Photo courtesy: gregturner

Loyal readers, friends, esteemed colleagues, Mom—I have a confession to make. I am a big, fat, 72-pt., <strong>face liar.

For years now, I’ve been claiming that I know what GTD is. Let me rephrase that—obviously, I know what it stands for, but until this weekend, I didn’t really grasp the true concept behind what’s probably the most popular productivity methodology in the world.

These are my confessions
I’ve always felt that I had a good sense for the way the GTD methodology worked and felt that since I had the tools that any decent GTDer owns, of course I too was GTDing like the best of ‘em. (Look I even have the lingo down!)

I am the proud owner of the beautiful Things software (both for Mac and iPhone), I continually strive to obsessive levels of zero when it comes to my inbox (I take screenshots on my Flickr account) and I even audibly cheered when David Allen finally broke down and joined Twitter (and was a little peeved that he had to resort to a second-rate, spammerish name like @gtdguy since he was so late to the Twitter game).

I even had the Getting Things Done audiobook sitting in iTunes, albeit for a long time. I always felt like I understood the process well enough that whenever there were things to be done, well, by golly, I was getting them. So there the audiobook sat, collecting digital dust—there was no need to read the book, I was too busy getting things done!

I mean, what’s the point? It’s pretty straight forward: things come into your inbox—take them out of there. Do your things! Duh. I’ve been indoctrinated to carry and use agendas since middle school (it was part of a grade) and I’ve always been utterly obsessed with iCal. Wait, David Allen’s made an empire out of this?

Finding myself with some forced downtime this Thanksgiving weekend and with an appropriately-sized tofurkey and pumpkin pie food baby, I settled down on my parents’ couch with Mr. Allen in paperback (which I had acquired brand new at half price from a bookstore’s going-out-of-business sale last summer—buy a new Amazon copy for $14 with shipping); I decided I was bored enough to at least skim the pages. Halfheartedly reading about productivity is the same thing as being productive, right?

You think you know, but you have no idea
While first getting into the book (and in between glances to “Gosford Park”), I was breezing through the introduction and the initial description of the whole GTD system that David Allen is now world-famous for. The more I read, however, the more and more I realized how many holes were present in my current system and what small, simple things I could do to improve the way I handled items in my collective inboxes.

Over the past few days, I’ve made a few adjustments to the way tasks are filed. So far, I feel that I have a good sense for how to make better use of the Things software (partly from watching these few, short (promise) screencasts made by a fan of the software and partly by reading the surprisingly short, but informative FAQs at Cultured Code). I also process email in my Gmail inbox in a better, more streamlined and efficient way AND I’ve gone up two cup sizes since starting the book (I blame pie).

Since reading through even half of the book, I feel like I have a way better understanding and definitely feel more productive and motivated (who knew that there was more than just buying the tools and showing up?!).

These realizations are tough to realize for someone who considers himself “creative” and “right-brained.” I’m historically “not supposed to” do well in these kinds of frameworks, but I find it really working. I’m trying to resist having a cabinet full of labeled manila folders, but Mr. Allen’s already got me using an @Action label in Gmail. While I was at Target the other night, I just happened to stumble across some Pendaflex files and a Brother label maker—I didn’t buy anything, but I’m pretty sure my outlook looks grim. Rather than admit that I’m more left-brained than I thought, I’ll definitely attest that it’s helped clear my mind of all of the small, trivial things (plus the bigger, not so trivial things) that I have to “do.”

• • •

If you’ve been thinking about diving in to the GTD system and you haven’t before, I would highly recommend it (remember, this is the Legit Cesar talking, not the Fraud Cesar). Not to edify, but I think it’s an intelligent way to get everything out and off of your mind and into a system that you trust—in the end you don’t really have to stick to David Allen’s methods, but rather learn from them and adopt them to your lifestyle. It’s paradoxical, but I feel more motivated since I’m even slightly more organized, but I had to find the motivation (despite that food coma, among other things) to get organized.

If you’re a GTD veteran, December’s a great time to review your process—work is slower for most people and the winter is a great time to reevaluate what’s up before the first of the new year rolls around and you feel obligated to set arbitrary resolutions and the impending panic and apathy that sets in once you inevitably lose track of your goals (at least, this is what continually happens to me).

It sounds weird to write aloud, but I’m actually looking forward to blocking out two days and cleaning up everything around the house and my home office (one of the things David Allen suggests you as a top executive do). I can smell the noxious label maker tape smell already.

Edit: As it turns out, Merlin Mann’s most popular post is his entry on “Getting Started With Getting Things Done.” If I failed to convince you, read his no-bullshit overview of the methodology at 43Folders and see if it’s something you can apply to your life.