I almost hesitate to write a post about David Allen’s productivity bible “Getting Things Done” - seriously - what has not been said? But I will, because its very relevant to busy NYC professional commuters - especially as more and more Manhattan workers spend more of their time working from home.

Even if you don’t typically give the time of day to self-help gurus, Allen’s book is definitely worth the read. Its not at all evangelic like Tony Robbins - its a practical and results-oriented cult wrapped in a $9 paperback - Allen isn’t trying to sell you a 40-CD seminar. No matter your overall impression of the book, you will, one day, find yourself unconsciously using some method you learned from it.

For Metro-North commuters, I definitely recommend both the paperback and an audiobook version - its available on iTunes as well. Listen to the audiobook on the train on the way to work - I can’t think of a better way to introduce GTD then that. When you’re done, read the book and use it as a reference for developing your own GTD habits.

If you find yourself slipping, just listen to it on the train again. It’ll get you right back on track and set a positive mood to attacking your tasks at work and home.

Last fall I was servicing a contract at a major Manhattan internet company, and overheard a snippet of conversation in the next cube - “you are totally into Getting Things Done techniques, aren’t you!“. This kind of highlighted for me how well-known Allen’s productivity brand among Manhattan professionals. Not only was the guy in the next cube a True Believer, but a random co-worker could identify some element of his workflow that was GTD-based.

The beauty of Allen’s approach is that GTD is not just designed to improve your performance, its designed to reduce your stress - and can do so within minutes.

A huge component of anyones stress level is the endless list of todos - important and unimportant, urgent and pending, personal and professional - which keep popping up in your mind throughout the day. As a collection of unorganized thoughts, these are infuriating, sometimes alarming.

Conventional wisdom is that in order to make the stress from these thoughts go away, you need to complete their associated tasks. This is untrue. You can reduce the stress within minutes by collecting them ALL and storing them somewhere you know you will not lose track of them. Once you do this, your mind will seriously curb the constant nagging, as you know you will not forget them.

OK, so GTD is about TODO lists - you’re thinking “gee, what a productivity breakthrough“. Well, the breakthrough is that the traditional thought is that todo lists are functional tools - but they are therapeutic tools as well. The rest of Getting Things Done is really about taking that concept and going down a rabbit hole of endless practical techniques you can adopt which personally help you develop a system for being consistently at ease and productive, rather then just when you are overwhelmed.

Besides your current to-do list, there is another element as well - which is an all-day (or multi-day) agenda-clearing GTD cleanout. You basically go through ALL of your paperwork and todos - at work and at home - and dispose, file, archive, or prioritize them. If a todo list is theraputic, this mega-cleanup is catharsis.

Think about it - think about how ‘Ready For Anything‘ (another Allen Book) you were last time you cleaned out your garage, home, office space, or home office. A nice clean desk, everything put away, nowhere to go but forward. Suddenly, not only are you more productive and less stressed, but your mind also wanders in into new ideas and possibilities. Vacations sound more like fun rather then a week of work backlog. You’re always ready to leave the office at 5PM. You spend more time with your family then with your laptop, because you are at ease with the idea that everything is under control.

This is so important for our modern lifestyle, as more and more people are working from home. Without some time of control, working from home can quickly bundle your entire life - work, home, family - everything, into one giant and amorphous stressball where boundaries of time and effort are nonexistent. This phenomenon is so well known that work-at-homers are pretty much considered the driving fans of GTD - as well as communities which continuously seek new scientific methods of managing work and life - most notably, the website Lifehacker.

The most wonderful part of Allen’s philosophy is that he is not at all draconian about which ideas you incorporate into your life or exactly how you choose to do so. He is much more interested in letting you know that parts of his system which people have found the most successful, and offering suggestions for different ways to do things. His primary concern is helping you find a personal management system that works specifically for you.