Getting Things Done

Our recent Office Hour discussion had a surprise visitor ? David Allen! He caught us up on the dual celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the publication of Getting Things Done and his 80th birthday. We talked about where, and whether, to keep reminders for various household tasks, the shifting "weight" of areas of focus over time, and how paper capture endures.

David has a conversation with Dr. Julie Flagg, who discusses her GTD journey, including her significant decision to retire. Julie has been a GTD enthusiast since 2000, when she met David in Boston. She talks about how she has adapted her system to the change from a busy medical practice to an equally busy retirement. Julie still applies all the GTD best practices, including the two-minute rule. Introducing Julie for this interview, David mentions her presentation at the GTD Summit in 2019.

We explore how categorizing your GTD next actions lists by context will help you accomplish more with less effort. Context is critical, because it filters what you can do before you factor in time, energy, and priority. We discuss what contexts are, how they have and haven't changed over the years, misconceptions about contexts, and examples of ways people use them in today's world.

David has a fascinating conversation with Charles Duhigg, whose new book is Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection. Charles says, "With the right tools, we can connect with anyone."

In this wide-ranging conversation, David and Gina DiRoma cover a variety of GTD topics. They even get around to GTD and improvisational comedy. Gina is the Corporate Events and Sales Director at SAK Comedy Lab, where the motto is "we make stuff up." That's a perfect complement to David's phrase, "Make it up, make it happen."