Getting Things Done
The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by David Allen
“I am a devout, card-carrying GTD true believer. ‘Getting Things Done’ offers a way to reconfigure your life to keep everything in perspective. David Allen’s system is the sanity lifesaver I’ve been looking for all these years.”
Why Your Brain Is a Terrible Office (and How to Build a Better One)
You’re in a meeting, trying to focus on the presentation, but your mind is elsewhere. It’s juggling a mental to-do list: you need to remember to email that client back, pick up milk on the way home, prepare for tomorrow’s big deadline, and not forget the brilliant idea you had in the shower. This constant, low-grade hum of unresolved "stuff" is the soundtrack of modern professional life. It creates stress, drains your focus, and leaves you feeling perpetually behind, no matter how hard you work.
In his wildly influential book, Getting Things Done, productivity guru David Allen argues that this mental chaos is not a time management problem; it’s a systems problem. The source of our stress is not that we have too much to do, but that we are trying to use our brains as an office. Our brain, Allen explains, is for having ideas, not for holding them. When you use your mind as a filing cabinet, it creates dozens of "open loops" that sap your energy. The GTD system is a powerful and comprehensive method for getting everything out of your head and into a trusted external system, freeing your mind to achieve a state of relaxed, focused control he calls "mind like water."
What You'll Learn
The single biggest reason you feel stressed and overwhelmed (and the simple way to fix it).
The five-step GTD system for capturing, clarifying, and organizing everything on your plate.
Why your brain is brilliant at having ideas, but a terrible place to store them.
The famous "Two-Minute Rule" that can immediately clear up your to-do list.
How the "Weekly Review" is the master key to staying in control of your life and work.
The Core Principle: Freeing Your Mind from "Open Loops"
The foundational idea of GTD is that your brain is constantly scanning for unresolved commitments or "open loops." That nagging feeling that you're forgetting something? That’s an open loop. Every to-do, every idea, every "I should..." that you keep in your head is an open loop that consumes mental RAM. Your brain can’t tell the difference between "remember to buy milk" and "remember to launch the new product line." It just knows something is unresolved.
The GTD system is designed to close these loops. Not necessarily by doing everything, but by getting it all out of your head and into a trusted external system where it can be processed and organized. This act of externalizing your commitments frees up your brain to be fully present and focused on the task at hand.
The 5 Steps to Mastering Your Workflow
The GTD methodology is a five-step process for achieving a state of relaxed control.
Step 1: Capture
The first step is to collect everything that has your attention. Every idea, task, email, and commitment, big or small, must be captured in an "in-basket." Your in-basket isn't just one thing; it's a collection of tools. It could be a physical inbox on your desk, your email inbox, a notebook you carry everywhere, or a digital app like Todoist or Asana. The key is to have ubiquitous capture tools so you can immediately get any new "stuff" out of your head, trusting that it has been safely collected.
Step 2: Clarify (or Process)
This is where you go through your in-baskets and process each item one by one. For every item, you ask a series of simple questions:
What is it?
Is it actionable? If no, you either trash it, file it for reference, or put it on a "Someday/Maybe" list.
If yes, what is the "Next Action"? What is the very next physical, visible action required to move this forward?
Will it take less than two minutes? If so, follow the famous Two-Minute Rule and do it immediately.
Step 3: Organize
Once you've clarified an item, you need to put it where it belongs. This is not a single, monolithic to-do list. The GTD system uses several key buckets:
A Calendar: This is for time-specific actions (appointments) or day-specific actions only. It is sacred space.
Next Actions Lists: These are the lists of all the single actions you need to take. They are best organized by the context needed to do them (e.g., @Computer, @Phone, @Errands, @Home).
A Projects List: This is a list of all your multi-step outcomes (e.g., "Plan Holiday Party," "Launch New Website"). This list is simply a tracker; the actual work lives on your Next Actions lists.
A Someday/Maybe List: For all the great ideas you might want to get to one day, like "learn Spanish" or "write a book."
Step 4: Reflect (or Review)
This is the master key that makes the entire system work. Your system is only trusted if you review it regularly. The most important reflection is the Weekly Review. This is a non-negotiable, 1-2 hour appointment you make with yourself every week to get clear, get current, and get creative. During the review, you look at all your lists, update your projects, and clear your head, ensuring your system is up-to-date and fully functional.
Step 5: Engage (or Do)
With a clear and trusted system, deciding what to do next becomes an intuitive, stress-free choice. Instead of worrying about what you might be forgetting, you can look at your context-based lists and make a trusted choice based on three factors:
Your Context: Where are you and what tools do you have? (e.g., you're at your computer, so you look at your @Computer list).
Your Time Available: Do you have 10 minutes or two hours?
Your Energy Level: Do you have the mental energy for a high-focus task or just a simple one?
The GTD Power Tools
These are some of the most famous and effective tactics from the GTD system.
The Two-Minute Rule: If a new action appears that will take less than two minutes to complete, do it the moment you think of it or process it. It's faster to do it than to defer it.
Next Actions: Never write a vague "project" on a to-do list. Always define the very next physical, visible action. Don't write "Plan vacation"; write "Research flights to Italy online."
Context Lists (@): Organizing your Next Actions lists by context (@Phone, @Computer, @Errands) is a superpower. When you find yourself with 15 minutes and your phone, you can pull up your @Phone list and knock out several calls in a row.
The "Mind Sweep": The initial, all-encompassing capture of everything that has your attention. It's the foundation for getting clear.
Your First "Mind Sweep": A GTD Quick Start
Ready to feel the clarity? Try this simplified starter exercise.
1. Capture Everything: Grab a pen and a large stack of paper. Spend the next 30-60 minutes writing down every single thing that is on your mind. Personal, professional, big, small—if it's in your head, get it on the paper. Empty your brain completely.
2. Process a Few Items: Take the first five items from your stack. For each one, ask: "Is this actionable?" If not, throw it away, file it for reference, or start a "Someday/Maybe" list.
3. Apply the Two-Minute Rule: If an actionable item from your stack will take less than two minutes, stop processing and do it right now. Experience the immediate relief of getting it done.
4. Define a "Next Action": For an item that will take longer, write down the very next physical step. Don't write "Organize garage"; write "Measure garage wall for new shelves."
Final Reflections
Getting Things Done is far more than a collection of time management hacks; it's a comprehensive system for life management. David Allen provides a trusted and proven methodology for navigating the complexity of the modern world with greater focus and less stress. By mastering the five steps of capturing, clarifying, organizing, reflecting, and engaging, you can free your mind from the burden of remembering everything. You can achieve a state of "mind like water," able to respond to whatever comes your way with appropriate force and grace, fully present and in control.
Business Floss is reader-supported. When you use our links we may earn an affiliate commission that helps us keep the site running. Thank you for your support!
