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January 12, 2007
GTD is not just about getting organized
One of the easiest things to get out of GTD is to feel more organized, yet getting organized is just one of 5 key phases for mastering your workflow. Cleaning up your space and organizing it may bring short-term relief, but it may not bring long-term trust if what you've organized doesn't even scratch the surface of what your work is and what has your attention. There are actually 5 phases of GTD for mastering your workflow with best practices within each:
Collect - Gather everything that has your attention in all forms it comes to you (your own mind, from others, by hard copy, into email etc.)
Process - Make decisions about it ALL asking, "What's the outcome I'm looking for?" "What will be true when I'm done with this thing?" Knowing what done will look like gives you clear direction to then ask, "What's the next action?"
Organize - Create a trusted system and set of lists that will show you what you need. If you're setting up lists, there will be 4 key action buckets to view your work: Projects/Outcome, Actions, Calendar and Waiting For.
Review - Review it all regularly (about every 7 days) so that you are clear, current and creative in all of the ways you want to be. This weekly review is also one of the best things you can do to build confidence in your system.
Do - Choose what you can do with the greatest level of trust and intuition in the moment knowing that what you're choosing from represents your total work, with all actions decided, organized in a place you trust and have reviewed regularly.
Posted by Kelly at January 12, 2007 02:12 PM
