This series is adapted from a series I wrote for my co-workers as an introduction to the Getting Things Done approach to productivity. I owe many thanks to:
- Dana for proofreading and helping me with improving the structure of this series,
- Omar and Patrick for encouraging me to share this series more broadly,
- Nick Milo (and Linking Your Thinking) for the inspiration of breaking this series into atomic pieces with navigation and a table of contents,
- and David Allen for developing and sharing the Getting Things Done methodology with the world.
We work in a world driven by goals and OKRs. However, having a productivity system that is simply goals-driven isn’t enough to be effective.
We work in an interruption-heavy environment. Between Slack/Teams messages, meetings, and e-mails, there’s a lot of things pulling on our attention. With all these things fighting for our attention, it can be difficult to keep the bigger picture in mind.
Ineffective productivity systems create distraction and stress. If you don’t completely trust your system, you’ll subconsciously resist using it for managing things that are important. You’ll always be anxious about whether your system will be sufficient to help you manage your work. You’ll feel the need to always remember your upcoming tasks because you won’t trust that your system will serve you when the time is right.
Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax.
–David Allen
Goals can be demotivating. If we focus too strongly on something that’s too far out of reach, it can be demotivating. It can feel like we’re not making progress, or that achievement is simply unrealistic.
When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.
–Creighton Abrams
I’ve put together this series to share a productivity system that I think addresses these concerns: David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD). I will review each step of Allen’s system and provide tips on how to implement it. In the next section, I will explain some of the psychology behind why this system is effective.
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