How GTD Rescued Me

Jesus saved my soul. GTD saved my future. Really, it did. When started working at church at 19 I had no office experience. And although in my melancholic, creative nature there is an obsessive and meticulous organiser within me, unfortunately I have historically had a nasty habit of never implementing a system because I could never get it ’perfect’ enough. From 19 through to 25, despite the public successes I had, the lack of a personal organisation system meant I dropped more than a few balls. Thankfully, several years ago, I found the holy grail of personal organisational systems: GTD. GTD (Getting Things Done) is the brainchild of David Allen, and is not so much a time management system, but rather a work/life management system. It’s big idea: to have a trusted external system in which to store everything you need to do, so that your mind doesn’t have to be the storage unit. Put simply, if my mind doesn’t have to remember all the things I need to do, it’s free to think and create.

Why GTD Works For Me

I use a modified version of GTD. Why modified? Because trying to implement the whole system for someone with a perfectionistic streak is just a recipe for never starting. My modified version is made up of the following key points:

• Capture everything – whether it be an idea, a to-do, a thought – into one place (I use OmniFocus)
• Process inbox daily – taking each item and either doing it (if less than 2 mins), delegating it, deferring it, or deleting it
• Weekly review – once a week, reviewing everything and making sure I’m on track

The result? Peace of mind. A clear head. And the ability to actually get things done.