Confession: I've been in the starting gates with GTD (Getting Things Done) for several months now. I've made little inroads. I've had my moments where I'm using the 2 minute rule to handle all sorts of miscellaneous junk on my desk. But I'm not really on board with the program yet.
If it weren't for these three GTD benefits, I wouldn't bother:
Get more done. By staying on top of your stuff, information, projects, priorities and commitments, you are in charge and get a lot more done.
Integrity. Without something like this, I can't reliably keep my commitments, do what I say I'm going to do - on time. Stuff slips through the cracks.
Less stress and worry. Without a good system like this, I'm always wondering and worrying about what has slipped through the cracks. What is due that I've missed? What's in the middle of that stack over there? What stacks are shoved to the side and what's in them lost? And the stress of not being able to find something when you need it.
Here's how I rate myself on the core tenets of GTD:
(1) Putting all the *stuff* that comes into your space into an in-box or handling it immediately if it can be handled within 2 minutes. D
(2) Maintaining a master projects list that includes a *what does Done look like?* description. B
(3) Having a *capture device* with you all the time so that when new *stuff* or ideas come along, you have a way to get it off your mind and in writing. B+
(4) Maintaining a set of *Next Actions* lists for each work setting you have (including @Car, @Office, @Home, @Online etc.). Next actions are to do items, but they are rigorously specific such as *Call John to set up consulting appt* instead of *Schedule appt with John* or *Do Consulting with John*. The idea is that no further thinking is needed to carry out the action. The thinking went into formulating the next action. C-
(5) Doing a weekly 1-2 hour review of all your projects and next actions to keep things moving and so that you are sure you have everything covered and nothing missed. FIt seems that my main stumbling block is getting all my stuff into the in-box. I have so much stuff that it won't fit into an in-box. And I haven't blocked out the 2 solid days to get started that David recommends. Maybe I am just going to have to follow instructions this one time. ;-)
The Getting Things Done Zone is probably the best single resource on GTD.