Getting Things Done (GTD) is a philosophy of time/life management theory introduced by David Allen in his seminal book “Getting Things Done”. It rests on the idea that a person needs to move tasks out of his mind to an external system, and free his mind from remembering them and concentrate on the moment to attain flow.

What does GTD say?

Capture: Do a ‘mind-sweep’. Write down all that is capturing your attention – all that’s in your mind and all the unfinished work into an “inbox”.

Process: Decide what’s to be done with what you captured – it does not mean we work on it immediately but just decide what needs to be done about it.

What is it? Is it actionable?

• If yes, then what’s the next physical action to be taken to move the task to completion?

• Are you the right person to do it? If yes and it takes less than 2 mins – do it
  • If no, delegate it & capture it in a – “Waiting for” list

  • If yes, and takes more than 2 mins – “Defer it” to Calendar (for day & time specific tasks) or a tickler file/next actions list (for tasks which can be handled as soon as you can get to them)

• If tasks have more than one step to complete – assign the outcome as a “Project”.

When documenting next actions, assign them contexts – conditions that need to be met to get that particular task done.

if it is not actionable?

Put all the tasks you have not decided when to do in a Someday/Maybe list. Hobbies & dreams could be a part of this list.
If it is reference material then file it under Reference and keep it handy.
Trash it if you don’t absolutely need it.

Organize: store tasks in appropriate places: Calendar/tickler file/next actions list – where we are sure to look at and be reminded of what needs to be done

Review: Decide what can be/needs to be done. Do a weekly review of all the items in all the lists needs to keep the system current and functional.

Do: How do you decide what needs to be done?

Think in this order:

• Context: What could I do, with where I’m and with what I have at my disposal?
• Time Available: How much time do I have before I have to do something else?
• Energy Available: How much work can I handle?
• Priority: Given the context I’m in and the time and energy I have, out of all the remaining options, what is the most important thing for me to do

This way, we can effectively handle all the work that comes to us mindfully. Once we’ve handled all that pulls and tugs our brain, we’ll be free to concentrate on the ‘big rocks’ of our life.