Take a photo of a barcode or cover
neonpomegranate 's review for:
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by David Allen
I've tried to read this book a few times over the years. This is the first time I've actually finished it (or even came close). I think two changes made that possible. First, I listened to it as an audiobook (extremely sped up) and have the paperback version to refer to when I want to look at specifics for implementation. Second, the previous times I've tried to read it, I tried to start the capture phase before finishing the book, making me overwhelmed and bogged down and I quit reading. This time, instead, I read the whole book and then started refreshing my workspace and doing the - still quite daunting - thorough capture process. I recommend reading the whole thing first and not starting the process until after you finish reading. This is contrary to the advice from the author in the introduction.
Lots of people told me to just have AI summarize the book for me instead of reading it myself. That's terrible advice. I already knew the basic outline of the method from having consumed plenty of productivity content of various kinds. The book is meaningful because of the details he goes in to about how to implement this system for the first time, including a very long list of trigger words to help the reader truly empty out all the things your carrying around in your head to do. The previous times I've tried to do this system I put everything on one giant list. Instead he recommends putting each item on its own full size sheet of paper, to then consider each thing on its own in the clarifying and organizing steps. This difference is enormous. One long list of everything is a horrible, overwhelming thing to create and it makes it impossible to move forward. Picking up one whole piece of paper and deciding on that item alone is possible, and then that action is repeated until you're finished. It is the details and warnings and more specific instruction that makes this more meaningful. Just having consumed the general framework for a long time was not enough.
I'm excited to be implementing this system. I need it so badly! I found this book extremely helpful.
He recommends rereading this book in 3-6 months to refine the reader's first implementation of this system. I plan to do exactly that.
Lots of people told me to just have AI summarize the book for me instead of reading it myself. That's terrible advice. I already knew the basic outline of the method from having consumed plenty of productivity content of various kinds. The book is meaningful because of the details he goes in to about how to implement this system for the first time, including a very long list of trigger words to help the reader truly empty out all the things your carrying around in your head to do. The previous times I've tried to do this system I put everything on one giant list. Instead he recommends putting each item on its own full size sheet of paper, to then consider each thing on its own in the clarifying and organizing steps. This difference is enormous. One long list of everything is a horrible, overwhelming thing to create and it makes it impossible to move forward. Picking up one whole piece of paper and deciding on that item alone is possible, and then that action is repeated until you're finished. It is the details and warnings and more specific instruction that makes this more meaningful. Just having consumed the general framework for a long time was not enough.
I'm excited to be implementing this system. I need it so badly! I found this book extremely helpful.
He recommends rereading this book in 3-6 months to refine the reader's first implementation of this system. I plan to do exactly that.