A Beginner's Guide to Getting Things Done
All you need to know to apply this timeless productivity system
Back in 2014, I was undergoing a major life overhaul.
I had just started the Miracle Morning and was also starting my project of becoming a full-time blogger. I soon realized that, if I wanted to juggle my regular job and my side hustle, I needed to improve my productivity game.
That’s when I heard of a book called Getting Things Done.
The tagline of the book piqued my interest: The Art of Stress-free Productivity. That’s what I wanted! Get everything done with a zen attitude! Don’t we all want that?
In today’s article, I will share a beginner’s guide to Getting Things Done, the productivity system that will allow you to get your life under control and achieve what David Allen calls “mind like water”.
First, let’s start by stating what Getting Things Done (GTD) is not.
It is not a quick-fix technique to boost your productivity. It is not a single tip, but a whole system, a methodology to encompass everything you need and want to do in your life, both professionally and personally. The GTD system is not simple, but it has become for me more than a system, a real lifestyle.
Getting Things Done consists of 5 phases to process every task that needs to be done in your life. They are: 1) Capturing 2) Processing 3) Organizing 4) Reviewing and 5) Doing.
Let’s explore each step, shall we?
Capturing
The capturing phase of GTD is the one that has had the biggest impact on my state of mind.
Allen explains that, when you empty your head of all the tasks that sit there in a trusted system, you can achieve “mind like water”, a state of mind in which you can react calmly and objectively to the things that come your way. It is a zen state of mind, one that I did not believe I could achieve before I implemented GTD.
Allen says that your mind is made for having ideas, not to hold them. The capturing phase allows you to offload those ideas and create a trusted list that you can refer to at any time.
To capture your ideas, you will need a kind of inbox to store them.
An inbox can be physical or digital, but I highly suggest you get both. In my office, I have a document tray labelled “in”, in which I put anything that will require my attention.
In my task management system in Notion, I have an inbox where I put tasks when I am on the go using a widget on my phone. We also all have an inbox in our email software, but I am sure you can think of many more inboxes in your life.
The point of GTD is to have a designated inbox in which to put everything as it comes up, to empty your head. Every time you think of a task that needs to be done, put a note in your inbox. You will process these notes in the next phase.
Processing
Now, your inbox has probably collected many items.
At the moment, my in-tray holds a blouse that needs to be returned, a pouch that needs to be sewn and a note to remind me to buy some dye at the drugstore.
To process my inbox, I will take out one item at a time and decide what needs to be done with it. David Allen created a workflow chart to help you decide how to organize these items. Here is a visual representation of the chart :
Organizing
The first question to ask when you take the item out of your inbox is: is it actionable?
If it is, take it to the next level of the workflow. If it isn’t, do you still need it? Many items will find their way to the trash at this point. If you might need it at a later time, you can either put it in a pile to be reviewed later or file it for future reference.
I have a separate in-tray labelled Someday/Maybe where I would put anything that needs to be reviewed later. I process that tray each week during my weekly review. Also, I use a file organizer for any reference material and Notion for all digital reference materials.
Now, if the item is actionable, ask yourself: will it take more than one step to complete the required action? If not, go to the next phase.
If so, David Allen defines this action as a project. I suggest that you create a list on which you inscribe all the projects you are working on. You can create a Kanban board in Notion, but a simple piece of paper with your list on it is sufficient.
Once you’ve defined your project, decide what is the next action required to move it along. David Allen has a very nice rule called the “2-minute rule”. If a task takes less than 2 minutes, do it immediately. If it takes more than 2 minutes, go to the next step.
There are two things you can do with a task that takes more than 2 minutes. You can either delegate it or defer it. In the processing phase, now is not the time to execute tasks, (except if they take less than 2 minutes), but to decide what to do with them.
If you choose to delegate it, put it on a “waiting for list”. I have yet another in-tray labelled waiting and a waiting-for list in my Bullet Journal for non-physical items.
Last but not least, you can defer your task. If the next action is time-sensitive, put it on your calendar. If not, put it on your next action list. (I bet you’ve guessed that I have an in-tray for that too!)
Now that you’ve organized every item in your inbox, it is time to either do or review.
Reviewing
I won’t go into the specifics or the review phase because I wrote a complete post on the topic. But let’s just say that, to me, reviewing your system is the most important part of Getting Things Done.
I like to review my lists every Friday to make sure that every next action required for my projects is properly included in my plans for the next week. I like to know that nothing fell through the cracks of my system.
If you decide to implement GTD, make sure to schedule time for your review every week.
Doing
Of course, none of that system is useful without actually doing the things that need to get done.
Now that you have a solid list of next actions to take, David Allen suggests choosing what task to do at any given moment based on the four following criteria :
Context
Time available
Energy available
Priority
Context is the place you are in, or the tools available to you.
For example, you won’t be able to accomplish the same tasks if you are in your office or commuting. If you are commuting, you could be making phone calls and running errands, for example.
Time available is pretty self-explanatory. You can filter your task list according to the time needed to accomplish any task. If I am waiting to get to a meeting, I could be sending an email, but not writing a full-length article.
Energy available is crucial to the mastery of the task involved. I just can’t write a good article when I am dead tired, but I can do simple things like data entry without much of a problem.
Lastly, when you choose your task, make sure it is the highest priority that can be done with the resources, time and energy available at the moment.
Horizons
David Allen has created a system for dividing your life into what he calls “horizons”.
This is a more advanced topic that is not quite suited to this beginner’s guide to Getting Things Done, but if you are interested to know more, let me know in the comments below and I might write a stand-alone article on this topic. I might be starting a whole series on the GTD methodology, so if there are parts of what I’ve shown you today that are not clear or need further details, let me know!
I know that Getting Things Done is not a simple method, more of a detailed and complex system, but I assure you that it is worth the trouble of implementing.
I would never go back to that time in my life when I was not clear on what needed to get done and when I was stressed out that I would forget to do stuff. Now, at every given moment, I know exactly what needs to be accomplished and I have a specific plan to achieve my goals. I truly feel the bliss of “Mind like water.”
If you are interested in GTD but it all seems too much for you, you can read my last post on how to simplify the method: Getting Things Done: You don’t need to do it all!