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In this episode, thanks to some listener feedback from Fran with the Little Sisters of the Poor, we delve a little more deeply into Getting Things Done and how you can use it in your daily Catholic work life. Whether you are a lay person at a normal 8-to-5 job, or religious, GTD can definitely help you be more productive and effective.
I give a quick summary of what GTD is, and how it is different from the tradition priority driven productivity methods out there. I talk about how the GTD workflow (you can see a great chart of it here) is extremely powerful and how it allows you to move all of the stuff that’s in your mind into an external and actionable format. The workflow lets you know what tasks require your attention, when you need to take action on them, or if you even need to do them at all.
I also discuss how there are so many electronic tools that allow you to implement GTD, and there are web-based tools that are made specifically for individual and group use of the method. Some of these applications include Microsoft Outlook 2007, Things, and Producteev.
Of course, I can’t sing the praises of the method the whole show. There are a number of cons that are associated with GTD to include its complexity, the fact that it is extremely difficult to stay with it for long periods of time, and that some people just don’t need it.
Overall GTD is a great tool to help you to manage the day-to-day tasks and projects that come at you. It gives you a means to remove the stressful stuff that is floating in your mind and turn them into actionable tasks. While it may not be the method that I use anymore, I highly recommend it!
If you have a question, or just a comment, please don’t hesitate to leave a voice-mail on the feedback line at 714-643-5301.
