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Daniel Maurer
Daniel Maurer

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The Art of Making It Happen

Getting Things Done, or simply GTD, is a task management system created by David Allen who also wrote a book with the same name. After reading the book I'll write this as much as possible, brief summary.

The method aims to leave those who have adopted it with the mind as water, a state of mind where you are no longer concerned with remembering what to do because you can trust that everything you need to do is already written down so you can focus so well and exclusively on what you need to do at the moment. With this method you will capture all your disorder in an external system and it is this system that will help you organize what you need to do and have everything under control.

The GTD is based on five steps to make things happen:

  1. Capture everything;
  2. Process;
  3. Plan;
  4. Review;
  5. Begin to work.

Capture everything: Literally take all the tasks out of your head and move on to an external system that is more reliable.
Process: At this point you must process everything you've captured in clear action steps that require action. Decide if the items are a project, next action or reference.
Plan: It is important to have your lists organized so put everything in the right place. Add dates to your calendar, delegate projects to others, archive reference material, and sort your tasks.
Review: This is the time to review the entire system to update the information and gain perspective.
Get to work: It's running knowing what you're doing at that moment, the most important thing you should be doing.

The method still relies on the rule of two minutes, which basically is to perform at the current time, now, everything that takes less than two minutes.

The key to any productivity system is to keep it as simple as possible and use it as often as possible.

Do you have a question or do you want a hint? Use the comments!

Thank you for reading!

Best regards,
Daniel Maurer

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