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In my personal and professional lives, I am almost constantly inundated with things that need to get done.  Sometimes it’s an e-mail request.  Sometimes it’s a form to be filled out that I find in my daughter’s backpack.  Sometimes it’s a voice mail.  The list goes on and on.

GTD stands for Getting Things Done, the how-to-have-an-insane-taskload-but-keep-sane advice book written by David Allen.  In his book, Allen offers an alternative to the cluttered inbox and multiple sticky notes on which I used to rely and had frequently let me down.  My epiphany came when I forgot to take my daughter to her best friend’s birthday party back when she was five.  The party was written on my calendar in the kitchen but in my haste to change weekend plans, I forgot to check it.  Something had to be done to help me better balance all of the multiple and competing priorities in my life.

I can honestly say that the tips and philosophy that Allen offers in his book have made me a much more productive and effective person, both personally and professionally.  Instead of having multiple calendars to check several times a day, there is one calendar for our family that we can access anytime online.  Instead of multiple inboxes that must be kept continuously in sync, I have one for work, one for home.  Thanks to Allen, I sleep better at night knowing that I’m not missing an important appointment or critical deadline.  I highly recommend his book to anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by too many things to do.  It’s all about inbox zero, trust me.

Allen’s currently hosting a GTD Summit in San Fransisco to get people together to talk about how they’ve been able to achieve productivity, what challenges they continue to face in this changing world and, to quote the site, “hang out with other equally inspirational, interesting and thoughtful people for a couple of days, who share the common focus on getting things done in productive and sustainable ways, for themselves and the people they serve.” I look forward to hearing about what new tools or tips have been developed that may help me better reach for my goals while maintaining balance in my life.

If you do a google search, you will find many useful tools and blogs that support the GTD methodology.  My favorite blog for GTD is 43 folders and my favorite to do list automation site is Nozbe.  Both do a good job of explaining how GTD applies in the real world, something that makes me feel better when I occasionally fall off the wagon by letting my inbox grow or my sticky notes proliferate.

Thank you, David Allen, for helping me feel like it really is possible to get everything done during my day while still maintaining a focus on what’s really important in my life.

Posted by Elia in Career, Uncategorized, Women in Business |

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Career, Uncategorized, Women in Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.