I often see articles about things like “Why GTD* didn’t work for me”, or “x Reasons Why Getting Things Done Sucks”.  Almost always the writers end up highlighting a mechanical aspect of their implementation of GTD that has actually made life more difficult for them.

GTD or “Getting Things Done by David Allen is an approach to life and work that gives you principles to allow yourself to concentrate on important things without always having to worry that you’ll be bitten in the bum by something urgent that you missed!

Instead, I reckon they should first look at the real benefits that could be achieved if they found a system that implemented GTD in a format that works for them.  If these benefits are great enough, then they’ll have the motivation they need to get off their butts and find the right implementation of GTD.

So, why should you use GTD?

1.  You’ll Feel Good About Yourself

When you’re on top of things and in control of your workload you simply feel much netter about yourself.

I used to be always bogged down with what I had to do.  So much so that my desk and work area was always a total mess and I aways felt like I wasn’t good enough at my job, that I was failing in some indefinable way.

Since I’ve implemented GTD with a system that works for me, (eProductivity for Lotus Notes care of Eric Mack), I’m now feeling totally in control.  I feel that each day I could pretty much take on the world and I have more energy than before. Put in its simplest form, I feel great about myself now, I’m proud of my work area and I don’t cringe at the thought of being amongst it.

2.  You’ll Sleep Better

In the past, and as you can probably tell by my “before” picture, things would often get missed and “fall through the cracks”.

If there’s been one great benefit from having a trusted system for everything its been that I don’t lie awake in bed at night wondering what awful surprise might happen the next day because I missed something.

Now if I miss something it’ll only happen because I choose to!  In which case, I’ve probably delegated it anyway

3.  You’ll Get Noticed by the Right People For The Right Reasons

Quite a natural benefit really.  If you’re not getting nickelled and dimed to death with the urgent but unimportant, you have more time to do what’s really important.

For me, in my role as a Pastor and Leader, this means additional time to communicate the vision of our church.  I have more hours available to spend with my next layer of leadership which means they can be developed as better leaders themselves.  This is obviously better for them but also ultimately for the people they lead also.

The benefit to any organisation of its leaders and employees actually spending their time doing the right things is huge.  So if you’re a leader the benefits of this are obvious but if you’re in the middle of the food chain or even just starting your career, getting the important things done will get you noticed for all the right reasons.

4.  You’ll Get More Time For Fun, Family and Friends

Has your family ever felt like they need to put out a “Wanted” poster on you?  Do they feel you’re missing in action?

Implementing GTD successfully means you’ll have more time to do what you want.  Part of what always bugged me in the past was that I needed to work long hours to get everything done that I felt I needed to do.  I know there’s a book out there called “The 4-Hour Work Week” and that would be great.  But even with GTD I think its not realistic to manage that seeming utopia.

But thanks to the simplicity of eProductivity for Lotus Notes, I’ve now got an implementation of GTD that works for me, and I’ve been able to reduce the time I need to spend of work stuff.

This means more time available for the people that really matter in my life.

What About You?

Have I missed any benefits out?  Do you agree, disagree or want to add your thoughts to this list? Maybe you don’t GTD yet. If you’re interested, pick up your own copy of GTD.

Please feel free to comment.

I’m blogging about GTD, eProductivity, leadership and books. If you want to join with me in this journey you can follow me by rss feed, by email or through Twitter
… and don’t be scared to let me know what you think!

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