Getting Things Done: Time man­age­ment with the GTD method

The self-man­age­ment system Getting Things Done is designed to help users ef­fi­cient­ly and punc­tu­al­ly complete tasks using lists and calendars.

What is the Getting Things Done method?

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a time man­age­ment and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty system that helps the user complete tasks and meet com­mit­ments in a stress-free and efficient manner using a com­pre­hen­sive system of lists and calendars.

The core principle of the GTD method is to document all your tasks in writing, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. Over time, this reduces stress since you no longer need to rely on memory alone. Without the constant mental burden of recalling important tasks, your mind will be less pre­oc­cu­pied with to-dos at in­con­ve­nient moments—helping you sleep better without worrying. By using a written or­ga­ni­za­tion­al system, you can con­fi­dent­ly stay on top of your re­spon­si­bil­i­ties and meet deadlines without for­get­ting anything.

Larger tasks in this method are divided into smaller sub-tasks, for which concrete deadlines are set. A regular review ensures that you keep track of all tasks and projects, identify weak­ness­es in your system, and make im­prove­ments.

US pro­duc­tiv­i­ty con­sul­tant David Allen developed the system and presented it in his book of the same title, “Getting Things Done”, in 2001. The Getting Things Done method has gained millions of followers worldwide since the book was published.

The 5 steps of the GTD method

The Getting Things Done method consists of five steps that follow a precisely defined order, which we will take a closer look at below:

Step 1: Capture

Gather all your tasks, ap­point­ments, and ideas in des­ig­nat­ed inboxes. These don’t have to be physical inboxes—they can be any system that allows you to capture in­for­ma­tion in writing. This includes both digital and analog options, such as your email inbox, Evernote, OneNote, physical trays, or vertical filing systems. When first im­ple­ment­ing the Getting Things Done method, this step may take several days. However, once set up, adding new tasks, ap­point­ments, and ideas to your inboxes takes only a few minutes as they come up.

Step 2: Clarify

You need to review and process every­thing you’ve collected in your inboxes. This means you have to decide where things belong in the Getting Things Done system. Ask yourself the following questions for each item:

• What kind of task is it?
• Can I take action on it right now?
• What’s the next action?

When reviewing your inboxes, don’t put anything back in the inbox. Decide where each item belongs.

If no action is possible or necessary, choose one of three options:

• Trash it
• Put it on the “Maybe/Someday” list
• Archive it for reference

Step 3: Organize

First, assign all ac­tion­able items to temporary inboxes or put them on lists and process them from there.

Calendar

Only enter ap­point­ments in your calendar. Add tasks to be done to the “Next Actions” list or record them as a project and break them down into smaller actions.

Projects

Any task that requires more than one action counts as a project according to David Allen’s GTD method. A project can be anything from ren­o­vat­ing your home to a pro­fes­sion­al marketing campaign for a product. Put all of your projects on a project list that you review regularly. You then define next actions for your project and enter specific deadlines for it in your calendar. Also, keep a reminder list for all the tasks that you’ve delegated to others. This allows you to keep track of the tasks others are doing for you.

Next Actions

Keep a separate list of all the next actions that are not project-specific. Depending on the scope of your tasks, you can also keep multiple context-specific lists for personal tasks, work tasks, phone calls, errands, and so on.

Waiting For

Also keep a reminder list for all delegated tasks outside of projects. Set dates to follow up with others on how far they’ve pro­gressed with a task.

Step 4: Reflect

You’ll gain clarity by or­ga­niz­ing your tasks and ap­point­ments, but that alone won’t be enough to boost your pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and ensure that you get every­thing done in the time allotted. To do that, you have to regularly review your lists.

You have to make sure that your system is up to date, otherwise you won’t be able to focus on the task in front of you without thinking about whether you might have missed an ap­point­ment.

Review your calendar several times a day and check your to-do lists at least once a day to select your next task. Empty your inboxes once a day.

In the GTD method, a weekly review is conducted once per week. This review consists of the following steps:

• Empty your head: At the end of the week, write down all the ideas going through your mind.
• Inboxes: Put new tasks, ideas and dates where they belong in the GTD system.
• To-do list: Is the list up to date? Have you crossed off all completed to-dos? What are your upcoming actions for the next few days?
• Project list: Is the list up to date? Have you completed at least one next action in the past week to move your project(s) forward?
• “Maybe/Someday” lists: Do you want to transfer some of the items on this list to the project list and process them now?
• Calendar: Is your calendar up to date? Did you actually keep all your ap­point­ments? What are your upcoming ap­point­ments? Did you enter all your ap­point­ments?
• “Waiting For” list: What’s the current status of delegated actions? Follow up with coworkers if necessary.

Step 5: Engage

In the GTD method, you use four criteria to decide what to do next: Context, time available, energy available and priority.

Context

You’ve created at least one to-do list in your Getting Things Done system. Since you usually have many different contexts in your life (work, family, hobbies), you should create different lists called context lists. That way you won’t have to work your way through a huge to-do list in order to decide on your next action. You can simply look at your short context lists.

Whenever you have free time that you want to use pro­duc­tive­ly, ask yourself this first: What context am I in? What can I do right now? If you’re sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office and want to use your time wisely, you probably shouldn’t make con­fi­den­tial work phone calls. But you can def­i­nite­ly respond to a few short emails or send a message to friends.

Time Available

How much time do you have right now? If you’re in the car and you’re 15 minutes away from your des­ti­na­tion, you shouldn’t start a phone call that you know will take an hour of your time. A better choice might be to stop at the su­per­mar­ket to cross some things off your grocery list.

Energy Available

Your energy level fluc­tu­ates through­out the day. We all have slightly different bio­rhythms. Watch your energy level change through­out the day for a week to find out when you have energy highs and lows. In future, schedule tasks that require your full con­cen­tra­tion and per­for­mance at times that suit your biorhythm, when you’re feeling energetic and up to the task. You might want to prepare an important pre­sen­ta­tion in the morning rather than during the middle of the day. Or, if you’re generally more pro­duc­tive in the afternoon and evening, resched­ule your tasks for those times.

Priority

If you’ve narrowed down possible actions based on the three criteria and have different options, let priority decide for you. Ask yourself which task is most important? and then start with this task.

Let’s say you’re in the office and you have an hour of un­sched­uled time before your per­for­mance review. You could cross a few phone calls off your list, write a report, or continue working on an idea for a workshop. Since the workshop will be held in three days and you haven’t prepared yet, you choose this task. It has priority. The report, on the other hand, is a routine report, and the phone calls can wait a few days.

Strengths and weak­ness­es of GTD

The GTD method is po­lar­iz­ing. It has many en­thu­si­as­tic followers, but also many critics.

Strengths

• Re­li­a­bil­i­ty: The system ensures that you get all your tasks done (on time). If you fre­quent­ly miss ap­point­ments, the GTD method can be a big help.
• Com­pre­hen­sive or­ga­ni­za­tion: Getting Things Done gives you a single or­ga­ni­za­tion­al system for all your projects, both personal and work-related. That way you’re less likely to lose focus.
• It helps you get things done on time: GTD keeps you from getting over­whelmed because it’s broken down into steps like organize, reflect and engage. The method breaks down large projects into smaller subtasks, making it easier to get started on a project.
• Clear structure: The method’s many lists and guiding questions ensure that you use your free time ef­fi­cient­ly and prevents you from randomly jumping back and forth between tasks, hampering your pro­duc­tiv­i­ty.
• Freedom: As detailed as the GTD method is, it gives you a lot of freedom in your day. It doesn’t dictate a specific daily or weekly schedule. It’s up to you to decide which task to do next. That can be mo­ti­vat­ing, but some people also view it as a weakness.

Weak­ness­es

• No help with pri­or­i­tiz­ing: Pri­or­i­ties have a sub­or­di­nate role in Getting Things Done. The system primarily ensures that you don’t forget anything and that you use your free time ef­fi­cient­ly. But if you want to make sure that you’re pri­or­i­tiz­ing tasks correctly, you have to augment GTD with other methods like the Eisen­how­er Matrix.
• No weekly or daily structure: Getting Things Done doesn’t help you optimize weekly or daily planning. The GTD method­ol­o­gy won’t be of much help if you generally have dif­fi­cul­ty setting goals, defining next steps and ef­fec­tive­ly struc­tur­ing your day. Methods like the ALPEN Method are better for daily planning.
• Complex system: You can’t learn Getting Things Done in five minutes and practice it in one afternoon. If you want to use the system ef­fec­tive­ly, you have to un­der­stand it in detail and practice it con­sis­tent­ly. All or nothing. For example, the method won’t be as effective if you omit the weekly reviews or don’t learn how to split your to-do lists into context lists.
• Too many new habits to learn: When you start using the GTD method, you’re con­front­ed with having to change many habits in a short time. You have to regularly empty your inboxes, make time to review your project lists and “waiting for” lists and get into the habit of keeping context lists.

This is the main criticism of Getting Things Done: So many read­just­ments can be over­whelm­ing. If you struggle to establish new habits, you may want to find another or­ga­ni­za­tion­al technique that better suits your per­son­al­i­ty.

Summary: Getting Things Done works, but it’s not for everyone

Getting Things Done is an effective self-man­age­ment method. Countless sup­port­ers have testified to its success. But GTD isn’t a simple method­ol­o­gy.

Getting Things Done is great if you prefer a highly an­a­lyt­i­cal and struc­tured approach and already have some clarity about your goals and pri­or­i­ties. If you’ve been entrusted with a variety of different tasks, the system can be a practical tool for ensuring even better clarity.

For in­di­vid­u­als involved in only a man­age­able number of projects and without numerous (pro­fes­sion­al and personal) re­spon­si­bil­i­ties, the GTD method is often excessive. In such cases, it is usually suf­fi­cient to maintain a well-organized calendar, con­sis­tent­ly manage separate to-do lists for work and personal matters, and schedule a weekly session to clean up your email inbox.