Book club idea

[kelstarrising]

I was re-reading the GTD book this morning and I swear I read things that I'd never seen before. It's amazing how that book seems to have Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak that reveals new information!

It got me thinking that while many Connect members have likely read the book, multiple times like me, it could be useful to take a chapter a week and do a Connect book club discussion on the key learnings. Curious what you all think of that? There are 13 chapters. I was thinking we could do the discussion through the Forum to give people a chance to reply in their own timing and gather the history for all to see. Provides a nice balance from the other educational formats we offer too.

Comments? Better ideas?

 

[Barb]

Or..

Given this crowd, what about doing the same thing with Making it All Work?

I'm up for either, though, but the higher altitudes get far less attention than the runway stuff.

 

[hikerpa]

I think this is a great idea. I'm still learning GTD and struggling with the process. I think this would be a valuable tool for learning. I have also read Making it all Work but I'm not near enough advanced in GTD yet. Maybe both books could be done.
Ellen

 

[delittlehales]

Book Club

I think that would be a wonderful way to keep us all engaged to the degree that we choose to be. With 13 chapters, for example, we could rotate that four times per year... for 52 weeks in total. How can we put this together?

Dave

 

[nickswan]

hey all,

I run a site called www.connectviabooks.com - we are in the process of building functionality into the site to allow virtual book clubs to be run and organized. If we can look to flesh out exactly how you'd like to virtual club to work we can build the features around this...

Let me know your thoughts

Thanks
Nick

 

[ekmorris]

That sounds like a wonderful idea!

I don't know anyone else personally who 'does' GTD, so I'd jump at the chance to have even a virtual discussion.

 

[TesTeq]

Let's do it!

There are 13 chapters. I was thinking we could do the discussion through the Forum to give people a chance to reply in their own timing and gather the history for all to see.

Let's do it! Here is a proposed schedule of the discussion:

Week 37: Ch. 01 A New Practice for a New Reality
Week 38: Ch. 02 Getting Control of Your Life: The Five Stages of Mastering Workflow
Week 39: Ch. 03 Getting Projects Creatively Under Way: The Five Phases of Project Planning
Week 40: Part 1 The Art of Getting Things Done - recap

Week 41: Ch. 04 Getting Started: Setting Up the Time, Space, and Tools
Week 42: Ch. 05 Collection: Corralling Your "Stuff"
Week 43: Ch. 06 Processing: Getting "In" to Empty
Week 44: Ch. 07 Organizing: Setting Up the Right Buckets
Week 45: Ch. 08 Reviewing: Keeping Your System Functional
Week 46: Ch. 09 Doing: Making the Best Action Choices
Week 47: Ch. 10 Getting Projects Under Control
Week 48: Part 2 Practicing Stress-Free Productivity - recap

Week 49: Ch. 11 The Power of the Collection Habit
Week 50: Ch. 12 The Power of the Next-Action Decision
Week 51: Ch. 13 The Power of Outcome Focusing
Week 52: Part 3 The Power of the Key Principles - recap

 

[cmcantwell]

Love this idea

I've been wanting to re-read GTD for a while now and to get started on my copy of MIAW. This is just the motivation I need. I think reading 1 chapter a month would be doable and I love using the forum in this way. Thanks Kelly & team for a great idea!!

 

[Oogiem]

Love the idea and the schedule of a chapter a week sound very reasonable.

 

[John Forrister]

More vegetables

I'm in too.

But I wonder if this is Kelly's way of enlisting all of you in getting me to read something besides lightweight fiction. Sort of like a parent saying, "All the cool kids are eating vegetables."

For the record, I eat lots of vegatables. But I do also read a lot of Cocoa Puffs novels.

 

[kelstarrising]

Great!

Thanks for the enthusiastic response! I will start my prep and setup. I'm going to do this as a special, new Forum category.

Nick--thanks for the offer, but I'd like to keep this inside the GTD Connect platform, since it's an exclusive for members. That makes it searchable inside Connect too.

I would like to start with GTD, then if we all seem to like the format, move on to MIAW.

More to come...

Kelly

 

[sdann]

I'm up for it too, please. I used to belong to a fiction book club, which I stopped while I was doing my certifications. I was thinking of starting it up again so the timing is perfect.

PS Are we already almost at week 37? Where did the summer go!

 

[GTDWorks]

I'm in, too!

 

[jrwelch_nh]

Sounds exciting, but maybe too ambitious for me

I'd love something like this, for many of the reasons already cited - I don't know anyone personally who does GTD, and I get something new out every time I read the book - but I'm worried that a chapter a week is too much for me to handle with my busy life right now. I can't even get to these forums once weekly! :???:

 

[TesTeq]

Just 3 pages per day!

I'm worried that a chapter a week is too much for me to handle with my busy life right now. I can't even get to these forums once weekly! :???:

I insist on chapter per week reading schedule.

GTD book consists of 13 chapters and has 256 pages (paperback). Average length of the chapter is less than 20 pages. So we've got to read just 3 pages per day!

Just 3 pages per day!

 

[Barb]

An idea that may work for you

I'd love something like this, for many of the reasons already cited - I don't know anyone personally who does GTD, and I get something new out every time I read the book - but I'm worried that a chapter a week is too much for me to handle with my busy life right now. I can't even get to these forums once weekly! :???:

I think a chapter a week would work best for most people (someone "insisting" will not make a difference--don't worry), so if it comes out that you just don't think you can keep up, do what you can, then read all the forum posts to get all the feedback about it. You might get even MORE out of it than if you just read the book straight by doing it that way.

I'm in a great online book club. Sometimes I don't want to read the selection or I just don't have time. I don't worry about it ...and I make no apologies either.

 

[TesTeq]

I apologize.

I think a chapter a week would work best for most people (someone "insisting" will not make a difference--don't worry)

I apologize if the word "insist" was not appropriate in this context. There are some language nuances that are not apparent for a non-native speaker.

 

[Tara]

Great idea!

Love it--count me in.

t

 

[Tara]

Gracefully done

I apologize if the word "insist" was not appropriate in this context. There are some language nuances that are not apparent for a non-native speaker.

No worries, dude, you're cool.

t

 

[Barb]

It's cool

I apologize if the word "insist" was not appropriate in this context. There are some language nuances that are not apparent for a non-native speaker.

It's cool...I just didn't want a new Connect member to misunderstand.