I agree, the book is extremely valuable. However, it depends on what kind of learning style you have, when evaluating the 'best way' to learn GTD. I started GTD some time in the Winter of 2001, by stumbling on the book, and reading it. I have been at it ever since. I love reading, and love books, so it was a great way for me to start. My wife, on the other hand, doesn't really like reading, and learns better when she hears things ... so the GTD Fast CDs have been great for her. Personal coaching was the best for her.
I have also attended the Road Map seminar here in Boston, which is superb. I took about eight other staff people with me, and those that read the book were following along better than those that were new to the concepts. The few of us who had read the book, listen to the Fast CDs, and had some 'practice' under our belts, were especially tracking with the higher altitude stuff. (Although, I must admit, the fact that none of us were doing our Weekly Reviews weekly was probaly the biggest takeaway. I hate to admit that, since the Weekly Review is stressed so emphatically in all the GTD literature ... but it was something we all hadn't taken as seriously as we should. We felt so much more on top things than ever, that we didn't take the WR as it really is ... the moment of true GTD convergence.)
You can't get that kind of learning only out of a book, or a CD, or even personal coaching ... you only get that kind of learing out of actually doing, day in day out, week in week out, your own implementation of GTD, in real life. Then take your experience back to the book, or the CDs, or the seminar, or this site, or a GTD blog site, or whatever medium of learning you thrive in ... (I haven't tried Connect yet, but it seems intriguing to me).
Learning GTD is a lot like learning a foreign language (or a new sport). At first, it's very awkward and unnatural. You spend lots of time with flash cards, paradigms and stumbling through stuff you don't really 'get' yet. Some stuff comes fast and naturally, like "Donde el bano" ... I still remember that! But most of the language will only come by studying it, speaking it, trying it, making mistakes, learning through your mistakes, studying it, speaking it ... well, you get it. Ultimately, the best way to learn for most of us it is full immersion. I learned more Swahili in Tanzania itself, than my four months of 'studying' before I arrived. By the way, attending the Road Map seminar is bit like visiting the foreign country of DAland ... a full immersion into the language and culture of GTD. You learn a lot just being there and listening. Nothing beats 'doing' as the ultimate teacher. This, I think, is why DA says that it takes two years ... because the 'doing' has to be done. There is just no getting around it.
The problem with 'doing' as learning, is that we make a LOT of mistakes as we go, and nobody likes making mistakes. So, approach is, with GTD as well as other things we want to learn, is 'learn it' ... then do it. And we think 'learn it' means, basically, nail it, with only a few mistakes. Big mistakes means failure to us ... which means giving up, because, after all, the only thing worse than making mistakes, is making them so often that we feel like failures. Then we give up, and say something like, "I tried that, it didn't work."
Who wants to feel like a failure at yet another thing? Not me.
But you don't 'try' stuff like GTD, or Spanish, or Tennis, or whatever, in such a way that it works or not, pass or fail. You 'try' it in such a way that you find YOUR groove, your accent, your game. Then you do it, speak it, play it, whatever, as a life long learner, passing and failing along the way ... making mistakes and learning from them all along the way.
So, for me, after five plus years 'speaking' GTD, I feel like I'm just about fluent in it. At the same time, there are so many subtleties to it, that even being fluent, I know that there is so much to learn beyond the basics. I still pop the Fast CDs into the car and listen, and still learn new stuff. Even the 'old stuff' is new to me, because I have new 'doing' under my belt, which has me bringing new questions to even the most basic aspects of GTD (like, say, getting unstuck on projects or nas that have become stale on list, or numb to me).
I'm not sure if those reflections are helpful or not to others, but I figured I'd offer them anyway, because ... (and this is my last thought for this post) ... one key I have found in learning GTD, is that 'teaching' GTD to others, especially my teenagers, is actually another great way to learn. So, if anything, as self indulgent as it may sound ... I got something out of this post
Cheers
Chris
