Can you recommend a condensed version of David Allen's Getting Things Done book?

I used to be a tool junkie as well......but all that gets you is time spent fiddling with tools instead of doing things. I honestly think that if you would use paper lists for about 3 of 4 months you would develop a better understanding of the method which would then help you in finding the right tool. I am an Omnifocus user (who did buy a Mac just to use Omnifocus) but periodically I have to move to paper for a while just to clear out my system. All the things that make it easy to add items to your list (converting email to a task etc) also make it easy to add items that should not be there. It is also easier not to clean out electronic systems. All you really need is a few lists. Any tool can give you that. After you understand that, it's just about picking one that makes you smile.
 
larea said:
I used to be a tool junkie as well......but all that gets you is time spent fiddling with tools instead of doing things. I honestly think that if you would use paper lists for about 3 of 4 months you would develop a better understanding of the method which would then help you in finding the right tool. I am an Omnifocus user (who did buy a Mac just to use Omnifocus) but periodically I have to move to paper for a while just to clear out my system. All the things that make it easy to add items to your list (converting email to a task etc) also make it easy to add items that should not be there. It is also easier not to clean out electronic systems. All you really need is a few lists. Any tool can give you that. After you understand that, it's just about picking one that makes you smile.
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I agree. I use OmniFocus now, but using a paper system was the best thing I ever did to gain a deeper understanding of the GTD method, and I always try to convince newcomers to start there, but they usually resist. After I read GTD for the first time, I jumped right into OmniFocus and I spent most of my time fiddling and getting everything "just right." I see lots of people conflating areas of focus, goals, projects, project support material, and next actions. So you end up with a project called "Finance" with next actions like "Pay off my credit card" with no context and a due date you just keep deferring +1 week so it stops showing up in your custom "Today" perspective.
 
Sorry if this has already been posted, I haven't read all the replies yet. For me, what I did was downloaded the audiobook from my local library and I listen to it in the car. It's abridged so it's not word for word what he wrote, but it is him in his own words explaining the system. If you want a condensed version there are a couple good youtube videos that explain the GTD system in minutes. I think one is 7 and the other is 6 minutes long.
 
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