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India Press Store - Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $6.63
Your Save: $ 8.37 ( 56% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 646.7
EAN: 9780142000281
ISBN: 0142000280
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 267
Publication Date: 2002-12-31
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Methods That May Require Patience
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Be Amazed At How Much More You Can Get Done
Comment: 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!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Starting Point
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A valuable book, which could be easily improved.
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best I've read, different than the rest
Comment: 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.
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Editorial Reviews:
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With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow," "mind like water," and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance. Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.) As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket" That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). --Timothy Murphy
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