Getting Things Done
'There's always a better way', John Ridgway used to tell me when I worked for him in my late teens. 'Every time I tie my shoelaces, or shave in the morning, I think to myself "there must be a better way of doing this"'.
I'm not quite sure when I first heard of 'GTD' – I think it was when Merlin Mann's 43 Folders blog was launched. Getting Things Done is the title of a book by David Allen, and it's the name of a system he has spent more than twenty years perfecting. It's difficult to describe succinctly – it's more about stuff management than time management; David himself calls it 'advanced common sense'. As someone patently lacking in even beginner's common sense, I thought it would be wise to get along to David's GTD conference in London last week. (Thanks for recommending it, Mark!)
And I'm bloomin' glad I did. It was compelling stuff and David is a brilliant presenter – there aren't many (nearly) sixty-year-olds that could get away with using words like 'dude', 'bandwidth', 'whoah!' and 'karma', whilst simultaneously weaving in topics as profound as deciding your purpose in life and as trivial as making sure your car's brakes are serviced on time.
I've always recoiled at conventional 'time management' systems – the idea of planning and scheduling every waking hour appalls me. I'm a big fan of spontaneity, day-dreaming and doing things for the hell of it, and the beauty of GTD is that it frees up even more time for just that – the Good Stuff. As you can probably tell, I'm sold. If you fancy a trip to Miami next week, that's where the last seminar this year is. If not, go buy the book.
— Filed under Inspiration