Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

I’ve been a GTD disciple for quite some time. One of the things that allured me to it was it’s simplicity, it’s “bottom up” approach, and the lack of what Merlin Mann calls “capital letter noun” self development talk. You know, the Stephen Covey type stuff of starting from “VALUES” with your self development. 

I’ve fallen off and gotten on the GTD wagon quite periodically. I got on delicious 150+ bookmarks with the self development tag. I got a folder in Google Reader named personal development with like 20 sites dedicated to the “genre”. I do this because, (1) I’m a little obsessive and (2) I’ve learned through time that I have to keep myself around this. Trust me, every little thing helps in the long run.

One site I stumbled upon a while ago reading 43Folders is Tools for Thought. This blog, for me, is one the best Personal Development blogs out there. I love the practical tips and it’s guru level understanding of the GTD methodology. The writer, Andre Kibbe, posted a series called A Pattern Language for Productivity. See, the simplicity in GTD is getting started with it. However, understanding it at a deeper level and the overall implementation for the long run can get complex.

The series has really helped me a lot. It has done, I dare to say, what even David Allen has tried to do for a long time. That is, help those people(probably every GTD’er) pinpoint why they fall and at the same time it provides the greatest introduction to the system -in my case reintroduction- that I ever read. 

If you’re like me, and are a yellow belt going for orange belt in GTD, the A Pattern Language for Productivity will help you get there and prepare you better for when it’s time for the black belt. There’s a downloadable version of the series in PDF here.