Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity
Book Review: A Frustrating Read!
Summary: 3 Stars
Having heard so much about this management system, I read the book--what a frustrating experience! I was hooked from the beginning and implemented a couple of suggestions with a large party I was then planning and Mr. Allen's suggestions certainly helped me define the ultimate purpose for my party and next actions, and I became much more effective in my preparations. But then I got on to Chapter 3 and following and totally bombed: had I not read this already? And what about these meaningless quotes in the margins that are so distracting? It only got worse and worse as I read on and I became so stressed about all my unfinished business that I lost sleep! I knew from my first experience that there were pearls of wisdom in this book, so I started from the beginning again and discovered that all your really need to read and implement is Chapter 2. So I set up my office as described (without the label maker, I don't need another tool to clutter my desk, and computer-generated labels work very well). Then I started collecting my STUFF and put it in my inbox, mind you, not all of it at once as he recommends, that's what was stressing me out so much. Then I started processing what was in my inbox, and adding to it anything I come across (thoughts or physical stuff). Also, I'm still making daily lists but they're mostly derived from my "next actions" list. The ideas are excellent, but the presentation is not good, this book demoralized me at first instead of energizing me, hence only three stars.Book Review: Defniitely worth the buy
Summary: 4 Stars
As with most books like this, a great deal of the content is common sense. But as is always the case with me, formalizing it and explaining it is always what I need.
He explains the natural thought process of a project in order to help you get a grasp of what things need to be done in order to achieve your outstanding goals.
He explains why you can't ever relax because you have so much to do, and how to get over that stress so that you can relax during those times you want to relax!
He gives you a system, which you can use as-is or tailor to your personal taste, that essentially guarantees that nothing gets lost, everything gets done and puts you in control.
I know it sounds like an ad, but as I started with, the content is true and makes sense.
Admittedly, I'm still pretty new at this system, and have to improve how I work with it, but so far I am loving it.
Also, if you have a BlackBerry, look for the "NextAction!" software. It's not great software, but it's good enough to follow the system. The main thing that I don't like about the NextAction! is that I find it difficult to manage the tasks in Microsoft Outlook, so I have to stick with Outlook to manage my mail-based tasks and my BB for my non-mail based tasks, but that's not too bad for me.
Book Review: De-clutter your office and your mind!
Summary: 5 Stars
David Allen gives you specific tasks to organize and streamline your life and business. Do it or drop it - words to live by if you want to eliminate clutter in your office and in your mind. Book Review: good time management ideas
Summary: 4 Stars
GTD called it right when it identified broken agreements with self as a source of negative feeling, anxiety, guilt and "disintegrated self-trust". And one cannot be wholly productive when they are nagged by worries of open loops. GTD presents a methodology for remedying this and achieving a "mind like water".
While I still believe in traditional time management principles such as task prioritization, GTD offers some excellent concepts and takeaways: Corralling all your stuff is critical - you can only feel good about what you're not doing ONLY when you know what you're not doing; the notion of Next Actions is simple but invaluable; separating reference and support material from actionable items will keep the system less clogged; the Someday/Maybe list as an outlet for off-the-wall and future tasks; and the four criteria model for choosing actions in the moment works, among others.
GTD makes a strong case for some type of time management or personal organization system. This was my second time through the book and while it was worth the revisit, I wish it gave more specifics on tools; and the lack of mention of Blackerrys and iPhones nearly make the book dated. GTD doesn't offer a panacea; but as David Allen himself states, no system is perfect for tracking projects and tasks, you just need to know you have them and where to find more information. I am looking forward to his upcoming sequel.
Book Review: Great encouraging and motivating content, but redundant...
Summary: 4 Stars
The methods in this book were extremely helpful to me. They are very plain and written in simple, totally understandable, language. The information and advice in the book can be applied to almost any situation, even for optimizing my productivity as a high school student. However after I was about halfway done with this book I literally just stopped reading and through my head went "Have I already read this page? Did I loose track of where I left off?" I hadnt! The book is simply so redundant its hard to keep reading. It tells you about the methods (In pretty decent depth) and then in the next section tells you how to apply them, and in the third section tells you how to actually use them and put them to action. About half of the information in the sections overlaps and the information is simply not well structured.