OVERVIEW

As I mentioned in my reading plan on YouVersion, I think David Allen’s Getting Things

Done is the best framework out there for managing all of your tasks, personal and
professional, today, tomorrow, and far into the distant future. It is the best system I
have found for ensuring that your “Yes” is “Yes,” allowing you to keep your word. This
document will provide you with a deeper dive on what GTD is, how to get started, and
how I personally implement the processes. Note that while this guide is by-and-large
based on Allen’s book, I have taken the time to recommend slight tweaks to the process
based on my experience implementing and teaching GTD over the past seven years.

TERMINOLOGY

GTD uses a lot of terminology which I think needs clarifying.

Inbox

The key starting point to GTD is to immediately write down anything that ever enters
your head that is actionable today, tomorrow, or in the far distant future. Wherever you
choose to write these things down, that is your GTD Inbox. I will suggest specific tools to
use for your Inbox later in this document.

Projects

A Project is simply a bucket to hold and organize all of the to-dos needed to complete in
order to achieve a desired outcome. I find that a lot of people get confused by the word
“Project” as we don’t typically think of things like “book a flight to D.C. for the cherry
blossom festival” as Projects. But in this example, it will take multiple actions to achieve
my desired outcome (Google when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, talk to my wife
about which day she wants to leave, research airfare, etc.). If you want to use your own
word for Projects go for it! Good alternatives include “outcomes,” and “goals.”

Next Actions

What is the very next physical action you will take in order to move one step closer to
completing your Project? That’s your Next Action. The beauty of the Next Action is that
it helps break Projects big and small into bite-sized pieces. For example, if you want to
write a cookbook, your Project will be “publish a cookbook.” That seems daunting until
you take just a few moments to think about what single action you can take to get
started on that Project (EX: Make a list of recipes I want to include in my cookbook).

The key with defining Next Actions is to make sure you are able to envision yourself
doing the Next Action. If you can’t, chances are it won’t get done. Be specific. Focus on
the very next physical thing that you can do to get one step closer to completing your
Project.

Single Actions

There are many things that you will need to do that are not Projects. I have tons of these
for recurring tasks around the house (take the trash out to the street, set the alarm, etc.).
These are called Single Actions. Genius, I know.

Waiting For

If you have delegated a task to someone else, you will include a Waiting For item in your
Project to remind you that the Next Action is waiting for that person to complete their
task. This will be a good reminder for you to follow-up with them (especially if they
aren’t implementing GTD).

Someday Maybe/On Hold

Got a Project you want to complete but you’re not sure when? These are Someday
Maybe or On Hold Projects and they can range from “go to Hawaii” to “write the next
great American novel.” Below, I’ll show you how to organize these Projects, but for now I
will just say that Someday Maybe Projects are where you can store your wildest dreams,
so dream big!

Contexts

A context is a place, technology, person, or thing you need to be to accomplish a task. If,
for instance, you have a bunch of phone calls to make, and you have a commute each
day, you may want to contextualize your phone calls as “in the car.” You can also have
state of mind contexts like writing, reading, brainstorming, and fun.

The thinking here is that if you organize by context, you will always have the things you
need when you’re ready to get down to work. Additionally, it helps you maximize your
time by getting things done in whatever context you find yourself; e.g. checking your
“phone” context when you have 15 minutes waiting for the doctor and you are playing on
your phone.

Weekly Review

The Weekly Review is the glue that holds GTD (and your sanity) together. Now that you
have everything contextualized and sorted into Projects, you must make certain that
your Next Actions are moving you in the direction of completion. Please don’t confuse
this review with the daily purging and filtering you should be doing. Rather, this is a
broader view of your progress that allows you to measure and track progress.

GETTING STARTED

Now that we have our GTD terms defined, let’s work on getting you started using the
methodology.

Step 1: Choose a GTD system

Before you begin implementing GTD, you will need a system that can support it.
Whatever works for you, works, but let me urge you to not use a pen and paper to-do
list. Accessibility is the most important thing to look for when picking a GTD system.
You need to be able to capture actions in your system whenever and wherever: in your
car, at your desk, on the beach, etc. For this reason, you are going to need a digital
system (an app) that you can use on your phone and at your desk.

I use OmniFocus and swear by it. I paid $120 for the Mac app and iPhone app, but
honestly, having used OmniFocus for seven years now, I would happily pay much more
for the product. I have tried dozens of to-do list apps and nothing comes close to
OmniFocus. That said, I’m glad I used other systems with less features when I was first
learning GTD. Wunderlist was good at keeping GTD simple enough for me to manage.
The best part is, it’s free!

Step 2: Fill up your Inbox

Open up your chosen GTD system and navigate to your Inbox. Take an hour or so to do
a brain dump of all the things you have to do; all the things on your mind that require
some action from you. These could be small things such as returning an email or large
things such as recording an album. Don’t filter these to-dos, just type them into your
Inbox. Here’s a helpful list of “triggers” that will jar open loops in your head. Go through
the same process with any other system that currently hosts your to-dos (email, post-it
notes, pad of paper, etc.). Everything that is actionable needs to wind up in your GTD
Inbox.

Step 3: Give yourself permission to NOT get certain things done

Take a look at the list you have created in your Inbox. Are there certain things that you
know realistically just are not going to happen? If so, cross them off, and allow yourself
to forget about them.

Step 4: Clean through your Inbox

OK, your Inbox is ready to be processed! Now, if you followed step number two above,
you may have an obscene number (100+) of items in your Inbox. That’s OK. Take the
time to follow this process to clean through your Inbox and you will have GTD mastered
for the future. Obviously, on a day-to-day basis you won’t have nearly as many items in
your Inbox to clean through. Ready to process? Here we go!

First, be sure to process the items in your Inbox one by one in the order they appear.
Never skip a line!

Next, you will need to determine if desired outcome (EX: “Launch personal website”)
will require more than one action to complete. If it does, create a Project for that desired
outcome. If your desired outcome doesn’t require more than one action to complete
(EX: Text wife video of epic baby poop stain), add it to a Single Action list.

Next, ask yourself if this is a Project or Single Action that you’re going to get started on
in the next week. If it’s not, mark the Project or Single Action as On Hold.

For those Projects and tasks that you will start this week, ask “What is the Next Action I
need to take in order to complete this Project?” With our above example of launching a
personal website, the Next Action might be to “text Jane to ask which tools she used to
build her website.”
With the Next Action now defined, consider whether or not this task can be completed
in less than two minutes. If it can be, do it right away! It’s not worth your time
organizing it in your GTD system. If it will take longer than two minutes, you can either
add it as a Next Action to its appropriate Project or Single Action list, or delegate the
task to someone else, in which case you will add a Waiting For task to your Project.
Here’s a visual overview of how this process should work:
Step 5: Schedule your Weekly Review

Go ahead and choose a recurring time on your calendar that you know you will be able
to keep sacred to review all of your Projects and tasks. Your Weekly Review must be
done every single week in order for GTD to work properly. Here’s a recommended
structure for your Weekly Review:

1. Review your calendar items for the past week and the week ahead. This will likely
trigger some actions that you forgot to add to your GTD Inbox. 


2. Clean through your GTD Inbox using the process outlined above 


3. Review the active Projects in your to-do list app to ensure there’s a Next 
 Action
associated with each 


4. View your On Hold Projects and activate those that need to be started next week



KEEP IT UP

If you have completed steps 1-5 above, the hard work is over! You now have a system
that you can trust to capture all of your commitments and a process to ensure you never
lose track of the outcomes you want to accomplish. Here’s all you need to do on a
regular basis to keep your mind clear and your GTD system working:

1. Immediately write down any commitment that ever enters your head in your
GTD Inbox 


2. Clean through your GTD Inbox regularly (2-3 times a day) 


3. Keep the Weekly Review sacred 


If you are brave enough to go through the steps above and start implementing GTD in
your life, you will soon experience the stress-free euphoria of knowing that you are
tracking everything you’ve said “Yes” to. Getting started with GTD can be overwhelming,
but I promise it is worth it.