe these items might need some priority treatment from you in the coming week.
Excellent stuff. Enjoy.
Another great resource is the official public site for the David Allen Co., GTD Tiimes.
Have fun learning about GTD and then go and get some things done!
Trent Hamm's Getting Things Done Overview:
1. A New Practice for a New Reality
2. The Five Stages of Mastering Workflow
3. The Five Phases of Project Planning
4. Setting Up the Time, Space, and Tools
5. Corraling Your Stuff
6. Getting “In” to Empty
7. Setting Up the Right Buckets
8. Keeping Your System Functional
9. Making the Best Action Choices
10. Getting Projects Under Control
11. The Power of the Collection Habit
12. The Power of the Next-Action Decision
13. The Power of Outcome Focusing14. Five Key Things
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