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Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

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Getting Things Done Paperback – January 1, 2015

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Since it was first published in David Allen's Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business titles of its era, and the book on personal organisation. 'GTD' has become shorthand for an entire way of approaching the professional and personal tasks everyone faces in life, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organisational tools, seminars, and offshoots.

For this revised and updated edition, David Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text with new tools and technologies, and adding material that will make the book evergreen for the coming decades. Also new is a glossary of GTD terms; The GTD Path of Mastership - a description of what Allen has learned and is now teaching regarding the lifelong craft of integrating these practices, to the end-game of the capability of dealing with anything in life, by getting control and focus; and a section on the cognitive science research that validates GTD principles.

The new edition of Getting Things Done will be welcomed not only by the hundreds of thousands of existing fans but will be embraced by an entire new generation eager to adopt its proven principles.

Print length

317 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Piatkus Books
Publication date

January 1, 2015
Dimensions

6.06 x 1.06 x 9.17 inches
ISBN-10

9780349408941
ISBN-13

978-0349408941
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What's it about?
This book is about how to be more productive in both your professional and personal life.
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We (1) capture what has our attention; (2) clarify what each item means and what to do about it; (3) organize the results, which presents the options we (4) reflect on, which we then choose to (5) engage with.
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Getting things done requires two basic components: defining (1) what “done” means (outcome) and (2) what “doing” looks like (action).
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the real problem is a lack of clarity and definition about what a project really is, and what associated next-action steps are required.
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Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organization, preparation, and action.
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I define a project as any desired result that can be accomplished within a year that requires more than one action step.
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0349408947
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Piatkus Books (January 1, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 317 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780349408941
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0349408941
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.06 x 1.06 x 9.17 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #589,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #578 in Time Management (Books)
- #4,948 in Business Processes & Infrastructure
- #7,174 in Success Self-Help

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4.5 9,705 ratings

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David Allen

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David Allen is widely recognized as the world’s leading expert on personal and organizational productivity. His thirty-year pioneering research and coaching to corporate managers and CEOs of some of America’s most prestigious corporations and institutions has earned him Forbes’ recognition as one of the top five executive coaches in the U.S. and Business 2.0 magazine's inclusion in their 2006 list of the "50 Who Matter Now." Time Magazine called his flagship book, "Getting Things Done", “the definitive business self-help book of the decade.” Fast Company Magazine called David “one of the world’s most influential thinkers” in the arena of personal productivity, for his outstanding programs and writing on time and stress management, the power of aligned focus and vision, and his groundbreaking methodologies in management and executive peak performance.

David is the international best-selling author of "Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity"; "Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life"; and "Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life".

He is the engineer of GTD®, the popular Getting Things Done® methodology that has shown millions how to transform a fast-paced, overwhelming, overcommitted life into one that is balanced, integrated, relaxed, and has more successful outcomes. GTD’s broad appeal is based on the fact that it is applicable from the boardroom to the living room to the class room. It is hailed as “life changing” by students, busy parents, entrepreneurs and corporate executives. David is the Founder and Chairman of the David Allen Company, whose inspirational seminars, coaching, educational materials and practical products present individuals and organizations with a new model for “Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life.” He continues to write articles and essays that address today’s ever-changing issues about living and working in a fast-paced world while sustaining balance, control, and meaningful focus.

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Jeffrey Thompson

This Book can Change Your Life

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024

Verified Purchase

Great read. Easy to follow and understand. Great benefits when applied according to his instructions.
You will accomplish a whole lot more with this daily and weekly strategy. I suggest you take this knowledge and combine it with the 12 Week Year 12weekyear.com which is a top down (from vision down to daily tactical actions) way to get things done and this book is a bottom up way (from all the details upwards to vision). They are a beautiful combo to time management and organizing your life with the most important things to focus on and accomplish daily, weekly, and 12 week year (quarterly).

4 people found this helpful

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Simple Citizen

No Book I have ever read led me to MAKE as many changes as this book.

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2023

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I have read a lot of books on how to organize your life:
Love People, Use Things
Essentialism
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
One Minute manager
The Fifth Discipline

I have also read books on leadership, self-help, therapy, productivity, working through failure, and on and on.

NOTHING ELSE HAS COME CLOSE.

Now, this may be because of where I am in my life. It may be that this book isn’t any better than the others, it’s just WHAT I NEEDED at this moment.
I have 5 teenagers, 3 jobs, my own clinic, I’m writing a book, speaking publicly often, and I’m also auditioning for a play next week. Oh, and I love free time, relaxing on weekends and evenings, spending time with friends, going to plays, and reading books.
I also WANT TO BE DEPENDABLE. I want to do what I have said I will do. I want to make less agreements, and have less obligations, so that I can NAIL the ones I have made.
That’s where this book was so very helpful. Yes the author eventually asks you to think about long term goals and life values and those things, but he really starts at the day to day level.
“HOW DO YOU GET DONE, THE THINGS YOU SAID YOU WOULD?” How do you meet your current obligations? How do you finish each day with a feeling of satisfaction.
How do you better handle the things you have already agreed to do, and manage the barrage of things coming at you all day every day that are unexpected?
DOING what he suggests has made me feel RELIABLE. I know what I can do, and what I can’t. I know when I can say yes, and when I have to say no. I know when I have to adjust, or change a previous agreement because it just AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN the way I had hoped.
It is an amazing feeling of peace to know that I can reliably say yes or no to things, and I will honestly get back to them, finish them, remember them.
My first attempts weren’t perfect. My first organizational attempt from early January has already been discarded. As have my second and third attempts. But each time was BETTER than what I was doing before, and each time I like the new system more and more, and it’s easier and faster to use and more reliable.
My wife and kids know exactly when I am free, and we can do ALL SORTS of fun things, and movie marathons, and visiting family in other cities, and on and on.
GETTING THINGS DONE has changed my life in just two months.
If your life feels out of control, your mind feels scattered, and you constantly miss things you agreed to… READ THIS BOOK.

84 people found this helpful

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Brody mccarthy

Personal growth book!

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2024

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Got this book for personal growth and really have enjoyed it. Helps to get the clutter out of your head to move forward on the things that matter most!

3 people found this helpful

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Canadian eReader

This is the go-to book for the GTD methodology

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2017

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Self help is not a genre of books I read very often, but I made an exception for David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. One of my goals for 2017 was to become better organised and to be more productive. I first learned about the GTD methodology through Carl Pullein’s YouTube channel that I follow. I’ve been working on this for around six weeks now, so it’s too early to tell, but I’m happy with what I’ve learned so far.

Getting Things Done, or GTD, is a productivity methodology based on a few deceptively simple concepts. Now, I’m still very new to GTD, but this is how I see it. One of the fundamental ideas behind GTD is that the human brain is excellent at processing ideas and being creative, but not a great storage facility. A key part of GTD is getting all ideas, projects and commitments out of your brain and into a trusted system or external brain.

There are five activities to GDT: Capture, Clarify, Organise, Reflect and Engage. If I can take from the GTD website, this translates to:

Capture: Collect what has your attention. For me, this means adding all my ideas, commitments and to-dos in my list manager application of choice, Todoist. I really love this application and regret that I don’t have it at work. I try to capture everything from my doctor’s appointments, to buying cat food for Lushka to a reminder to ask my husband if we have picture hooks. I’m planning a trip to Europe this summer, so any time I think of something like oh, I must remember to get Swiss francs, into Todoist it goes.

Clarify: Process what it means. Here I can’t be any more concise than or as clear as the workflow diagram on the GTD website:

Gtd

Honestly, if I take away nothing more from my experience with GTD than the two minute rule (if you can do it in two minutes, do it now, otherwise delegate it or defer it) and the discipline to define the next physical action to move a task along it will have been worth it.

Organise: Put it where it belongs. This is probably the area of GTD that’s least intuitive for me – I’m not very organised! At the very least, I try to put any appointments on my calendar, any tasks in the appropriate section of Todoist, and potentially relevant non-actionable information in Evernote. One interesting aspect of GTD is the use of contexts. This means organising your tasks not by priority but by the tools, location, and/or person you need to be able to complete them successfully. So, for example, in my Taxes 2016 list I have an item; pick up tax receipt from pharmacy. I tagged that as “pharmacy” along with other items like pick up Polysporin and drop off new prescription. So when I go to the pharmacy I just check that tag to be reminded of all the things I have to accomplish while I’m there. Similarly, while planning my trip to Europe I have a context of Susanne, the friend I’m visiting. Any time I think of something I need to ask her, I add it to that list of things to discuss next time I call or email her.

Reflect: Review your to do list and calendar frequently. The idea here is to keep your “external brain” current with everything that you need to accomplish. If you don’t add to it or clear our stale items, your real brain will no longer trust your system and it will break down. Most GTDers do a review at least once a week.

Engage: Simply do. Pick the tasks that are available to you based on your contexts and get cracking!

The book itself is very well written and the edition I have was updated in 2015 to include discussion of new technology (not specific applications) and how it impacts the GTD workflow.

if you are interested in improving your productivity and generally getting things done you could do a whole lot worse than to check out this book.

I gave Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free productivity five stars out of five.

141 people found this helpful

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Roy 55

Life changing

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2024

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This has been one of my go to productivity books. I ordered several as graduation gifts and hope the recipients learn and adopt Allen’s GTD methodologies in their own lives.

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2024

Verified Purchase

Feel like it tackles my exact problems with task management. I do feel like the last couple chapters could be shorter but the main chapters were great.

One person found this helpful

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Praveen K.

If you need mental clarity get this book!

Reviewed in India on August 19, 2023

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Excellent Book to develop a working system to help support your mind. Like everything good if the system is implemented religiously and consistently, it may greatly help once productivity. Buy the book if you are either very hazy in the mind or are extremely busy and being overwhelmed.

4 people found this helpful

Alison

I wish I’d read this book earlier

Reviewed in Italy on July 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

I wish I’d read this book earlier. I see so much of myself in Allen’s words and GTD methodology from the intensity/passion of his explanations to seeking spiritual flow.

For so long I felt guilty for not sticking to rigid time management systems and schedules but as it turns out, I’ve already largely implemented the GTD method and am in fact, more productive than I gave myself credit for. That in essence, there is nothing wrong with me and to get over the thought that I’m spending my days wastefully.

This book is for anybody who cringes at the idea of becoming a productively machine and instead desires to create meaningful work efficiently and on your own terms. Getting Things Done is without a doubt a book that touched my soul. i can’t thank David Allen enough for his work.

4 people found this helpful

Rodrigo Delgado

Gran libro muy actualizado.

Reviewed in Mexico on July 23, 2017

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Es un excelente libro. Está muy actualizado sigue cubriendo los puntos esenciales, con ahora con más ejemplos de la época digital. Aunque tiene bastante información, está muy bien estructurado y me ha servido. Todavía ayuda a organizarse mitad en papel mitad en forma digital. Leí el libro hace 10 años, y ahora que lo releo me doy cuenta de algunas prácticas que deje de hacer.

El libro tiene gran contenido y requiere de un buen grado de concentración para poderlo absorver, sin embargo una vez digerido, ayuda a gestionar en buena forma el trabajo.

One person found this helpful

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Víctor

Libro de Cabecera

Reviewed in Spain on March 27, 2018

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ACTUALIZACION: 2021
Al escribir esta review había empezado a aplicar algunos de los primeros consejos e ideas y noté una mejoría en la forma de gestionar el tiempo y acabar proyectos y tareas pendientes. Esto hizo que fuese dejando el libro y dedicarme a otras cosas, sin acabarlo completamente. Esto fue un error.

El libro da todo su potencial cuando lo lees sin pausa. No significa que no vayas aplicando algunas de las ideas y pensando como ir aplicandolas a tu dia a dia, pero sí que no debes perder de vista el objetivo, que no es otro que aprender de forma consistente cómo mejorar la organización personal y profesional del tiempo y el trabajo.

Lo anterior es importante tenerlo claro: hay que dedicarle esfuerzo a pensar sobre cómo aplicar las ideas del libro a tu vida y tu flujo de trabajo, proyectos, etc. No basta con leer el libro, sino que hay que dedicarle algo de esfuerzo en diseñar tu sistema de organización. Pero los beneficios son enormes, así que animo a hacerlo.

En particular, aproveché una semana de vacaciones para dedicarme a leerlo a fondo desde el principio, tomando notas en lugar de intentar crear sobre la marcha un sistema de organización a medio hacer. Lo mejor es ir apuntando las ideas o formas de usar sus consejos y esperar a aplicarlo hasta acabar el libro, porque cuando ves el conjunto global, te das cuenta que no son ideas sueltas, sino que es un sistema de principios completo. Por tanto, cuando lo acabes tendrás una idea mucho mejor y más completa de cómo montar tu propio sistema de organización. Y que conste que lo reelerás más de una vez para revisar conceptos y adaptar el sistema a los cambios que ocurran al pasar el tiempo. De ahí que actualice esta review: voy a releerlo para reajustar y volver a ser igual de eficiente como cuando lo acabé la primera vez.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cuando compré el libro, sabía que tenía un problema con mi sistema de organización. Así que me puse a leerlo inmediatamente. Lo cierto es que tenía algunas dudas, porque había leído otros del mismo tema que no pasaban de expresar lo obvio y de sugerir sistemas que le funcionaban al autor, pero no se adaptaban a mí. Pero este libro sí es bueno.

No es como los anteriores, una simple guía de recetas. Sino que desmenuza los fundamentos básicos e, incluso, la psicología que implica un buen sistema de organización. Además, explica en cada paso el motivo de cada proceso o cada sugerencia. Lo que me encanta del libro es que no ofrece un sistema dise;ado y definido, sino que por medio de ejemplos va hasta el principio general que quiere explicar y eso permite que uno pueda adaptar o modificar las ideas a su propia forma de trabajar y a su propio tiempo. Quizá esto haga que algunas partes se hagan más largas, pero es muy recomendable.

Lo que más me impactó fue la parte psicológica. En el libro explica uno de los principales problemas que tiene la gente que fue buscando su ayuda y es dejar tareas o cosas en una lista de pendientes, sin pararse a determinar las acciones que han de realizar para finalizar esa tarea. Como ejemplo: la tarea "solucionar problema con factura luz" debería dividirse en realidad en varias, siendo la primera, probablemente "Localizar número de atención al cliente de la compania", luego llamar (para algunas personas, eso requiere planificar la llamada en su agenda diaria), y de ahí, depende de la respuesta, se seguirán más pasos o no. Lo que comenta es que al compactar tantas tareas en un solo item, en realidad estamos obligandonos a dedicar mucho espacio mental a esa tarea y salvo que tengamos tiempo de sobra, probablemente se nos atasque un buen tiempo en la lista. De la otra forma, un dia damos por cerrada la tarea de localizar el numero. Otro, cerramos el de la llamada, otro el de enviar los datos que nos hayan pedido... Y el efecto psicologico de sentir que vamos resolviendo el problema es brutal. Porque ya no es el mismo item desde hace dias, sino que es el mismo asunto, pero con acciones mas concretas y simples.

El libro esta lleno de ideas de este tipo que, una vez leídas, suenan muy obvias, pero es algo en que mucha gente (al menos yo) fallaba constantemente. Un libro imprescindible para cualquier persona con poco tiempo o que tiene problemas para gestionar su tiempo de forma eficiente.

Como nota final diré que aún no he terminado el libro (llevo más de la mitad) porque es un proceso, no solo una lectura. Sin embargo, ya puedo confirmar que he mejorado la gestión de mis obligaciones y del tiempo en general, así que no puedo más que recomendarlo.

20 people found this helpful

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Vit V.

Great book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2017

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Getting Things Done is a method for planning and organising your life in a manner that ensures you don't miss anything, thus removing stress while also enabling one to set out their life by focusing on their own priorities and wishes.
David Allen has been developing his system for over 30 years and the book definitely reflects this. He initially worked mainly with CEOs of big companies, however, this does not mean his methods cannot be implemented by those living less busy lives.
The main idea behind David Allen's strategy is that everything that we keep in our mind takes up our "brain space." The only way to avoid pending tasks and errands from taking over our mental clarity is by having a reliable system that does the work for us. If we know that all our "ought to", "should", "have to" aspects of our lives are safely stored somewhere in a way that we will be reminded, then we do not have to worry about them at all.
Then David Allen takes this even one step further, as he emphasises that the main question you always need to ask yourself is WHY. Why are you doing certain things? What kind of value do they bring? This is the golden nugget which in combination with an effective organising system allows one to really focus on tasks that bring them purpose and joy in their lives and to achieve higher goals (while not forgetting to buy bread in the shop).
Is this book for everyone? Definitely not. This is a 300+ page thick system that one has to work through and then work even harder to implement it in their life. Will it help a person with a 9-5 job with very few responsibilities or projects, whose main concerns are only buying bread and remembering a doctor's appointment every now and then? It well might, but not as much as to those who run several different projects, who have to constantly schedule or attend meetings, conferences, trips or whose areas of focus expand on many different fronts.
If you are one of the latter, this book is a must-read! And if you aren't, you might still give it a try, who knows, it might still change your life.

12 people found this helpful

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