How To Implement GTD
I wanted to start off my site with a detailed walk through on how to implement GTD. While this is the way that I did it, it doesn’t mean you have to do it the same way. These are just the steps I took in kind of the order that I took them. My GTD setup, while perfect for me, may not meet your needs. Keep in mind that while I’ll discuss the best practices for implementing GTD, it doesn’t mean you have to follow them. You can be a GTD outlaw! Keep in mind too, that my system has changed since I first set it up.
I first started implementing GTD with my email. I had used Microsoft Outlook for a long time. I was ok with it. It was better than checking email with the web host that I used which at the time, I think was Embarq. I had somewhere between three to four thousand email in my inbox, a bunch of folders and many many unread messages.
One of the things that always caused me problems with Outlook was that I rarely backed it up. As a result, there were many occasions where I’d have a hard drive crash, have to re-install my programs and lose a bunch of valuable email. While it doesn’t happen often, it does happen and that’s a huge leak in your system when it does.
The other problem with my email account was that I traveled extensively for work and there were many times when I didn’t have my laptop handy, would be at another computer and need something from my email and wouldn’t be able to get to it until later. This was before my blackberry. But even still, a blackberry doesn’t allow you to print stuff out.
In my GTD implementation, my first task was to change my email setup to one that I could access from anywhere and that would be backed up better. I did some research online and finally discovered Yahoo! mail. For along time, free accounts like Yahoo! email were always like second rate email accounts because a lot of spammers used them. I discovered though that they had a paid version which you could have all of your email into and continue to use your current email address.
In my case, I own my own domain address and email accounts for my business and the ability to use Yahoo! mail plus seamlessly to the outside world was a major factor in taking a closer look. In addition, they offered unlimited storage and an interface very similar to outlook.
Switching to Yahoo! mail plus was a decision I’ll never regret for several reasons. The first is that I could now check my email from anywhere I had access to a computer. The second was I could have unlimited storage AND a system that backed itself up so I never had too. Finally, I could continue to use my own email address and consolidate all of my email in one place.
My new email setup now in place, I was set to implement GTD in my email at the very least. I decided that I’d declare email bankruptcy in a way and start with a clean email acount. I still had the outlook set up on my computer but decided that I’d not doing anything with it unless something came up. I did scan it for anything urgent and from time to time would find something I needed and forwarded it to my new email inbox.
I can’t really remember exactly what folders I started with originally in my email account. I do remember that implementing gtd with email first was a wise decision for me because it was just a little easier to deal with digital messages than with a paper. I started with an Action folder and an Archive folder. Shortly after I added a Waiting for folder. I started going through my email messages one at a time and decided could I do it right away? Then I did it. Was it something that needed no action? Then I filed it. If it needed more thought I moved it to the Action folder for later processing. It wasn’t long before I got email inbox to zero. Wow, that was a neat feeling.
I ended up with several things to do in my email Action folder but at least they were things I needed to do. At first, I’d feel good that my email inbox was empty, close out my email box. Messages would hide in my Action folder waiting for me to process but at least I’d reviewed them even though I’d kind of forget about them initially.
The next thing I did to implement GTD was set up my inboxes. I tried out some different kinds. Scoured Staples, Office Depot, Wal-Mart, online and anyplace that had office supplies for inbox tools. I picked up a good sized inbox for my home and a nice plastic box with handles to travel with me on my job.
It was at this point to that I looked at different kinds of ubiquitous capture tools and discovered the 3×5 spiral bound index cards and started using those to get things out of my head and actually used them.
The next major step in my GTD implementation was collection. I cleaned out the car, the office, the kitchen and everywhere I had stacked papers or notes or files or anything that could possible need next actions and gathered it in one place. I put all of this stuff in a room that I would work from. I then did a similar thing that I did with my email. I scanned all of it for urgent items and made big pile in the garden room of my home. I then started with an empty inbox that I placed right when I came into my house and started that inbox from zero.
After that I figured that I’d better start to implement gtd with my calendar and setup my calendar on Yahoo! calendar. I started by putting all of my appointments in there. I then put in all of the birthdays and anniversaries I knew. I then discovered that you could also put events in your calendar and have an email reminder sent to you to remind you.
That discovery led me to put all of my bills in my calendar, when they were due, phone numbers to contact them and now I’d get an email that would remind me to make sure I didn’t forget anything and wouldn’t have to remember them all in my head. As I gained trust in my calendar, I used it for a whole host of information. Confirmation numbers for travel, school calendar, tax deadlines and anything that was date specific went on my calendar as an all day event if it didn’t have a specific time. I would then sync Yahoo calendar to Outlook and print out a calendar each week and put it in a binder.
GTD Implementation Takes Off
My GTD implementation was starting to take hold but I soon found out that in order to get things out of my inbox, I needed to have all of the buckets David Allen recommends set up. I put together a reference file system. I bought the infamous labeller and file folders. I had to create a waiting for folder, I needed somewhere to keep lists.
I started researching online list managers so that I would have access to them anywhere and finally decided on a service called Basecamp to keep my lists in. I could also print these out and put it in a binder too along with my calendar.
Next up, I had to learn how to implement GTD weekly reviews. My reviews took a long time. I noticed that I was processing my action folder during my review which was ok because it was at least getting processed. I was not getting my email really to zero but was struggling with my paper because I had stacks of it.
The first thing I did was go through it and see what was really actionable, what was just reference and what I had to get rid of. I bought a cross cut shredder. It took me a month or so to finally shred everything. Everything else that I needed to keep I made a few boxes and just threw everything in there in case I needed to refer to it.
That left me with a lot of paper still left, but it did seem more actionable. What I would do was on the weekends, I would print out the GTD workflow diagram from Allen’s website and set it in front of me and go through the steps. At first, it was very difficult to take action. To help myself focus, I’d hide everything but the piece of paper I needed to do. Eventually, I’d ask myself ‘what’s the next action’ and take action. After awhile, I got better at. I would add a call to my @ call next action list, or another step to my @ office list. I kept these lists in basecamp and printed them out.
I noticed that I did the same thing with paper as I did with email. Once it went on a list, I would kind of forget about it until the weekly review and I’d have to evaluate how to start working my context lists. But one day, low and behold, I didn’t have any stacks anymore and had processed my inbox to zero. I could not believe it.
During my weekly reviews, I had more time and a clearer head to elevate my thinking to the ten thousand foot level and implement GTD project lists and to review them for next actions each week and added them my next action lists.
I still had the problem of items on my context lists just sitting there not getting done.
I started to scour the message boards at davidco.com and sites like 43folders.com. I purchased some cd’s called Getting Things Done Fast and listened to them in the car. I tweaked my system and started setting up a day to focus on each context lists. Monday’s for calls, Tuesday’s for office items. Saturday for errands.
Implementing GTD One Step At A Time
In learning how to implement GTD, I got things moving from my inbox to my context lists to actually getting done. Sometimes, I would work on the easy items to get to the harder items but eventually my system was complete and functioning well. This was my path to implementing GTD originally and later I fine tuned to the next level.
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