The Art of GTD – Benefits and Practical Applications

Previous Posts in this series:

The journey of GTD almost complete, so in this and final post of this series we will look at the benefits and practical applications of this tool.

Intentional Living

The Art of GTD is a set of principles, habits, and insights that can be relevant and applicable to all aspects of your life. Initially while forming these habits, it is about making a conscious choice to bring more structure to how you organise yourself while taking action. Moving beyond a conscious choice, consistent application will lead to the formation of lasting habits which become an unconscious part of how you approach things. Who you are, and how you do what you do.

To share an analogy; if you had to eat an elephant, you may be overwhelmed by the size of it and simply not know where to start. Trapped in a state of inaction because you cannot see beyond the hugeness of the thing in front of you.

The Art of GTD is the secret sauce for how you eat the elephant. Combined with the other approach tools it can work something like this: start by using getting to the root to build a clear understanding of what needs to be achieved, why, and how. Then with this information, visualise the successful achievement of your goals to cultivate motivation and excitement. Now deploy the insights of GTD to sort, prioritise and bring clarity to your action plans then take the first steps on your journey…

Allow yourself to iterate back though the application of these tools as your knowledge of the challenge at hand grows and you learn more through experience.

The Art of GTD is more than a tool, it is a way of being.

Activity: Prioritising Premium Pastimes

What better for a practical application example than an activity…

I have done this myself several times over the years to help me determine what matters most to me so I can plan my use of time effectively. This exercise is all about finding out what activities bring you the biggest bang for your buck in terms of balancing self-care and growth.

Quite simply;

How would I like to spend my time?
Why do I want to do each of these things?
What available time do I have to do stuff for me?

So, start of with a simple list of all the things you would like to do… my list is something like: family time, writing, using the gym, mountain biking, date night, walking, baking, gaming, watching movies… This is your initial backlog so the order doesn’t matter.

Then for each thing you have listed, contemplate the why….

How does the activity enrich your life? How does it help you grow? How does it increase the vitality of your whole environment? Does it provide downtime?

With this new information, proceed to rank the ideas being clear at a minimum of your top 3 priorities. This is refining your backlog.

The final step starts with taking a calendar that lets you see a whole week and every hour of every day (I found a template on the internet). First block out your sleep time, then block out your work time. Add in time for you morning routine and commutes etc… Now, what is left?

Look at your priorities and see how they fit in to the available time….

What decisions are you going to make to prioritise premium pass times for you?

This exercise is really about deciding what you are not going to do; which then allows you to focus and fully engage in what you are going to do.

Decisiveness to bring clarity which then enables action.

No more should.

Only will.