Book Review: Getting Things Done, by David Allen

Title: Getting Things Done
Author: David Allen
Stars: 4

If you start thinking about productivity at all you will, probably within a matter of a few google searches, blog posts, or podcasts begin to hear the term GTD and the name David Allen getting kicked around. This book and the method of productivity it describes is generally what it being referred to. Despite its importance in the productivity realm, I have been avoiding this book for a while, probably just because of some negative things I first heard about it.

I first started warming up to the whole thing when Erik Fisher had David Allen as a guest on Beyond the Todo List, one of my favorite podcasts. Hearing David talk about it himself really intrigued me. So the book made it onto my list of things to read and finally got a hold placed on it at my library (using the BookMyne app) when Merlin Mann was featured on Mac Power Users, by the time it came in I was anxious to read it.

So here is what I thought I about it: the book is great, the principles are true, the system is good, but its a little outdated. The book has been dated by the advent of the Smartphone and the Tablet, but since David teaches the system to be universally applied that does not really make much of a difference, although it is sometimes humorous. The workflow is still the good even if he neglects to explain some modern tools. Here is just a diagram from the book of the type of workflow it advocates.

I will say I felt a lot pressure reading this book because I realized all the pressure I was subconsciously under, so it definitely does not make you stress free from the get go. But it is probably like a splinter where in order to get rid of the constant dull pain you have to go through a sharp pain for a moment.

I'm not going to explain everything that is involved in the GTD system here, I'll leave that for your own reading. I do plan to implement parts of the system in little chunks over time. It would certainly be better if I could dive in full force right away, but that requires a lot of activation energy and time up front that I don't possess right now. I can however change little things about the way I work, especially since I am just starting a new job. I just need to remember to live better ;) in small ways everyday. Hopefully in a couple months I'll be doing pretty well and be able to make the full implementation.

Well I think that is it for today folks. Don't forget to or Tweet this post so  that others can read it as well. Leave a comment here telling me what your favorite productivity book is.

Have a fantastic day, and remember, live better.

You can purchase Getting Things Done here (affiliate link)