Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
After reading the book I would say that it surprised me pleasantly, as it does not give you a direct solution but more like guidance of how to find it yourself. There are some major principles that are being reviewed and then some examples are given, but from that point on - it's the reader that has to develop a system that works for him.
A lot of the discussed methods I already had in use, but the book helped me organize these and hopefully increase my performance. Surely the 2-min rule is a new thing that I implement already (with really good results btw).
And here comes a quotation of a footnote in the book, that can summarize the whole idea of "why should I read this":
"Of course, the people that are most attracted to implementing Getting Thing Done are usually already on a self-development track and don't assume that they'll be doing the same thing a year from now that they are doing now, anyway. But they love the fact that this method gets them there faster and more easily."
A lot of the discussed methods I already had in use, but the book helped me organize these and hopefully increase my performance. Surely the 2-min rule is a new thing that I implement already (with really good results btw).
And here comes a quotation of a footnote in the book, that can summarize the whole idea of "why should I read this":
"Of course, the people that are most attracted to implementing Getting Thing Done are usually already on a self-development track and don't assume that they'll be doing the same thing a year from now that they are doing now, anyway. But they love the fact that this method gets them there faster and more easily."
I only read about 1/3. I bought this book to help me decide how to take and keep notes. I was thinking about photos and stories and quotes and notes from books I’ve read, but that is not what this book is about. It’s about to do lists and managing your own through put. Not sure how I got confused about it, but this was not a match.
Lots of useful information to get my life organized and have the motivation to keep it that way. Desperately needs an update for the all-digital GTD-er.
Would have given this five stars except I find this beyond too verbose, I felt like I had to practically hack my way through a jungle of words to get to the meat of the system.
Would have given this five stars except I find this beyond too verbose, I felt like I had to practically hack my way through a jungle of words to get to the meat of the system.
This book covers a lot of best practices about task productivity. Mainly, it deals with how to create a system for task completion and how to handle the process of getting things done. There are a couple of issues I had with it. First of all is dated. Who uses "Lotus Suite" anymore. Anyway it could have been an older print I have. The next issue is that the processes described require physical storage, paper holders, physical labelleres etc. That is very unproductive in the time of Outlook and modern task managers.
Being productive
is not all there is to life.
Tips are obvious.
is not all there is to life.
Tips are obvious.
It's sad that this is no longer commercially available anywhere because IMO, even though it's dated in some ways that make it kind of comical now (wow! the palm pilot! amazingly high tech!) the in-the-room energy of it kind of makes it the most compelling presentation of this material. A great listen if you can find it and you are looking for a refresh on the book. (If you can't find it you should just read the book)
4/5 stelle per il metodo, una per il libro in sè.
Da amante delle liste, e da sempre poco fiduciosa della mia memoria, ho sempre cercato di organizzare vita e lavoro tramite queste; eppure nonostante la "decennale" esperienza, facevo fatica perchè non utilizzavo strumenti corretti, nè lo applicavo sistematicamente, ma solo per quelle 2/3 cose che mi assillavano o temevo di scordare.
Poi ho ricevuto due spunti da un mio amico (che ha letto il libro), fra cui l'assist di utilizzare un'app ispirata al metodo GTD, e in due mosse mi sono ritrovata a fare quello che questo libro predica prima ancora di finirlo. Ed è stato obiettivamente un bel salto di qualità; organizzarsi per bene su tutto è un modo ottimo per scrollarsi di dosso stress e pensieri intrusivi.
Non ho imparato ancora prima del tempo perchè sia un genio, ma perchè come molti scrivono, questo libro potrebbe essere riassunto in 10 pagine (ma sarebbe difficile poi a vendersi, no?).
Non vogliamo vederci del marcio, ma ho davvero sofferto i modi in cui l'autore si è incartato non solo per allungare il brodo, ma ancora peggio per astrarre un metodo pratico-semplice a tal punto da rendere pesanti e incomprensibili alcuni passi. Per non parlare del tentativo di fare esempi concreti, che diventavano astrusi e inconsistenti sempre per la stessa volontà di generalizzare (troppo) ed essere compreso quanto dalla massaia col calamaio che dal giovane manager dotato di sistemi in syncro. Dulcis in fundo il ripetere fino allo sfinimento sempre le stesse cose unito a tanta promozione del metodo.
Non ne potevo più. A 240 di 300 ho iniziato a girare velocemente, ricordando che Pennac mi difenderà se qualcuno mi denuncia per alto tradimento alla lettura.
Da amante delle liste, e da sempre poco fiduciosa della mia memoria, ho sempre cercato di organizzare vita e lavoro tramite queste; eppure nonostante la "decennale" esperienza, facevo fatica perchè non utilizzavo strumenti corretti, nè lo applicavo sistematicamente, ma solo per quelle 2/3 cose che mi assillavano o temevo di scordare.
Poi ho ricevuto due spunti da un mio amico (che ha letto il libro), fra cui l'assist di utilizzare un'app ispirata al metodo GTD, e in due mosse mi sono ritrovata a fare quello che questo libro predica prima ancora di finirlo. Ed è stato obiettivamente un bel salto di qualità; organizzarsi per bene su tutto è un modo ottimo per scrollarsi di dosso stress e pensieri intrusivi.
Non ho imparato ancora prima del tempo perchè sia un genio, ma perchè come molti scrivono, questo libro potrebbe essere riassunto in 10 pagine (ma sarebbe difficile poi a vendersi, no?).
Non vogliamo vederci del marcio, ma ho davvero sofferto i modi in cui l'autore si è incartato non solo per allungare il brodo, ma ancora peggio per astrarre un metodo pratico-semplice a tal punto da rendere pesanti e incomprensibili alcuni passi. Per non parlare del tentativo di fare esempi concreti, che diventavano astrusi e inconsistenti sempre per la stessa volontà di generalizzare (troppo) ed essere compreso quanto dalla massaia col calamaio che dal giovane manager dotato di sistemi in syncro. Dulcis in fundo il ripetere fino allo sfinimento sempre le stesse cose unito a tanta promozione del metodo.
Non ne potevo più. A 240 di 300 ho iniziato a girare velocemente, ricordando che Pennac mi difenderà se qualcuno mi denuncia per alto tradimento alla lettura.
Initially this book was boring. It took me 5 years of owning it to actually focus and read it.
I recommend reading Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up before getting into David Allen's book. The first step of GTD is to gather all of your to-dos, basically, into an inbox, and then sort through them, where as Marie Kondo says Do you need paper? No, you don't, and you know you don't. Throw out everything that isn't important. You'll start with a lot less stuff to go through.
I also recommend getting the most updated version of this book. I read the 2001 version in 2015, and it's mostly paper based. Hopefully the most updated book leaves this behind in favor of digital action item tracking. Overall I liked the book and thought it had many helpful tips on getting things done, but it seems like Allen suggests keeping too many lists going at once, and even with weekly reviews it still gives you a chance to forget to use them.
I recommend reading Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up before getting into David Allen's book. The first step of GTD is to gather all of your to-dos, basically, into an inbox, and then sort through them, where as Marie Kondo says Do you need paper? No, you don't, and you know you don't. Throw out everything that isn't important. You'll start with a lot less stuff to go through.
I also recommend getting the most updated version of this book. I read the 2001 version in 2015, and it's mostly paper based. Hopefully the most updated book leaves this behind in favor of digital action item tracking. Overall I liked the book and thought it had many helpful tips on getting things done, but it seems like Allen suggests keeping too many lists going at once, and even with weekly reviews it still gives you a chance to forget to use them.