Success Stories?

B

Brent

0
Care to share a story of how GTD has specifically improved your life? A little something to inspire others to use GTD?

Off the top of my head:

Before GTD, I frequently impressed my friends with the number of projects I had going at any given time, but I gradually realized that none of those projects ever got done. Even the important projects, the ones that other people needed, wouldn't get done.

With GTD, I have somewhat fewer ongoing projects. But I get them all done, and I can then go on to more projects. I feel more productive, more mature, in more control of my life, and more free.
 
Before GTD, I was working at a job I hated, for a company that treated me poorly, doing work that neither inspired me nor made the world a better place. GTD has given me the tools to understand my life better, with the result that I've now (among other "wins"):

  • Begun a transition from the career I hate to one I find deeply rewarding;
  • Given of my time to a non-profit organization whose goals and mission (helping victims of sexual assault and child abuse) I really support;
  • Fulfilled a lifelong dream about creating a family by becoming a foster parent.

I'm the kind of person who tends to get overwhelmed by the big picture if I can't break it down easily into smaller, more easily managed pieces. Without GTD to help me get honest about what "stuff" I was allowing into my life, I could never have managed the process of making those dramatic life changes.

-- Tammy
 
I work from home. As my business really took off there was less and less time to do my share of the housework -- and it became harder and harder to keep those evenings for me & the family.

When I really got into the GTD flow my wife would look at me and mistrustingly mumble "hmmm... fishy...." as I would have
  • taken care of the laundry, vaccuum cleaning, floors, kitchen, dusting -- all in the morning and all much more than just "my" tasks
  • finished "can you repair..." requests without needing to be reminded or nagged
  • made time for special me & her moments on top of the family time I really have now
 
This is my sucess Story.

I pick GTD in a kind of dark time. We had just move from Colorado to Los Angeles and I was jobless (ok, I had a temp job, that was horrible) when I picked GTD. I need to say that my life was chaos, disorganized, missing stuff, my credit history was pathetic because I forgot to sent payments, I have nothing in the bank because I spend that and more, I have so much junk around that I had an storage with stuff, a house with stuff and was a simply mess...

When I got GTD Fast 2 months after read the book, was a super stretch for me to buy it, but I was convince that GTD had something different...

Today, I have a job that I love, my life is more organized (ok the bar has raised, comparing to that time is super clean), I know when are things at home and at work all the time, no more missing stuff, no more credit card debt, money in the bank, not so much junk around (again the bar was raised, it is nothing compared to that time, but I continue thinking I can get rid of more), no more storage, and a house that anyone can stop without noticed and I will be able to invite them in...

I think it is my sucess Story!
 
lots...

  • Lost 15 pounds (weight)
  • Cured my insomnia
  • Made major progress on a long-term back problem
  • Started blogging
In all, a tremendous impact. At the time of these changes I didn't believe it was GTD, so I did a time-line to figure it out, and to differentiate between "midlife crisis" and "damn good book." I'm switching careers and now teaching this stuff, so guess which I concluded?

As always, thanks to David Allen and the folks at davidco for making this available!
 
It's cliched on this board, but clearing out my mental RAM has left me much more relaxed and willing to take on additional projects -- mostly socially. I'm a couple months into using GTD so I still forget to do some stuff, but I actually prefer forgetting to do things over knowing I should be doing things, but not ever getting to them. I now have the confidence of knowing everything I could be doing at any point and no longer feel like I have to do something right when I happen to think about it. I've always been relaxed, but now I can be relaxed and get stuff done.
 
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