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 enlarge | Author: David Allen
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $9.45
You Save: $8.55 (48%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  468 reviews
Sales Rank: 6507712
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B00005V7Q4
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 GTD based on misguided assumptions October 21, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
After reading through this book a few times, subscribing to several blogs related to GTD, and trying several GTD applications I came to the following conclusion: The problem isn't so much that we have a lot of things to do. The problem is figuring what your life goals and priorities are. When you decide what the important things are in your life, work, and at home, you'll find that you'll be able to manage life as you'll see that there are less things to do. This will cut out the 'fat' and life won't seem so overwhelming. My main criticism of the GTD method is that it is very passive and defensive. What I mean by this is that it encourages passivity as you are bombarded by things that you have to do. Some of those things are important; some are not. Nonetheless, you are at the center of life, passively receiving things that you need to do. In essence, you are not in control of your life but life itself controls you; thus, you are never in the offensive mode, controlling your life. Having said that, there are some good points to the book, but one should keep what I said in mind as you read/implement the tenets of this book. Hopefully, I will have saved you a lot of time so that you wouldn't take the path that I took and thereby having more time in getting some important things done.
 Multitude of Great Tips October 18, 2008
The book's intro statement says it all. "It's possible for a person to have an overwhelming number of thigns to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control." I'm sure most of us feel like we have too many things to do. I know I do! This book purports to help us manage that list with calm and patience.
David Allen emphasizes that getting wound up and stressed rarely helps anyone. Atheletes and martial artists know that the best results come when you are "in the flow" - when you move effortlessly with what is going on, giving your full focus to the task in a calm, deliberate way.
The first step is to document all the projects you have, whatever they are. There are a variety of systems out there - choose whichever works best for you. We are all different humans, we all have different styles. Prioritize them based on their real import to your values, not by any external measure. Figure out, for each project, what a "next step to do" would be - something small and manageable. Then start doing them!
Too many people have lists with generalities on it like "go on a vacation". That is too big a project to tackle! Instead how about having an action item of "figure out top 3 destination choices". That is much more easy to handle - and fun, too! Heck, you could do that on a laptop during commercials.
The book has actual workflow diagrams helping you see how to sort incoming email, how to organize daily tasks, and more. It is all about sorting, recording what needs to be done and then getting started on the priority items. The book lists brainstorming ideas, and setting out stages of larger projects. It emphasizes the importance of weekly reviews, to keep yourself on track and to realize how much progress you're making.
There is a LOT of information jammed into this book. I definitely recommend reading it in stages - and then going back and re-reading it to glean additional bits of information later on. Like most books of this ilk, it's likely you know 80% of it already. Still, something in that 20% might be EXACTLY what you need to really make a huge improvement in your life.
Well recommended.
 Helpful Read October 4, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book was helpful when I read it with a few organizational items in my life. It's been a while since I've read it, and I can't exactly remember what I learned so I've given it a 3/5.
Absolutely phenomenal ways of managing yourself October 2, 2008
Management begins with self! Start managing yourself and you would be able to manage everyone and everything around you. But there are times when you have lots of things to do and you are left with no choice but to get more and more confused.
The best ways I thought to manage everything starting from my desktop to the projects I was working in was (after I analyzed a lot and Googled around) to more and more equip myself with sophisticated gadgets, this is what they are meant for, isn't it?. Well after I installed good software, mindmaping applications, get good PDAs, I was, once more, to my surprise managing additional stuffs that what I already was previously. At least for few days I was feeling a little satisfied that my investment in one of the most updated software or a hand-held device is going to bring me peace. But after few weeks everything was back to square one.
I even saw this occasionally with other people, the more unorganized you feel the more devices, gadgets, etc you tend to buy, but no one was happy, eventually the more STUFF you get the more unorganized you become. Which ultimately leads to stress. That is NOT the solution. Basically, after getting myself acquainted with GTD I understood that the devices were actually built around GTD. So, once I know what the basis principles of personal productivity are I can accordingly arrange myself, my mailbox, gadgets etc.
The solution is to know and understand the CORE the basic principles that are essential to generate productivity and efficiency. You must be a person with great ideas and already very successful, however, if you are someone who is under stress of not being able to manage a lot of stuff then you need this book.
Know exactly what stress is? How your internal commintment, even when you think that you are not committing, to various things around you build more and more stress? How can you arrange, discard, delegate stuff.
This truly is, as coined by David, an Advanced Common Sense.
There is a lot of stuff about GTD over the internet including the 43 folders website. I suggest you surely visit the YouTube videos for Davids lectures at Google (authors@Google). Look at him when he is explaining things on video and then read the book.
This Book can Change Your Level of Productivity and Stress September 30, 2008
Other than the Bible, this is probably the most impactful book I have ever read. I stumbled upon this book in a bookstore years ago and bought it on a lark. The ideas are so simple but also can change the game of how you interract with your work and life to get more important things done. While seeing David Allen in person (which I later did) is even better in the book, this is a great way to spend $10 and I often buy it for people who work for me.
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