Sara tells about implementing GTD so well that she was able to smoothly delegate her job during maternity leave. She describes how she encourages her staff to apply GTD best practices. She has interesting things to say about adapting contexts to current reality. And she shares about the tools she uses to manage her lists in a very full life.
Our recent Office Hour discussion had a surprise visitor ? David Allen! He caught us up on the dual celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the publication of Getting Things Done and his 80th birthday. We talked about where, and whether, to keep reminders for various household tasks, the shifting "weight" of areas of focus over time, and how paper capture endures.
David has a conversation with Dr. Julie Flagg, who discusses her GTD journey, including her significant decision to retire. Julie has been a GTD enthusiast since 2000, when she met David in Boston. She talks about how she has adapted her system to the change from a busy medical practice to an equally busy retirement. Julie still applies all the GTD best practices, including the two-minute rule. Introducing Julie for this interview, David mentions her presentation at the GTD Summit in 2019....
We explore how categorizing your GTD next actions lists by context will help you accomplish more with less effort. Context is critical, because it filters what you can do before you factor in time, energy, and priority. We discuss what contexts are, how they have and haven't changed over the years, misconceptions about contexts, and examples of ways people use them in today's world.
David has a fascinating conversation with Charles Duhigg, whose new book is Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection . Charles says, "With the right tools, we can connect with anyone."
In this wide-ranging conversation, David and Gina DiRoma cover a variety of GTD topics. They even get around to GTD and improvisational comedy. Gina is the Corporate Events and Sales Director at SAK Comedy Lab , where the motto is "we make stuff up." That's a perfect complement to David's phrase, "Make it up, make it happen."
When asked how a company does GTD, David Allen's answer is, "Holacracy." It's a self-organizing management framework that has GTD built in. The David Allen Company has been running on this framework since 2011. This recording on how GTD is incorporated into Holacracy's governing structure is from a presentation for the Holacracy community of practice. You can click this link to download the PDF that has GTD comments on the Holacracy constitution....
For many, the workplace is broken. We may not realize it, but our tools can shape us in unproductive ways, and we've become conditioned to accept this as normal. In this recording, David Allen and John Forrister talk With Eric Mack about his 8 Practices of Intentionally Productive Work, which provide a framework to help you shift your mindset and uplevel your work.
David Allen, Arjan Broere, Ana Maria Gonzalez, and John Forrister have a rich and wide-ranging discussion of how we manage our attention, how to focus and refocus, and dealing with interruptions.
David Allen talks with GTD trainer Justin Hale about his journey with GTD. Justin notes that the journey includes cultivating self-awareness about our habits. He emphasizes the importance of deliberate practice to change behaviors. More than a set of hacks, he considers GTD to be a complete system.
Scott Adams gives us a tour of the prompts he has been using to have AI assist him with GTD. He gives detailed information about the prompt text, and offers suggestions about refining your results.
In this Skills Lab, we take a deep dive into the Reflect step in the GTD workflow. With quizzes, exercises, and practice scenarios, this will be a valuable opportunity to fine-tune your GTD practice. This podcast is the first 25 minutes of an hour long webinar. To listen or watch the entire hour, please visit GTD Connect .
Office Hour GTD Discussion In support of GTD implementation and integration, we had a free-form hour (plus) of discussion. We talked about recurring projects, checklists, clarifying versus doing, verbs for projects and actions, and much more.
Put your GTD skills to the test in this new Skills Lab webinar. We focused on the basics of the Engage step, including how you spend your time and choosing what to do. Through a set of fun quizzes, practice scenarios, and lively group discussions, this was a valuable opportunity to fine-tune GTD practice.
This was the first of several planned GTD Skills Lab webinars. In this installment, we focus on the fundamentals of projects and next actions. Through a set of fun quizzes, engaging practice scenarios, and lively group discussions, this is a valuable opportunity to fine-tune your GTD practice.
In this recording, we talk about the nature of Someday/Maybe items, and how the Someday/Maybe list is closely related to the Projects list. You can listen or watch this webinar in its entirety from June 2020 at GTD Connect .
Take a deeper dive into capturing what's grabbing your attention personally and professionally. The webinar also includes time for clarifying what you've captured and organizing it into your system. This recording is from the live webinar presented May 26, 2022. During the live webinar, we had stretches of silence while capturing personal and professional items, and for the clarifying and organizing steps. For this recording, we have edited out those periods of silence. You can simply pause the ...
In this webinar recording, we consider each step of the GTD Weekly Review, to learn why each step is important, and how they fit together. We will also discuss ways to approach the review to make it easier for you to do it consistently.
Our GTD master trainer in Brunei, Rhymin Mohamed, has a fascinating talk with psychologist Paul Englert, who is based in Singapore. They talk about GTD's intersections with career counseling, psychology, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
David Allen, Ana Maria Gonzalez and Daniel Burd connect to talk about high level executive coaching of getting things done, the GTD methodology.
Join David Allen for a conversation with Roy Whitten and Scott Roy. Their just-published book is Decision Intelligence Selling . It's not just for those in sales, but for anyone who realizes that persuading and motivating others is part of life. Of the book, David says, "Whether you're in sales or simply in life, this is a must-read. Roy and Scott have written a new manual for sales training ... a page-turner for us all in leveraging our relationships to everyone's advantage." You can learn more...
David Allen has reconnected with Kevin Wilde, for a discussion about learning, leadership, and coachability. Kevin describes how he heard about GTD, and his success with making it a part of the culture at General Mills. His mission in the last few years has been to dive deeper into the science and practical application of leadership coachability. He has found that leaders who plateau below their potential have one thing in common: They stop seeking feedback so they can improve. You can find out ...
David Allen interviewed Daniel Levitin several years ago after the publication of The Organized Mind . In this interview, David talks with Daniel about his new book, Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives . They begin by discussing the neuroscientific basis for GTD. Then Daniel explains that there are two principles from GTD that are crucial for successful aging. You can watch the entire conversation from July 2020 at GTD Connect® . -- This audio is one ...
With a PhD in sleep science, Dan Pardi has plenty to say about the relationship between sleep and productivity. In this wide-ranging interview, David Allen talks with Dan about how sleep, rest, and mental acuity affect productivity. Dan's approach is that health is about organizing yourself, effectively managing the project of your body. He's a fan of working from lists, in order to match mental energy to the type of task. In various places during this interview, he talks about his tools, as wel...
Our October Office Hour went into detail on the Capture, Clarify, and Relect steps. We also discussed procrastination and its causes. That led us to consider closed vs flexible task lists. You can watch the entire Office Hour from October 2025 at GTD Connect . -- This audio is one of many available at GTD Connect, a learning space and community hub for all things GTD. Join GTD practitioners from around the world in learning, sharing, and developing the skills for stress-free productivity. Sign u...
Michael Keithley has been focusing on productivity since when paper planners were the only options. He became an early adopter of digital tools, and still has a technology graveyard of PDAs and other electronic productivity tools. For GTD, his first digital tool was Evernote, which he still likes for reference. Later he landed on OmniFocus, and has been using it from early on, to the most recent version. He emphasizes that it's important for a digital system to allow for sending an email to the ...
This is an installation and implementation session on the higher Horizons of Focus. We will spend time exploring if anything has your attention at each of the horizons, and will end with integrating the horizons at the project and next action levels. You can watch this entire webinar from June 2021 on GTD Connect . During the session, there are sections where you can create or refine what you have on each of the horizons. The prompt questions for each of the horizons are listed below. These sect...
David Allen talks with GTD trainer Justin Hale about his journey with GTD. Justin notes that the journey includes cultivating self-awareness about our habits. He emphasizes the importance of deliberate practice to change behaviors. More than a set of hacks, he considers GTD to be a complete system. Justin is a trainer with Crucial Learning , as well as the host of the One Productive Minute video series. You can watch this entire conversation from March 2023 on GTD Connect . -- This audio is one ...
Creator of the second-best productivity tool for GTD, Eric Mack is grounded in GTD and knowledge management. David Allen and John Forrister recently talked with Eric about his five principles of productivity software design, in the hope that it might inspire future designers to incorporate some of these principles into their applications. You can watch this entire conversation from March 2023 on GTD Connect . -- This audio is one of many available at GTD Connect, a learning space and community h...
Prachi has an inspiring success story, based on applying the GTD methodology. She began her studies in engineering, and moved on to create a citizen-led movement to mitigate climate change. She exemplifies the value of externalizing visions, goals, and objectives. In addition to a list of projects, she has a values list that she reviews regularly to stay on track with what matters. You can find out more, including how to get the app, at Cool the Globe . You can watch a video version of this conv...
