How I Get Things Done(GTD)

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I believe, I’m a productive guy, and so I get often asked from friends what do I do to get things done. Keeping it simple is kind of key to my whole philosophy. There are lots of good things that I keep meaning to do but never quite make it to the top of my list; I never make any real progress at all on those. Conversely, I find that whatever I focus on most nearly always happens. Anything that is not your number one or two priority is unlikely to get done in the hectic world we live today.

Most people struggle to focus on just two or three critical priorities—they rather chase whatever shiny new object appears that day.  This is somewhat expected—people generally like doing new things, not executing relentlessly on the same things.  But restraint is critical.  It’s very easy to justify taking on one more task/project by saying that it won’t be that time-consuming.  Unfortunately, it will likely either be time-consuming, or it won’t be worth anything.  Most people know what to do; they just don’t know what not to do. In IT Industry, the most common version of focus for new startups is “write code and talk to users”. For a startup that is just a few people, most other things are secondary or a waste of time. But too many founders, end up focusing on other things. And all of this pretending-to-run-a-company gets in the way of actually running a company.

To be productive, you must be able to focus all of your energy on few of the all tasks you’ve. In my opinion, one of the biggest deterrents to getting things done is not having a system that makes it easy to follow it day after day. If you’re spending more time looking for new ways to help you get things done, you’re missing the point. Remember KISS (Keep it simple stupid). In my case, it has been GTD, that helps me in getting things done.

I’ve got a few “rules” and methods that I stick to pretty religiously that make up about 90% of what keeps me productive, and here they are:

Getting Things Done(GTD)

The Five “Pillars” of Getting Things Done, is a system for getting organized and staying productive. The goal is to spend less time doing the things you’ve to do, so you have more time for the things you want to do.

1. Capture everything(to-dos, ideas, tasks, notes) important: I record/save anything I need or want to remember, or I know is important for me to recall or refer, instead of trying to remember it. I do this in several ways. When away from my PC, I take notes on phone in Google Keep for brainstorming & ideas & when at my PC, I jot things down into Keep(for lists) or Evernote(for notes). I really try to get things down as I think of them using notes & lists.
2. Clarify (break tasks into actionable steps)
3. Organize (by category, priority and assign due dates, reminders)
4. Reflect (review lists from time to time to make adjustments)
5. Engage (get started with manageable and bite sized chunks)

Lately I’ve also been using Remember The Milk, a lightweight and easy to use to-do list/task management application. RTM will record anything, and I can even easily set it up so that it’ll IM/Email me reminders whenever I want. I have to say, for RTM, that I’m pretty impressed with the ease of use and the fact that it integrates easily into my pre-existing process of email and calendar management with Gmail and Google Calendar. It’s all about getting things out of my head, and somewhere I can find them easily when I want to. I can’t tell you how much this helps free my mind up for other things.

Do it. Do it right. Do it right now!

My second rule has to do with not letting small tasks pile up. I believe am good about dealing with things as they cross my plate and not letting them linger and pile up. It was a bit tough at first, but now that I’ve been doing it for a while it’s almost second nature.

What it boils down to is taking the time to immediately deal with anything that’s going to take less than five or so minutes to do. When wading through tasks, emails, messages, and other notifications, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. When that happens, it’s best to have a strategy going in. To be decisive and quick try OHIO(Only Handle It Once), It helps avoid unnecessary dawdling, delays, and indecision, as it calls for you to handle any task, email, message, or assignment just one time.

Apply it to what you’re working on broadly by assessing your entire inbox, to-do list, or other group of tasks all at once. Prioritize the tasks in order of importance and then take immediate action on each, starting from the top. Either delete them, delegate them, do what they say, or defer them, using the 4D method.

For example, checking or responding to my Email. I never let it pile up. Some days are harder than others, as sometimes small tasks can come at you in large numbers, but even then I’ve found it’s better overall to just deal with them and save the bigger tasks for when you can focus on them. You can follow the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF), a military communication method that puts the most important message first. It’s a great model for assertive communication—no one has to dig through unnecessary details to understand what you need.

For an in-person meeting, this doesn’t mean cutting the small talk, but once you get into the meat of the conversation, start with the bottom line. Let people know you’ll be happy to offer more context, but you want to lead with what matters most.

BLUF facilitates rapid decision making and helps people deliver a message in fewer words. It’s the one thing your audience needs to know or cares the most about. BLUF is especially important in written communication, like email. For example, if you need to extend a project deadline, instead of opening with a recap of the project work so far, put your ask in the email subject line. Something like “Can we push back the deadline for X?” could work. Then, in the body of the email, summarize your ask before you jump in with the specifics: “The project will be delayed by 3 days because XYZ.” After that, you can offer more context, like what you’re doing to catch up.

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Focus. Don’t multitask the big stuff.

For “larger” tasks, I tend to clear everything away so that I can focus on one thing. For example, as I write this, I’ve effectively turned everything else off. I’m ignoring e-mail, IM, the phone, etc. For things, I really need to focus on—brainstorming marketing strategies, for example—I’ll literally turn off everything that might distract me from the task at hand. I’ll also set aside ample blocks of time to dedicate to getting something done. Usually in 2-4 hour blocks, depending on what I’m doing.

Not only does this make me a bit more productive, I find the quality of my work is greatly increased when I’m able to focus on it.

E-mail and a clean inbox every day.

“Inbox Zero” is all the rage these days, and there are good reasons for that. I find it really, really helps me focus. To do that, I’ve got a few other, related rules:

• I don’t check my e-mail constantly. I usually let it pile up a little bit. 🙂
• Respond to anything, If it takes less than 5 minutes to respond to, as I get it. This is key, I don’t ever wait to respond unless it requires a complicated response or some other action.
• File anything I can’t respond to. I’ve got three places I file things; the first is a massive and really organized archive, the second is a “waiting” folder/label for things I’m waiting for more info on and the third is a “action” folder/label for things that I need to attend to later on. I review these folders/labels a few times a week.
• Delete anything I won’t be needing later. I make pretty good use of delete key.

Keep things clutter-free.

This goes for my physical & digital work spaces. Clutter is distracting. I do a really good job of cleaning & organizing my workspace & this really helps me stay focused when I need to.

Five Cognitive distortions of people who get stuff done

In Michael Dearing’s presentation, the five distortions are:

1. Personal exceptionalism
2. Dichotomous thinking
3. Correct overgeneralization
4. Blank canvas thinking
5. Schumpeterianism(sees creative destruction as natural, necessary, and as their vocation)

Benefits: fearlessness, tolerance for destruction and pain

Schumpeterianism means the ability to let go of old ways and embrace teardowns and criticism as a way to improve the way you do things.

The processes that lead to change and innovation can never happen without at times criticizing and tearing down the old standard ways of work. On a personal level, this means that learning to embrace criticism well, even if it means an utter teardown of your work and a new approach. Ideally, that new approach will inevitably lead you to better things.

If you can embrace that kind of creative destruction as a natural, necessary part of work, you won’t be so bothered by criticism, and you won’t feel personally offended if you know the natural path to better results involves tearing down things that don’t work. Keeping this in mind will help you put your personal feelings aside about your work and take a more analytical eye. You’ll be more willing to watch your work be ripped up, if you know the feedback is for the best. Everyone needs feedback to learn, improve and course correct. The autopilot functionality in driverless cars is a perfect example. Sensors measure the desired speed and position of the vehicle — among other indicators — and send that data to control systems, which adjust accordingly.

To make informed decisions, gathering organic feedback on a continuous basis is necessary. By listening well, by taking the time to find out how many others share what may be a surprising opinion or understanding of a situation, you’re honoring people’s authentic voices. It also means genuine feedback can be gathered from those who are best positioned to give it, allowing for continuous feedback and, hopefully, continuous improvement. Most importantly, it means individuals have the potential to learn and improve on ideas more quickly.

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The bottom line.

I believe that being productive is a work in progress. Some days, we fall into bad habits, checking our phones more than we’d like. Other days, we easily enter a flow state and power through our to-do lists. GTD (and productivity in general) is about finding a system that works for you and sticking with it. What works for me may not work for you, and what works for you today may not work in a few years. What’s more important is building sustainable habits that make productivity feel less daunting day-to-day. It’s about discovering your work style and matching it to the productivity system that suits you best.

I’ve seen many folks getting derailed simply by constantly trying to come up with a system that’s bigger & better. GTD doesn’t need to be complicated; for me, it’s mostly about eliminating distractions, focusing when appropriate, taking care of the small stuff before it can pile up & capturing everything. It’s not hard to do & doesn’t require any complicated systems.

Well, I hope this is helpful for some of you looking to be more productive. Again, if you have a system that works for you, stick with it and if not, well, give new ways a try. Feel free to add your own ways/styles of achieving GTD in comments.