International Mac Podcast

GTD stands for Getting Things Done. In order to Get Things Done, you need to know what those Things are.

Enter the concept of actions. An action is anything you wish was not the way it was now is considered an action, no matter how big or small. Those you can actually do something about are called actionable–you can take action on them. All actionables are actions, but not vice versa. Some actions you need something out of your control to change before they come actionable. Often you can create some other action related to these unactionable ones, e.g “Tell Bob I need him to finish the cabinet construction first, so I can paint them while he fixes the counters.” You have to wait for Bob, but you can tell him so and make him aware of it.

Many of the actions you perform throughout the day are connected to a project. (Projects simply are tasks that contain many steps inside them, such as “Remodel the kitchen.”) I personally call Tasks those small, one-step things like “Add more paint to the shopping list,” or even larger one-step things like “Paint the cupboard.” Projects always contain tasks, tasks are not always contained by a project. If I am at school and happen to notice my pencil is getting small, I simply add that to my ubiquitous capture system and it eventually becomes a single action.

Thus we have a hierarchy. Action is the term for anything you wish to change. Single tasks are small things not associated with any project. Projects are series of tasks all working to a specific goal. The next layer is Areas of Responsibility, which I do not believe are part of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, the book that actually started off GTD. However, it is in Things, one of the great new GTD applications out there, and in a particularly good implementation in my opinion. I will be getting into that and its differences from projects in the next post, so stay tuned.