Comments on: Getting Things Done: Stress-Free Productivity Guide

By: Canadian eReader

Canadian eReader — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

This is the go-to book for the GTD methodology
Self help is not a genre of books I read very often, but I made an exception for David Allenâs Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. One of my goals for 2017 was to become better organised and to be more productive. I first learned about the GTD methodology through Carl Pulleinâs YouTube channel that I follow. Iâve been working on this for around six weeks now, so itâs too early to tell, but Iâm happy with what Iâve learned so far.Getting Things Done, or GTD, is a productivity methodology based on a few deceptively simple concepts. Now, Iâm still very new to GTD, but this is how I see it. One of the fundamental ideas behind GTD is that the human brain is excellent at processing ideas and being creative, but not a great storage facility. A key part of GTD is getting all ideas, projects and commitments out of your brain and into a trusted system or external brain.There are five activities to GDT: Capture, Clarify, Organise, Reflect and Engage. If I can take from the GTD website, this translates to:Capture: Collect what has your attention. For me, this means adding all my ideas, commitments and to-dos in my list manager application of choice, Todoist. I really love this application and regret that I donât have it at work. I try to capture everything from my doctorâs appointments, to buying cat food for Lushka to a reminder to ask my husband if we have picture hooks. Iâm planning a trip to Europe this summer, so any time I think of something like oh, I must remember to get Swiss francs, into Todoist it goes.Clarify: Process what it means. Here I canât be any more concise than or as clear as the workflow diagram on the GTD website:GtdHonestly, if I take away nothing more from my experience with GTD than the two minute rule (if you can do it in two minutes, do it now, otherwise delegate it or defer it) and the discipline to define the next physical action to move a task along it will have been worth it.Organise: Put it where it belongs. This is probably the area of GTD thatâs least intuitive for me â Iâm not very organised! At the very least, I try to put any appointments on my calendar, any tasks in the appropriate section of Todoist, and potentially relevant non-actionable information in Evernote. One interesting aspect of GTD is the use of contexts. This means organising your tasks not by priority but by the tools, location, and/or person you need to be able to complete them successfully. So, for example, in my Taxes 2016 list I have an item; pick up tax receipt from pharmacy. I tagged that as âpharmacyâ along with other items like pick up Polysporin and drop off new prescription. So when I go to the pharmacy I just check that tag to be reminded of all the things I have to accomplish while Iâm there. Similarly, while planning my trip to Europe I have a context of Susanne, the friend Iâm visiting. Any time I think of something I need to ask her, I add it to that list of things to discuss next time I call or email her.Reflect: Review your to do list and calendar frequently. The idea here is to keep your âexternal brainâ current with everything that you need to accomplish. If you donât add to it or clear our stale items, your real brain will no longer trust your system and it will break down. Most GTDers do a review at least once a week.Engage: Simply do. Pick the tasks that are available to you based on your contexts and get cracking!The book itself is very well written and the edition I have was updated in 2015 to include discussion of new technology (not specific applications) and how it impacts the GTD workflow.if you are interested in improving your productivity and generally getting things done you could do a whole lot worse than to check out this book.I gave Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free productivity five stars out of five.

By: Dhillon

Dhillon — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

Great book, I recommend

By: NoneOfYourBusiness

NoneOfYourBusiness — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

Just by reading it, I am just convinced that it should be mandatory to read it a few times starting middle-school, really.Scientiffically, your brain is not very good at remembering all the things you have to remember out of the blue. having those thoughts marked somewhere helps your brain realease stress, and save a lot of energy.Having a proactive approach and do the think-work in the front-end (when you idea arrives, or when you realize you remembered that you have something to do) really changes your whole life…I hope the author is having a great life, and I thank him a LOT for writing this, and make it accessible.

By: alok pole

alok pole — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

Excellent read for every professional

By: Cliente Amazon

Cliente Amazon — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

JÃ¡ conhecia o mÃ©todo do GTD por leituras em blogs especializados, mas ler o livro e entender as ideias de seu criador foram esclarecedoras para finalmente colocar o sistema para rodar plenamente. Mais do que um sistema, David Allen ensina axiomas e dÃ¡ dicas de como manter os trilhos e ser mais produtivo sem se tornar estressante. Vale a leitura e aplicaÃ§Ã£o para uma vida mais plena

By: Udana Power

Udana Power — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

LOVE this book! WOW! Life-changing.
This revolutionized my life. I have been well organized… but I didn’t know how to organize the FLOW of paperwork in my life. How to keep my in-box empty. !! My desk was always a pile of paper that I didn’t know where to put things… and I would actually lose things on my desk. Whew! NO MORE! I got the physical copy of this book as well as the CD version and listen to it going to sleep and waking up in the morning… when I’m driving, or exercising or doing something where I can just let the information flow through my brain again. The clarity and specific depth of insight and clear instructions have helped me to completely reorganize my office so that projects get completed and nothing backs up. I know EXACTLY what to do when I sit down… and then just go do it. I keep my in-box empty… (mostly… still working on it. At last my whole desk is no longer my in-box. LOL.) I’m blown away by this. I no longer feel the conflict of trying to focus on a project and at the same time thinking I should be doing something else. Everything is written down on my List. It’s out of my field of concentration until I want to check my List and see all the random other little things I want to accomplish. Clear focus. Zen mind. Peaceful mind. Balance. Wow. I’m deeply grateful.

By: Giovanni Molliner

Giovanni Molliner — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

Such a great tool to change how you organize your life
This book has given me tools and techniques that I have applied to all areas of my life and every day something comes up that I have taken from this book.

By: Mel

Mel — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

Easy to follow and to “take action”
I bought the paper-covered book, which was recommended by my friend. I had only read a few pages to get the summary of it, and I’ve already read a lot of useful advice given, very inspirational. It also included step-by-step action that readers can follow! Continue to look forward to reading more and commenting.

By: Krishna Rao

Krishna Rao — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

Even if you are motivated and hard-working, it can still be hard to get things done. This book with help.
This is a life-changing book. I am not in business but have to function in various domains: working scientist with 20-30 discrete, concurrent, collaborative projects at any given time; teacher; physician; mentor; member of various administrative committees; family man; and avid hobbyist with multiple pursuits. I don’t need to read more of the usual inspirational / motivational crap; I’m already highly motivated and willing to work hard, but just needed something to help me organize and get a handle on all the demands placed on me. I’d used calendars and to-do lists like most people but this was not enough.The central message of this book of getting one unified system in place for all projects / tasks in your life and getting things quickly off your mind and into the system is simple yet profound. There is an upfront cost on the order of days, especially if you have a lot on your plate, to get started with such a system. Once you do this, however, keeping it going really only involves a few minutes a day and about 30-60 minutes once a week during a step he calls the weekly review. The key elements that I found helpful: 1) Immediate processing of tasks as they come in (do it if quick, delegate it to others if appropriate, or put it in your system with the appropriate flags; 2) Contexts. it doesn’t make sense to look at a list of errands that can only be done on the computer when you are traveling without one or walking the dog. Having each task be assigned to a context (which can be a virtual or physical location) and being able to pull a context-specific list when you are in that context is incredibly helpful; and 3) Next actions. There is a distinction drawn between things that need to happen next (i.e. in the next week) and things that just need to happen at some point in the future. Everything gets tracked, but not everything needs to show up on your context-specific list; just the “next actions.”This helped me get my life in order and relieved a lot of stress. I no longer worry constantly about what I should be doing because I always know, in any specific context at home or at work, what tasks I have already decided need to happen. Since I also put everything into the system that I trust and know works, I also don’t miss things the way I used to.

By: VÃctor

VÃctor — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:00:02 +0000

ACTUALIZACION: 2021Al escribir esta review habÃa empezado a aplicar algunos de los primeros consejos e ideas y notÃ© una mejorÃa en la forma de gestionar el tiempo y acabar proyectos y tareas pendientes. Esto hizo que fuese dejando el libro y dedicarme a otras cosas, sin acabarlo completamente. Esto fue un error.El libro da todo su potencial cuando lo lees sin pausa. No significa que no vayas aplicando algunas de las ideas y pensando como ir aplicandolas a tu dia a dia, pero sÃ que no debes perder de vista el objetivo, que no es otro que aprender de forma consistente cÃ³mo mejorar la organizaciÃ³n personal y profesional del tiempo y el trabajo.Lo anterior es importante tenerlo claro: hay que dedicarle esfuerzo a pensar sobre cÃ³mo aplicar las ideas del libro a tu vida y tu flujo de trabajo, proyectos, etc. No basta con leer el libro, sino que hay que dedicarle algo de esfuerzo en diseÃ±ar tu sistema de organizaciÃ³n. Pero los beneficios son enormes, asÃ que animo a hacerlo.En particular, aprovechÃ© una semana de vacaciones para dedicarme a leerlo a fondo desde el principio, tomando notas en lugar de intentar crear sobre la marcha un sistema de organizaciÃ³n a medio hacer. Lo mejor es ir apuntando las ideas o formas de usar sus consejos y esperar a aplicarlo hasta acabar el libro, porque cuando ves el conjunto global, te das cuenta que no son ideas sueltas, sino que es un sistema de principios completo. Por tanto, cuando lo acabes tendrÃ¡s una idea mucho mejor y mÃ¡s completa de cÃ³mo montar tu propio sistema de organizaciÃ³n. Y que conste que lo reelerÃ¡s mÃ¡s de una vez para revisar conceptos y adaptar el sistema a los cambios que ocurran al pasar el tiempo. De ahÃ que actualice esta review: voy a releerlo para reajustar y volver a ser igual de eficiente como cuando lo acabÃ© la primera vez.————————————————————————————-Cuando comprÃ© el libro, sabÃa que tenÃa un problema con mi sistema de organizaciÃ³n. AsÃ que me puse a leerlo inmediatamente. Lo cierto es que tenÃa algunas dudas, porque habÃa leÃdo otros del mismo tema que no pasaban de expresar lo obvio y de sugerir sistemas que le funcionaban al autor, pero no se adaptaban a mÃ. Pero este libro sÃ es bueno.No es como los anteriores, una simple guÃa de recetas. Sino que desmenuza los fundamentos bÃ¡sicos e, incluso, la psicologÃa que implica un buen sistema de organizaciÃ³n. AdemÃ¡s, explica en cada paso el motivo de cada proceso o cada sugerencia. Lo que me encanta del libro es que no ofrece un sistema dise;ado y definido, sino que por medio de ejemplos va hasta el principio general que quiere explicar y eso permite que uno pueda adaptar o modificar las ideas a su propia forma de trabajar y a su propio tiempo. QuizÃ¡ esto haga que algunas partes se hagan mÃ¡s largas, pero es muy recomendable.Lo que mÃ¡s me impactÃ³ fue la parte psicolÃ³gica. En el libro explica uno de los principales problemas que tiene la gente que fue buscando su ayuda y es dejar tareas o cosas en una lista de pendientes, sin pararse a determinar las acciones que han de realizar para finalizar esa tarea. Como ejemplo: la tarea “solucionar problema con factura luz” deberÃa dividirse en realidad en varias, siendo la primera, probablemente “Localizar nÃºmero de atenciÃ³n al cliente de la compania”, luego llamar (para algunas personas, eso requiere planificar la llamada en su agenda diaria), y de ahÃ, depende de la respuesta, se seguirÃ¡n mÃ¡s pasos o no. Lo que comenta es que al compactar tantas tareas en un solo item, en realidad estamos obligandonos a dedicar mucho espacio mental a esa tarea y salvo que tengamos tiempo de sobra, probablemente se nos atasque un buen tiempo en la lista. De la otra forma, un dia damos por cerrada la tarea de localizar el numero. Otro, cerramos el de la llamada, otro el de enviar los datos que nos hayan pedido… Y el efecto psicologico de sentir que vamos resolviendo el problema es brutal. Porque ya no es el mismo item desde hace dias, sino que es el mismo asunto, pero con acciones mas concretas y simples.El libro esta lleno de ideas de este tipo que, una vez leÃdas, suenan muy obvias, pero es algo en que mucha gente (al menos yo) fallaba constantemente. Un libro imprescindible para cualquier persona con poco tiempo o que tiene problemas para gestionar su tiempo de forma eficiente.Como nota final dirÃ© que aÃºn no he terminado el libro (llevo mÃ¡s de la mitad) porque es un proceso, no solo una lectura. Sin embargo, ya puedo confirmar que he mejorado la gestiÃ³n de mis obligaciones y del tiempo en general, asÃ que no puedo mÃ¡s que recomendarlo.