A Complete Guide on Getting Things Done Methodology

We have many ideas to work effectively, but it is impossible to bring all the ideas in use or remember them to try one after one. When we work on a project and handle our beloved family ahead, we need to be more conscious and concerned about managing the things. Our brain can think of many ideas and store information, but it is not possible like a computer to save every chunk of information and use it when we need it.

Getting Things Done Methodology

Paula Kehr

Customer Success Director

Andres Rodriguez

CMO at Instagantt

When we think too much and do nothing to get things done on time, it is seriously knocking our peace of mind. When we plan in our head, do not practice it, and let the time fly away, it brings stress over our shoulders only. So, there is a great need to manage things properly and bring them into action. 

A complete guide on getting Things Done Methodology

A senior and famous productivity consultant brought these ideas for managing the tasks effectively, David Allen, who proposed a task managing system consisting of very simple steps. He introduced Getting Things Done Methodology to bring the ideas into practical work and get the things done actually. 

Getting things done methodology helps to grab the effective steps and leave the debris behind, making the things more appropriate and organize as per their importance and time limitation, and allowing reviewing them. 

Steps to Get Things Done Methodology 

So, here is the complete guide for those who are new and want to learn a simple but effective way to make things done inappropriate way. We follow a sequence of steps to bring the mind's struggle, ideas, and information into practice by enlisting the things, removing the clutters, and organizing them. 

Capture: Hold the things

We know that our brain is developed enough to think of creative ideas to make our tasks easy and get fruitful results. Things our brain is thinking are undoubtedly out of the box, but these are not storable in the brain. 

We need to store them in the form of some words, symbols, or numbers. So, the first and most important step is to write the things your brain is thinking to plan to achieve any goal. It depends on you what source you will be using to capture what you want to do, whether it is a pen and paper, an application, or a simple voice recorder.

As our brain can think of millions of ideas but can't store them, or even if you visit a workshop or training, you cannot remember it, but you need to enlist the important steps or threads of information instead of piling them up in your mind. 

When you leave the piles of information or ideas in your mind, they distract you from your goal and waste your time. But when you write them as your to-do list on paper or a mobile application by following the getting things done methodology, you favor being at ease with a peaceful mind and sleep. 

Clarify the things you need to keep or delete 

When you have written all information, ideas, and the things you need to do on a paper or an application, you need to make the things clear by selecting the important and urgent things first and leaving the other things for next time. Everything you have written on the paper is not useful or not up to the demand of time.

 It would help if you decided now what is more necessary and who should do it. Before you start working, according to the getting things done methodology, you should be very clear about the nature of tasks. 

Check your inbox where you mostly bring your tasks and be clear on the tasks you have already performed and do not need to give more attention and time to spend on them. Delete such tasks from your task list and make it clearer to avoid piles of spam. 

Sort out your tasks by organizing them 

According to the getting things done methodology, you should look for the timeline after deciding the nature and importance of the tasks. For this purpose, your email or any other application of your device will be suitable to remind you of the date and time for each next task. Here you need to go through some questions and find the best way to deal with many tasks and organize them. 

Make a queue of tasks you will be doing.

Think which tasks are more relevant and needs your urgent attention 

  • Grab the tasks away from your list that you can do later and mark them in your reminder by setting the expected date to start it. 
  • Throw the things into the trash box that you think is done already, and you do not need them anymore.
  • Don't forget to involve your team. Grab the tasks you think anyone else of your team member can do. It will release the burden from your nerves. 
  • Look at the nature of tasks and find whether they are important, and you should go ahead with it.

Look whether the tasks you are going to perform few minutes or more time. If the task completion time does not exceed two minutes, do it immediately, but if it takes more time, skip it and focus on the most important and immediate task. 

Take frequent reviews of your work. 

When you have gone through the listing things, removed the clutters from the list, and organized the tasks to complete a project, you need to keep track of it. Everything present in the list is neither obvious nor requires all-time attention. That's why you need to review the tasks list a few days later to include or exclude the tasks as per the project's requirement. 

Look into the list weekly and exclude the things you think have been done than enough, and they do not need more time and efficiency of your team. Otherwise, it will play a role of clutter and make you leave many important tasks unaddressed.

There is another factor of adding something new to promote the effectiveness of your project that you will be neglecting if you do not review the task list every week. You will find the open loos and treat them as per the need. So, this step of getting things done methodology will help you locate the things you have done and make a list vacant for fresh tasks of the week to move ahead to your goal. 

Engage the steps to get your goal

When you have gone through all the steps of making a to-do list and then process, you will be of the opinion of enjoying your work a lot instead of getting exhausted due to the overburden of work. When you have developed the habit of being organized and proceeding the things in a sequence, and letting the trash off the peak on time, you are carving new paths of innovations. The habit of engaging the things will make your mind free of worries and getting overwhelmed that will surely affect your proficiency. 

How Getting Things Done Methodology helps you to work properly?

Getting things done methodology has been performing a core part in dividing the project or goal into little tasks and letting them complete on time. Here are a few plus points to encourage beginners to keep track of their project and let it be done on time without exhausting and wasting energy on the overwhelmed mind. 

  • You will be free of obstacles playing with peace of mind. 

When you are observing the getting things done methodology for completing your project, you are getting rid of the obstacles that can ruin the peace of the mind. When you have things in mind, instead of writing them on paper or the to-do list, you are ruining your time by doing nothing and compromising your inner peace. But if you go through the getting things done methodology, you will not get overwhelmed and enjoy peaceful sleep instead of cracking different ideas all the time in your mind. 

  • You will be organized. 

Everything around you will be organized, whether in your workplace or personal life. When you have planned everything, got rid of the trash, and clarified every aspect, you will be acting as a proactive person and can avoid obstacles easily. 

  • You will save your precious time. 

Thinking too much and doing nothing only engulf your time. Therefore, keeping things in mind is venomous for the health of your mind. Map out things on an application of paper and keep marking them when you have completely done. 

  • You will develop better relationships. 

When you organize the things, you will surely come to know who can better handle the specific tasks. You will hand over the tasks to the person having the relevant skill and get it done on time. It will help you to develop a better relationship in the workplace. 

Conclusion 

Getting things done methodology is always a track to make a journey to successful completion of your project as it keeps you updated and overtaking each task of yourself and your team members.

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