A technophile lawyer rediscovers the joys of pen and paper

Thursday, December 15, 2011

From GTD to ZTD

When I started this blog, I wanted to include posts about implementing David Allen's "Getting Things Done" system for managing tasks. I have tried that several times over the years, always running into obstacles but I thought, this time, for sure.

Something just wasn't gelling. So, I downloaded Leo Babauta's "Zen to Done" eBook. Best $10 I have spent in a long time.

In ZTD, Babauta goes through some of the reasons that GTD doesn't work for some people, and I found myself saying "Yes!" over and over again as I read through those issues. ZTD doesn't trash GTD. In fact, Babauta admires it and incorporates a lot of it, but at the same time offers suggested modifications — simplifications, really — that make GTD more user-friendly for people who have run into trouble implementing it.

At least, in theory. It remains to be seen whether I find it any more user-friendly in practice.

You can read Babauta's synopsis of ZTD at his blog.
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4 comments:

  1. Hey thanks for the tip. I just got done downloading it to my Nook Color and I'll be reading this over the weekend.

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  2. Thank you. I'm going to be checking this out also. Coincidentally, getting organized (and staying organized) is one of my goals for 2012. Good timing.

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  3. Heh! KP, I hadn't even thought of the timing! A big thing about ZTD is that Babauta says you should only try to change one habit at a time, which takes about a month, before moving on to the next one. So, you and I will have to be patient. It may take us most of 2012 to get to the point of organization we want. Good luck to us!

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  4. I have to agree. GTD was TOO structured for me, and there was just too much to it. I prefer ZTD approach. That isn't to say that I'm efficiently implementing ZTD yet, but attempting in any case, with my own modifications.

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