My view of these type of books is simple: if you pick up one helpful hint or habit it is worth it. This is worth it. If nothing else use the way to handle the avalanche of email I/you get is worth the cost of the book. Buy it kiddies....

This sounds like the most boring book you could ever read -- it discusses workflow management as a serious topic! Yet, Getting Things Done is engaging, quick to read, and life-changing. You will get more out of this book every time you open it, whether your first or tenth time reading it. I was familiar with David Allen's GTD system through the grapevine of the internet, mostly through the website 43folders.com ... but actually reading the book really got me to get myself together and follow the system. My Gmail inbox has 0 messages in it; I keep a physical inbox; I know what to do when work hits me ("mind like water"). I got several copies of this book for friends and family. Just buy it! :)

Organization has been a problem for me since grade school. I've gotten better over the years, moving from sticky-notes to paper planners to PDAs. Still, I was dropping too many things. My boss told me about GTD, so I bought it. I haven't fully implemented it, and likely won't for several months (there's a LOT to his system). But even with the parts I have done, it has had a tremendous impact on my home and work life. I have cleaned out my 8000+ item e-mail Inbox, and I don't spend time dwelling on stuff I still need to do. I've even used some of the principles suggested in this book to help my son who just started Jr. High keep up with his schoolwork.

I look forward to listening to it again in a few months and keep moving forward.

I bought this book becasue there were so many five star reviews. Mr Allen provides a broad, general and lose archicture for getting things dome. Making lists, using folders you can buy at the office supply store, setting and organizing priorieties are true but are presented a very general general manner. Anyone might tell you this. Allen uses the 50,000 ft metaphore for describing his approach. At that altitude, it is hard to determine anything yet alone get things done. There is nothing new here, and the presentation is not not very usefull

I have decided to pay more attention to the negative reviews before buying a book.

If you don't have time for one more thing in your life, read Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. While that advice may seem counterproductive, and a little crazy, 'where will you find time to read it?' this book will assuredly give you some realistic advice about getting all those projects completed while staying sane.

The author offers an excellent method to take control of your life. by your life, I mean everything in your life, everything! You also need to read the book twice and review it every 6 month or so.

This author describes how to get things done in the course of real-life business flows - with interruptions ! Many things it describes, people will already have pieces in place. I recommend reading through the book completely. Purchase what you need to set up your underlying "organizing" foundation. Then, take a nice long holiday weekend and commit to cleaning out and setting up and referring back to pertinent sections of the book. So far... I am able to keep up with things. Easy to read. Easy to follow either all or some of what he suggests. For business and life !

It is an excellent method to take control of your life. by your life, I mean everything in your life, everything! You also need to read the book twice and review it every 6 month or so.

I am so inspired by this book! My filing system at work and at home has never worked as efficiently as it does now, after reading this book. Author David Allen's detailed system helps clear the 'clutter' in my mind as I have adopted his system of writing down what needs to get done so the task is either written on my calendar or on my to-do list. I don't have to try to "remember" what I need to do next, wasting time and energy thinking and getting lost in my thoughts. If something can be done in two minutes I do it, I file it, I make the phone call. My desk stays in order and I feel more at ease. I love feeling organized and clear in my life.

Another book which clears "the clutter" in my mind is Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: The 3 Simple Ideas That Can Instantaneously Transform Your Life by Ariel & Shya Kane. This book teaches how to live in the moment without getting lost in the conversation of my thoughts. The Kanes have a yearly "Time & Project Management" Course in New York City, and a "Transformation in the Workplace" seminar which is scheduled this September. These courses and their books have brought ease and inspiration to my workplace.

As a banker in New York City, I highly suggest checking out David Allen and Ariel and Shya Kane. You will discover a stress free environment in the workplace and at home.

I've been to project and management training. I've been on a three-day retreat to discover my true values and to empower me to take control of my life. All those were good, but I always thought that something was missing, something to do with changing my habits, something to do with implementation, with, well... getting things done!

In comes this book, which I heard of through OmniFocus (wonderful tool for the Mac). I read it overnight and I was ON! While the courses and the training may have laid down the foundation, this book made the difference and changed my life!

Thank you, Master David!

I'd much rather have it as a video. Those of us who have trouble getting everything done on a timely basis DON'T have time to sit and read a self-help book this verbose.

First, I want to say that I'd listened to the audio book of this years ago. And at the time it didn't resonate with me AT ALL. Frankly I'm not sure I finished the audio--but either way I couldn't remember any of it other than it was in my library.

Fast forward a couple years.. I adopted Tim Ferris' 4HWW method of listing tasks on an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of plain paper. That worked great for me for a while. While I'm a tech guy, I like things that are effective, work anywhere, don't require batteries, etc.

I then wanted to--as David says: "Get off the runway" with my tasks and start managing with a more project/goal/initiative-centric approach. To me that was a big problem with the "tasks" approach--you get buried in "to do" stuff and never get above the trees.

Additionally, in my situation I had huge leakage in delegating or following up with other people with my requests, questions, etc. So the process for handling emails that required responses alone has radically altered how I work and manage my own time.

I recently finished GTD and it was like an epiphany. During the first 1/3 of the book though I felt like "okay, I got the preaching--how do I *implement* this", and actually purchased/read other systems in the middle. Ultimately coming back to and finishing this book. I'm very happy that I did.

In my opinion, you should take what works for you from the book and integrate it with your life/style. For me the 43 folders didn't make sense as I am so nomadic with my work. But it is a good concept. For me, everything has to be electronic and ideally live out on the internet cloud somewhere. So naturally some of my tools will be different than his. But the *system* is what's key.

The gold is simply getting you to see "stuff" coming into your life as things that need to be processed from your Inbox (the goal being Inbox Zero), and an effective system of processing, then handling things once they're organized.

Also, I like how there aren't any "special" requirements, like you have to buy a special organizer, get certain software, buy their printed pages, etc. I am currently using a $7 calendar/organizer (with cool doodling) and $15/year for the "pro" version of Toodledo (the base version is free). It also has "slim" web access via iPhone.. so I can access my lists from practically anywhere. Well worth it to organize my life.

Again, for me this has been life-altering. It's taken a lot of the stress of worrying about stuff falling through the cracks, not being busy all the time, etc. And ultimately that's what I wanted to achieve.

I was very satisfied with this purchase, this book takes all the things you already know how to do (e.g., create lists, prioritize, organize), and compiles it into a system which is practical and very effective. I now realize that this is the key step I've been missing in my personal effectiveness and cannot recommend it highly enough.

Having heard so much about this management system, I read the book--what a frustrating experience! I was hooked from the beginning and implemented a couple of suggestions with a large party I was then planning and Mr. Allen's suggestions certainly helped me define the ultimate purpose for my party and next actions, and I became much more effective in my preparations. But then I got on to Chapter 3 and following and totally bombed: had I not read this already? And what about these meaningless quotes in the margins that are so distracting? It only got worse and worse as I read on and I became so stressed about all my unfinished business that I lost sleep! I knew from my first experience that there were pearls of wisdom in this book, so I started from the beginning again and discovered that all your really need to read and implement is Chapter 2. So I set up my office as described (without the label maker, I don't need another tool to clutter my desk, and computer-generated labels work very well). Then I started collecting my STUFF and put it in my inbox, mind you, not all of it at once as he recommends, that's what was stressing me out so much. Then I started processing what was in my inbox, and adding to it anything I come across (thoughts or physical stuff). Also, I'm still making daily lists but they're mostly derived from my "next actions" list. The ideas are excellent, but the presentation is not good, this book demoralized me at first instead of energizing me, hence only three stars.

As with most books like this, a great deal of the content is common sense. But as is always the case with me, formalizing it and explaining it is always what I need.

He explains the natural thought process of a project in order to help you get a grasp of what things need to be done in order to achieve your outstanding goals.

He explains why you can't ever relax because you have so much to do, and how to get over that stress so that you can relax during those times you want to relax!

He gives you a system, which you can use as-is or tailor to your personal taste, that essentially guarantees that nothing gets lost, everything gets done and puts you in control.

I know it sounds like an ad, but as I started with, the content is true and makes sense.

Admittedly, I'm still pretty new at this system, and have to improve how I work with it, but so far I am loving it.

Also, if you have a BlackBerry, look for the "NextAction!" software. It's not great software, but it's good enough to follow the system. The main thing that I don't like about the NextAction! is that I find it difficult to manage the tasks in Microsoft Outlook, so I have to stick with Outlook to manage my mail-based tasks and my BB for my non-mail based tasks, but that's not too bad for me.

David Allen gives you specific tasks to organize and streamline your life and business. Do it or drop it - words to live by if you want to eliminate clutter in your office and in your mind.

GTD called it right when it identified broken agreements with self as a source of negative feeling, anxiety, guilt and "disintegrated self-trust". And one cannot be wholly productive when they are nagged by worries of open loops. GTD presents a methodology for remedying this and achieving a "mind like water".

While I still believe in traditional time management principles such as task prioritization, GTD offers some excellent concepts and takeaways: Corralling all your stuff is critical - you can only feel good about what you're not doing ONLY when you know what you're not doing; the notion of Next Actions is simple but invaluable; separating reference and support material from actionable items will keep the system less clogged; the Someday/Maybe list as an outlet for off-the-wall and future tasks; and the four criteria model for choosing actions in the moment works, among others.

GTD makes a strong case for some type of time management or personal organization system. This was my second time through the book and while it was worth the revisit, I wish it gave more specifics on tools; and the lack of mention of Blackerrys and iPhones nearly make the book dated. GTD doesn't offer a panacea; but as David Allen himself states, no system is perfect for tracking projects and tasks, you just need to know you have them and where to find more information. I am looking forward to his upcoming sequel.

The methods in this book were extremely helpful to me. They are very plain and written in simple, totally understandable, language. The information and advice in the book can be applied to almost any situation, even for optimizing my productivity as a high school student. However after I was about halfway done with this book I literally just stopped reading and through my head went "Have I already read this page? Did I loose track of where I left off?" I hadnt! The book is simply so redundant its hard to keep reading. It tells you about the methods (In pretty decent depth) and then in the next section tells you how to apply them, and in the third section tells you how to actually use them and put them to action. About half of the information in the sections overlaps and the information is simply not well structured.

Useless. Tortured analogies that only illustrate the author's total lack of substance. It's like porn for the anal-retentive. The illustration of 43 file folders on page 175 of the paperback is one of the most absurd things I've ever seen in a business book. Don't bother unless you're a robotic control-freak.

The presentation is dull and boring. I have to force myself to continue listening to it. I never played the 2nd CD. I think I will do that today and probably return it

This is the only book I've read that has changed my day-to-day life every day in visible ways. I say that having read it over a year ago, not just last week. My desk was cluttered and piled with papers; it's now clear every day. My inbox had over 6,000 emails; there are four unread in my inbox as I write this. My folders are all uniformly labeled. Administravia that would barely get done is efficiently processed in a timely manner unless I've consciously decided to do it later. This is a must read for everyone.

Since I'm into organizing things and also maintain an online organizer (bookmark-manager.com) I thought I give this book a shot. Unfortunately I found this book too abstract and long. Many of the tips seem to be just common sense like David Allen admitted himself at the end of the book. The quotes left and right all the time are more distracting than helpful. One at the beginning of each chapter might have been enough. Enough though this review could be viewed as negative I admit that I haven't read it completely and English is not my first language, which might partly the reason the book wasn't useful for me.

The workflow David Allen presents in Getting Things Done is incredibly useful. So much so, in fact, that it can make the book difficult to read. I personally started the book twice, only to put it back on the shelf half-completed, before reading it completely on my third attempt.

In the interest of getting things done, the book is written in such a way that unfinished business will be drawn out of your subconscious to occupy your central thought process. Unfortunately, this mental burden distracts attention from reading the book itself.

During my first two attempts, this became so frustrating that I simply had to stop reading the book. However, I was still able to take away valuable lessons. One of the primary tenets of GTD, is ensuring these reminders get written down in a trusted system. In so doing, the nagging voice in your head will subside, allowing you to focus and complete tasks efficiently.

I began by integrating the ideas I had read into my own way of working. In so doing, I was able to reach a level where I could finally pick up the book and read it in its entirety, without having my concentration broken by reminders of my open loops.

If you are looking to improve your productivity, I highly recommend this book. Start implementing the ideas into your workflow as you read them, and don't be too concerned about reading cover-to-cover. Depending on your work style, a complete GTD workflow may need to be adopted incrementally over time.

I get three times what I used to get done in a week because of the systems of time manipulation I have developed. Another good book that gives time manipulation tools is Don't Like to Read, Then Don't, Listen!: How to Turn Any Type of Text Into Audio Files That Can Be Read to You!

This is an excellent Starting Point for those who are just getting organized. You can make the system your own. I takes about 4 weeks to get set up and running, at least it did for me. I also recommend Don't Like to Read, Then Don't, Listen!: How to Turn Any Type of Text Into Audio Files That Can Be Read to You!, as a tool that can help you get more things done as you do basic life stuff such as showerings, cooking, eating, ect.

Mr Allen has written a valuable book. The first chapter provides a good rationale for his system, with the second chapter providing practical implementation details. The system itself is sound, with the first chapter providing adequate justification for the system. Even if one doesn't like the system, the first and second chapters provide valuable ideas and suggestions to improve productivity.

The third chapter devolves into repetition of the least valuable sort. It fails to re-enforce earlier concepts, but detracts from them by poorly attempting to justify them at a higher level.

I wish Mr Allen would release a second edition of this book. It is peppered with imprecise language, hackneyed phrases, and meaningless clichés. Many sentences in the book could have 2 or more words removed without losing any meaning. The author also tends to exaggerate. For example, on page 250 he writes "That is real productivity, perhaps in its most awesome manifestation". This would be better if it simply said "That is real productivity, in its best form".

There is also much 'management speak' within the book, which detracts from its message.

In all, the book contains many good ideas, and if you can ignore the often flawed writing style of the author, then you stand to gain much from the book.

Please, Mr Allen, re-write the book while thinking about clear, plain English. It will benefit both your readers and your book sales.

Mr. Allen's insightful and concrete program is exceptional - it's different than all the other information I've gleaned on the topic. It gets away from "procrastination" and "time mangement" and truly articulates "How to Get Stuff Done". I've been through much of the generic "Time Management" material, including most of Brian Tracey and others like Rita Emmett's "Procrastinator's Handbook". It's much different than the generic "A-B-C prioritizing" / "important but not urgent" concepts. Mr. Allen's system is simple, yet comprehensive and presented in a business-oriented fashon (but it works remarkably well for both personal and business application). Highly recommended.

I bought this book after read some remarks in the Internet and magazines. Part I is the best one, where you get to know the basics and concepts about GTD. Part 2 is how the author does implement these basics and concepts in his day-by-day. Not for everyone. Part 3, just skip it. I wouldn't tell a friend to buy the book.

I got this book at the same time as Getting Organized: Improving Focus, Organization and Productivity in the hope that one or both would help me tame my crazy life as a middle manager in a software company. Both books have something to offer - in my review of Getting Organized, I suggested skimming or reading several books and articles and taking the best suggestions from each.

While "Getting Organized" takes a Cliff's Notes approach with two-page chapters that take about two or three minutes each to digest, Getting Things Done goes more in depth, almost to a fault. I found that the first few chapters of Getting Things Done were much better written than the other book, and also stayed more technology-neutral, leaving it to the reader to decide whether to use paper files, day planners, PDAs, or list management software.

As others have written, the "processing stuff" flowchart that appears early on (page 32) is worthy of being printed, framed and sat on your desk for daily reference. It's the best summary I've seen of the different types of input items we all deal with and the choices we can and should make when dealing with them.

There's also a lot of meaty stuff that encourages you to think about your work habits and how you segment your time: Right now, am I categorizing input items or am I working on individual items? What's my energy level and mood right now and how should that affect what I do next? Do I have five minutes free or a solid hour?

I'm still developing my system, but essentially I use a combination of list management software (the excellent Remember the Milk) and email/calendaring (Gmail and Outlook) to keep track of things. I have one list per major area of responsibility ("Home - Finance", "Home - Medical", "Work - Management", "Work - Project xx", etc.) and I add things to the lists as I think of them. The author of the other book (Getting Organized) kind of pooh-poohs making huge to-do lists, but personally I agree with David Allen that getting that stuff out of your mind and into a list management system is key to being able to relax and pick what area to work next. You don't have to ever *do* every list item - in fact, trying to "finish" all your lists just isn't possible and the last list item is always "die a peaceful death" - but you should at least brainstorm it out once to clear your head. Usually the first time you do this you end up with 200 or so items - that's ok.

Now that I have my lists created, I make sure to spend some time each morning deciding not which items to complete that day, but which list(s) to focus on. I might block out a solid hour using Outlook to work on management or HR items, and another hour to catch up on email. When that "meeting with myself" pops up, I just go to the related list and grab the top priority item from the list - that way no area of focus gets starved.

I also like Allen's rule about Doing It Now if it takes two minutes or less, but I'd add the caveat that it's possible (for me at least) to find enough two-minute tasks to fill a whole day. So I would time-box it: spend 30 minutes doing as many 2-minute items as you can, then do something bigger.

I haven't finished the book yet, as I've already found plenty of things to try and am finding success, but that's ok. If you buy this don't feel duty-bound to read every last word the first week. Just learn, assimilate, test, repeat.

Good stuff overall.

This book was practical and useful for me at home. I love the "tricks" that Allen teaches in this book and have been using them for about two weeks. I am doing the things I always knew I should be doing. Having it all out of my head has made a big difference for me. I have used many other systems and have kept the big picture parts of those systems because Allen says this system is about the nitty-gritty, actually getting things done, but you still need the big picture tools.

I am starting a new job and I feel as though my life is organized enough NOT to have to worry about what I am leaving undone. After 7 years of full time school, I had 4 garbage bags of paper in my overstuffed file drawer. Now, I remember the lesson, if you have it but can't find it, what's the point of having it? This helps me to know what to keep and what to toss. It is a worthwhile investment even if you only use a few of the tricks that he teaches to increase your organization.

Any information on being more organised and reducing stress in our lives is worth reading. Even people who are generally organised will gain benefits fom this book. We all have areas of our lives that could be more productive, less cluttered and more stress-free. Definitely worth a read.

How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good

Real Life Dramas - Volume One

Darren G. Burton

This book has helped me so much! I have read it once and am starting to work my way through it again, because it's easy to read but takes real discipline to implement. I am by nature highly disorganized--my desk is perennially piled high and deep, and bills may be found anywhere in my house.

By taking the first steps towards implementing this I've already become more confident in my ability to manage the almost overwhelming amount of responsibilities and tasks that multiply like bunnies.

I think the subtitle is a little bit of exaggerated advertising..."Stress-free" is probably unattainable for most of us; but this book WILL help you lower your stress levels quite a bit if you have trouble managing all your responsibilities, and if you put it into action.

It's chock full of fun and wise quotes, which keep it interesting. And David Allen gives some excellent advice that can improve your personal quality of life and any organization's culture. I recommend it for leaders, managers, and anyone who's naturally not super organized.

David Allen's book "Getting Things Done" is the center of a cult. And cult, in this instance, is not a pejorative - it's a compliment.

Allen has written a classic book on approaching life.

Write everything down. Sort it. Do some things immediately, do some later. Everything must be out of your mind and on a list.

It sounds so simple - and it is so difficult to consistently put into practice.

Allen is, in my opinion, something approaching a genius. If not a genius, then a very bright man who has glimpsed the way to making your life, as he says, productive without stress.

I just wish I could actually get all his concepts into practice.

Jerry

This book could also be titled "The quintaessence of time management".
Im usually very skeptical of self help books, but I trusted the person who recommended it to me. If you read it carefully, it explains to you the root cause of procrastination and how to fight it. Particularly the "two minute rule" changed the way I do things. Now I have my room clean most of the time.
The book is not perfect. I think its filled with many unnecessary content, but I found this book so useful and inspiring that its a minor detail for me. You can really feel the author's enthusiasm about his mission of changing the readers life.
Give it a shot. The time and money youll invest in this book youll likely get recovered soon.

This was a well written book with some excellent points on item management. However, I think his system falls short in an electronic age where information flow is much greater than in the past. I have even used his Outlook plug-in to try and implement his system electronically, but it becomes too combersome over a simple traditional filing methodology.

He disdains master to-do lists because nothing ever gets done according to him. As a business consultant working on 5-6 projects at a time I have found it is quite necessary to have master to-do lists in order to prioritize major milestones/tasks from different projects. I found more overhead trying to use his system when managing many projects.

I do agree on some major points in his book. Writing down everything you have to do, does in fact help relieve stress/worry. I think his system probably works best for individuals working on single threaded projects or departments within a single company. I recommend this book, even if you don't use his system.

What a pleasant surprise this book was. Yes, it is about getting things done in business and also in one's personal life without being stressed, but there is also a strong spiritual quality to the way it is explained. David Allen has a way with words that goes deeper than just providing information in a "matter of fact" way. It all makes a lot of sense and is easy to follow without having to be familiar with anything else that's been written about the subject. I highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to de-clutter all areas of his/her life.