Zen To Done (ZTD): The Ultimate Simple Productivity System

Every Monday is Productivity & Organization Day at Zen Habits.

“It’s about the habits and the doing, not the system or the tools.”

I am a huge fan of GTD, as you probably know by now. It’s one of the best productivity systems ever invented. However, it’s not without its flaws, and because of that, I have a new productivity system for you: Zen To Done (ZTD).

Why “Zen To Done”? Well, first off, the blog is called Zen Habits, and “Habits To Done” doesn’t sound cool enough to me. I also thought of “Simple To Done” but the acronym didn’t seem right. Second, ZTD captures the essential spirit of the new system: that of simplicity, of a focus on doing, in the here and now, instead of on planning and on the system.

If you’ve been having trouble with GTD, as great as it is, ZTD might be just for you. It focuses on the habit changes necessary for GTD, in a more practical way, and it focuses on doing, on simplifying, and on adding a simple structure. Read on for more.

Overview
ZTD attempts to address five problems that many people have with GTD. I should note that GTD isn’t really flawed, and doesn’t really need modification, but everyone is different, and ZTD is a way to customize it to better fit different personality types.

ZTD addresses five problems people have with GTD:

1) GTD is a series of habit changes. This is the main reason why people fall off the GTD system — it’s a bunch of habit changes that are attempted all at once. If you’ve read Zen Habits long enough, you know that focusing on one habit at a time is best, and guarantees the most success. In addition, GTDers don’t apply proven habit-change methods (the ones I talk about on this site) to change their habits.

Solution: ZTD focuses on one habit at a time. You don’t have to try to adopt the entire system at once — it’s overwhelming and it’s too hard to focus on your habit changes if you do too many at a time. Instead, focus on one at a time, and adopt the system in phases. Use proven habit-changing methods (30-day challenge, commitment, rewards, motivation hacks, etc.) to successfully adopt each new habit.

2) GTD doesn’t focus enough on doing. While it’s called Getting Things Done, often what we end up doing most of the time is Getting Things in Our Trusted System. The book, while presenting an excellent system, focuses more on the capturing and processing stages than it does on the actual doing stage.

Solution: ZTD focuses more on doing — and how to actually complete your tasks, in a simple, stress-free manner.

3) GTD is too unstructured for many people. This can be one of the brilliant things about GTD — its lack of structure, its in-the-moment decision making about what to do next — but it can also be a huge source of confusion for many people. Some people need more structure in their day, and GTD can be disorienting. Different people have different styles.

Solution: ZTD offers a couple of habits to address this: the plan habit, where you simply plan your three MITs for the day and your Big Rocks for the week, and the routine habit, where you set daily and weekly routines for yourself. These habits, like all the habits of ZTD, are optional. If they don’t work for you, don’t adopt them. But for many people, they will compliment the other great parts of GTD perfectly.

4) GTD tries to do too much, which ends up stressing you out. GTD doesn’t discriminate among all the incoming stuff in your life, which again is part of its beauty. But the problem is that we put everything on our lists, and end up being overloaded. We try to do everything on our lists. This isn’t really a problem with GTD, but a problem with how we implement it. But it should be addressed.

Solution: ZTD focuses on simplifying. Take as much stuff off your plate as possible, so you can focus on doing what’s important, and doing it well.

5) GTD doesn’t focus enough on your goals. GTD is purposely a bottom-up, runway-level system. While it does talk about higher levels, it doesn’t really go into it much. As a result, GTD is more focused on doing whatever comes at you rather than doing what you should be doing — the important stuff.

Solution: ZTD, as mentioned above, asks you to identify the big things you want to do for the week and for the day. Another habit in ZTD is for you to review your goals each week, as a way of staying focused on them throughout the year. GTD contains an element of this, but ZTD extends it.

Again, GTD is a brilliant system, and works very well. But ZTD takes some of the problems that people have in implementing it, and adapts it for real life.

The 10 Habits of ZTD
Each of these habits should be learned and practiced one at a time if possible, or 2-3 at a time at the most. Focus on your habit change for 30 days, then move on to the next. The order listed below is just a suggestion — you can adopt them in whatever order works best for you, and you don’t need to adopt all 10 habits. Experiment and find the ones that work best with your working style. Habits 1-8 are the most essential, but I suggest you give Habits 9-10 serious consideration too. I will expand on each of these 10 habits in future posts.

1 collect. Habit: ubiquitous capture. Carry a small notebook (or whatever capture tool works for you) and write down any tasks, ideas, projects, or other information that pop into your head. Get it out of your head and onto paper, so you don’t forget it. This is the same as GTD. But ZTD asks you to pick a very simple, portable, easy-to-use tool for capture — a small notebook or small stack of index cards are preferred (but not mandated), simply because they are much easier to use and carry around than a PDA or notebook computer. The simpler the tools, the better. When you get back to your home or office, empty your notes into your to-do list (a simple to-do list will work for now — context lists can come in a later habit). Read more.

2 process. Habit: make quick decisions on things in your inbox, do not put them off. Letting stuff pile up is procrastinating on making decisions. Process your inboxes (email, physical, voicemail, notebook) at least once a day, and more frequently if needed. When you process, do it from the top down, making a decision on each item, as in GTD: do it (if it takes 2 minutes or less), trash it, delegate it, file it, or put it on your to-do list or calendar to do later. See Getting Your Email to Empty and Keeping Your Desk Clear for more.

3 plan. Habit: set MITs for week, day. Each week, list the Big Rocks that you want to accomplish, and schedule them first. Each day, create a list of 1-3 MITs (basically your Big Rocks for the day) and be sure to accomplish them. Do your MITs early in the day to get them out of the way and to ensure that they get done.

4 do (focus). Habit: do one task at a time, without distractions. This is one of the most important habits in ZTD. You must select a task (preferably one of your MITs) and focus on it to the exclusion of all else. First, eliminate all distractions. Shut off email, cell phone, Internet if possible (otherwise just close all unnecessary tabs), clutter on your desk (if you follow habit 2, this should be pretty easy). Then, set a timer if you like, or otherwise just focus on your task for as long as possible. Don’t let yourself get distracted from it. If you get interrupted, write down any request or incoming tasks/info on your notepad, and get back to your task. Don’t try to multi-task. See How NOT to Multi-Task for more.

5 simple trusted system. Habit: keep simple lists, check daily. Basically the same as GTD — have context lists, such as @work, @phone, @home, @errands, @waiting, etc. ZTD suggests that you keep your lists as simple as possible. Don’t create a complicated system, and don’t keep trying out new tools. It’s a waste of time, as fun as it is. Either use a simple notebook or index cards for your lists, or use the simplest list program possible. You don’t need a planner or a PDA or Outlook or a complicated system of tags. Just one list for each context, and a projects list that you review either daily or weekly. Linking actions to both projects and contexts is nice, but can get too complicated. Keep it simple, and focus on what you have to do right now, not on playing with your system or your tools.

6 organize. Habit: a place for everything. All incoming stuff goes in your inbox. From there, it goes on your context lists and an action folder, or in a file in your filing system, in your outbox if you’re going to delegate it, or in the trash. Put things where they belong, right away, instead of piling them up to sort later. This keeps your desk clear so you can focus on your work. Don’t procrastinate — put things away.

7 review. Habit: review your system & goals weekly. GTD’s weekly review is great, and ZTD incorporates it almost exactly, but with more of a focus on reviewing your goals each week. This is already in GTD, but isn’t emphasized. During your weekly review, you should go over each of your yearly goals, see what progress you made on them in the last week, and what action steps you’re going to take to move them forward in the coming week. Once a month, set aside a little more time to do a monthly review of your goals, and every year, you should do a yearly review of your year’s goals and your life’s goals.

8 simplify. Habit: reduce your goals & tasks to essentials. One of the problems with GTD is that it attempts to tackle all incoming tasks. But this can overload us, and leave us without the necessary focus on the important tasks (MITs). So instead, ZTD asks you to review your task and project lists, and see if you can simplify them. Remove everything but the essential projects and tasks, so you can focus on them. Simplify your commitments, and your incoming information stream. Be sure that your projects and tasks line up with your yearly and life goals. Do this on a daily basis (briefly, on a small scale), during your weekly review, and your monthly review.

9 routine. Habit: set and keep routines. GTD is very unstructured, which can be both a strength and a weakness. It’s a weakness for some people because they need more structure. Try the habit of creating routines to see if it works better for you. A morning routine (for example) could include looking at your calendar, going over your context lists, setting your MITs for the day, exercising, processing email and inboxes, and doing your first MIT for the day. An evening routine could include processing your email and inboxes (again), reviewing your day, writing in your journal, preparing for the next day. Weekly routines could include an errands day, a laundry day, financial day, your weekly review, family day, etc. It’s up to you — set your own routines, make them work for you.

10 find your passion. Habit: seek work for which you’re passionate. This could be your last habit, but at the same time your most important. GTD is great for managing the tasks in your life, and trying not to procrastinate on them. But if you’re passionate about your work, you won’t procrastinate — you’ll love doing it, and want to do more. The habit to form here is to constantly seek things about which you’re passionate, and to see if you can make a career out of them when you find them. Make your life’s work something you’re passionate about, not something you dread doing, and your task list will almost seem like a list of rewards.

See also:

Zen To Done (ZTD): The Ultimate Simple Productivity System

Every Monday is Productivity & Organization Day at Zen Habits.

“It’s about the habits and the doing, not the system or the tools.”

ZTD addresses five problems people have with GTD:

Solution: ZTD focuses more on doing — and how to actually complete your tasks, in a simple, stress-free manner.

Solution: ZTD focuses on simplifying. Take as much stuff off your plate as possible, so you can focus on doing what’s important, and doing it well.

See also:

Comments (44)

rob Says:

April 17th, 2007, 5:21 am

Nice post with some good ideas. I’d strongly agree with habit 8 “reduce your goals & tasks to essentials”, but disagree that GTD attempts to deal with all incoming tasks and overwhelms us. What GTD allows us to do is to see all incoming tasks and commitments - it does not say we should do them all. When processing and reviewing we should be deciding to do, delete or defer each item, reviewing and renegotiating our commitments to get to the essentials. Unfortunately many people using GTD seem to omit this stage and end up with lists of hundreds of projects and to do items, which in turn can lead to indecision and procrastination. Thanks for reminding us to focus on the essentials - it’s the only way to get things done.

Leo Says:

April 17th, 2007, 5:41 am

Hi Rob … thanks for the thoughtful comment. You’re right, and as I said in the post, these aren’t really problems with GTD but common problems that people have in implementing the system. The problem, really, is that GTD doesn’t really emphasize a system for weeding out the non-important tasks from the important tasks — it simply tells us to write them down if it’s something we think we should do, and then decide what to do from there. While theoretically GTD tells us to delete or delegate tasks that aren’t important, it doesn’t really emphasize the need to focus on what’s essential. In fact, it doesn’t really talk about what’s essential at all. Not a fault of GTD, but it can create problems for some people when it comes to implementation, as you pointed out.

Thanks for the great comment!

David Hollingworth Says:

April 17th, 2007, 9:14 am

Wow! There’s a huge amount to chew over here, thanks Leo.

A couple of comments. One of the reasons people are expected to take GTD on all in one go is that’s how it’s taught, either in seminars, training courses or one-to-one. The audience (who’s paying for the training) wants to know that all their productivity problems are going to be solved by following GTD and the person delivering the training ain’t going to disillusion them by saying, “This could take 10 months if you want it to become habitual”. Oh no, people crave an instant fix.

Personally I think that your approach to making things habitual is better than a big bang approach; but it’s harder to sell.

On to point 8. I disagree with the idea of simplifying the “lists”. One of the foundations underpinning GTD is that you dump every open loop into your trusted system and get it out of your head.

I’ve been adopting GTD gradually over the past 12 - 18 months from stuff I’d picked up on the web and only recently actually read the book. One of the things I rally gained from the book was that I could be a great deal more relaxed about my work and my time if I

a) Trusted my system and
b) Dumped everything into it.

So now I have some very long lists in my planner (particularly @Computer); but I know I have the methodology and system in place that it will all get done. What I don’t have is many tasks going around and around in my head with me trying to remember them all. I fear if I simplified my lists all the details would have to go back into my head again. Ouch!

So much more to say,
Out of time today.

Deb Says:

April 17th, 2007, 9:15 am

Great post. I’m new to GTD and I really like the steps as you have outlined them here. In the past month, I implemented the inbox [as opposed to just throwing everything in a pile on my desk] and the MIT’s. I find adding them to Memo to Me as I go about the day helps me get them listed and then first thing in the morning I get my email to remind what I need to get done. I have one silly question - what’s with the @ sign in front of the context lists???

David Hollingworth Says:

April 17th, 2007, 9:45 am

Hi Deb

The @ sign fulfills two purposes:

1. It helps to specify the context, I have contexts at-computer (@Computer), at-Cork (@Cork), at-home (@Home) etc.

2. If you’re using the context in software it helps to keep them all grouped together. For example you might have a number of @ contexts and a number of ! contexts (for immediate or urgent things).

Hope that helps.

David

Eric Blue Says:

April 17th, 2007, 11:05 am

Leo,

Great post, and definitely a lot to digest and think about!

Rosa Say Says:

April 17th, 2007, 11:22 am

I truly think you’ve nailed it here with your initial premise Leo; GTD is all about setting good habits that have replaced others which haven’t kept you at your productive best. I personally think that a central brilliance within GTD is Allen’s two questions: What’s your best possible outcome (what’s “done” for you?) and then what’s getting that done look like (what are your action steps?)

Answering those two questions zooms us to the doing of our stuff so much quicker. You’ve answered those two questions in your post in a way that filters the clutter out of GTD for you, otherwise you spend too much time tinkering with the system versus trusting it.

Love the way you’ve connected this to both the crucial discipline of our habits and your signature; the zen of simplicity.

Balfour Says:

April 17th, 2007, 12:31 pm

Excellent post. I think that there is a great deal of GTD tinkering and obsessing out there - witness the vast number of blogs and sites devoted to this - which can be another type of procrastination, ie, put bells and whistles on the system or read about how other people are doing GTD rather than doing what’s on your lists.

I find that I can get kind of lost in my lists because they’re not prioritized (GTD doesn’t really focus on that) and sometimes I’m really not certain which item to pick first, so I get paralyzed with decision-making. Maybe it’s because I lack motivation to do any of them! Which goes back to whether you are working at your passion. Even if it is your passion, there are things you still don’t want to do.

It is also about having these long lists that just get bigger and become discouraging. I have tried the MITs at times, but have found that at the end of the day, I haven’t finished them. That will probably be an upcoming “Challenge” for me.

John Says:

April 17th, 2007, 14:10 pm

Very interesting read. Thanks in large part to your site I’ve read widely across all the GTD information you’ve pointed me at - and last week I went out and bought the book. I’m still wading through it (in full agreement with the book’s critics who say it could and should be at least half the size), but I think I’m going to be giving this GTD thing a good go very soon.

I only posted here to make a couple of observations after all this time reading. First, I think your offshoot of GTD is promising - but you need a better name for it! ‘Zen To Done’ strikes me as clunky. Why not ‘Zen To Do’? You keep the rhyming initials, and it’s places a greater distance between your version and the original. I’d also like to see more on Zen itself from you. Would be interested in your ‘take’ on the Greater Vehicle, on instantaneous enlightenment and all that stuff.

Great blog and a great site you’ve got going here, keep it up mate.

John Wesley Says:

April 17th, 2007, 14:35 pm

Wow, Leo. You’re a productivity machine these days. At this rate you’ll get bigger than Lifehacker!

Leo Says:

April 17th, 2007, 15:14 pm

Wow. Great comments everybody. And so many to respond to … that’s what I get for leaving my computer! :)

@Dave: Thank you for the thoughtful comment. Regarding Habit 8, I see what you’re saying, but I’m not asking people to stop dumping every open loop onto their lists … I’m asking them to review the lists periodically, and consider whether they still want to do that commitment. This is actually consistent with GTD’s weekly review — you’re supposed to review your task lists to see if there are things you no longer want to do. My system just emphasizes it a little more, to tell people that they cannot do everything, and that they should cut it down to the essentials. But you make a good point, and I would encourage people to still dump everything from their mind, initially.

@Deb: It sounds like you’re doing a great job! Keep it up. Dave already answered your questions about the @ sign, but I should add that it’s not mandatory. You could drop the symbol completely, or have dashes or exclamation marks or anything. Make it work for you!

@Eric and Rosa: thanks, guys, for the positive feedback! I appreciate it.

@Balfour: excellent comments. You’re right about people’s tinkering with their systems being a form of procrastination - that’s why I say to keep a simple system, and forget about it. You should still use tools that you love, but really it’s not about the tools or the system, it’s about the habits and the doing. As for having long, discouraging lists, I know what you mean … but don’t think of it as a mountain you have to climb … rather think of it as an extension of your brain … you’ve got a lot on your mind, so you’ve dumped it onto your lists (as Dave mentioned above) to get it off your mind and allow you to have some peace. Try to see the positive in it and not let the number of things get you down. There’s nothing to say you have to accomplish *everything* on the lists — just keep focusing on the most important ones, and you’ll be fine. Another tip: sometimes I’ve found it helpful to set aside a block of time (a couple hours) to knock of a bunch of small tasks on the list. It’s satisfying, and it helps shorten the list considerably.

@John: You should definitely give GTD a try (or this new offshoot, ZTD) … as you can tell, I’m a big fan. It’s helped me a lot. As for your comments on the name … thanks for your input. I’ll definitely consider it. But “Zen To Done” can start to grow on you … I’ve actually been putting this together for a little while, and the name was one thing I’ve been debating, and it’s grown on me.

@John Wesley: Stop it, or you’ll give me a big head. And this site would be nothing without all the great reader participation! Thanks everyone, and thanks John.

Mark Siegal Says:

April 17th, 2007, 19:53 pm

I love the underlying philosophy, and you’ve nailed GTD’s weaknesses. But I think your implementation is too complex for its stated intent. A system of 8 to 10 habits strikes me as far from simple or zen, even with your caveats of adopting the habits piecemeal and perhaps ignoring some of them.

Leo Says:

April 17th, 2007, 19:58 pm

Hi Mark … you have a point, but really, these are essential habits. You could leave out a few, but I think this system would be weaker if it didn’t include them. Other systems, like GTD, are just as complicated, but they ask you to do them all at once. That seems simple on the surface but is complicated. ZTD simplifies that by breaking them down into individual habits, and asking you to do them 1-2 at a time. I think that’s a simpler method, and one that will be more successful. How would you suggest further simplifying it?

Leo Says:

April 17th, 2007, 20:03 pm

As an addendum to that, I would ask you to consider breaking down any system into its components. GTD has at least as many as this, but doesn’t list them out as plainly as this. Any other system is has as many or more — Covey, Mandino, Sharma, any system … even my favorite simplicity author, Elaine St. James, offers you dozens of habits to adopt. The difference is that I’ve listed them out, for you to adopt one by one. Thanks for allowing me to clarify this!

工控网 Says:

April 17th, 2007, 21:18 pm

Leo,

Great post, and definitely a lot to digest and think about!

Rich Lafferty Says:

April 17th, 2007, 21:35 pm

A system of 8 to 10 habits strikes me as far from simple or zen
Tsk! Zen is a system of eight or ten habits!

Mark Siegal Says:

April 17th, 2007, 21:37 pm

I’m not sure offhand how I’d simplify your 8 to 10 habits, but I’d probably suggest aiming for about half as many. It might require some combining, such as habits 1 and 6, or 7 and 8. Also, I don’t buy the addendum that your system is simpler because it spells out all its components — rather, that means it’s being more upfront about its complexity. That’s not such a bad thing. Yet I maintain that this system doesn’t live up to the intent of zen-like simplicity, and in that sense, I find it disappointing.

Leo Says:

April 17th, 2007, 21:54 pm

Hi Mark … you’re certainly welcome to combine the habits if that helps you. I’m sorry if you’re disappointed … perhaps we have a different meaning of simplicity. You seem to be looking for just a few habits to implement, which is certainly a good thing … but the simplicity I spoke of is in the implementation process. Instead of trying to adopt a whole bunch of habits at once, without being aware that you’re doing so (this is complexity), ZTD asks you to do them one at a time (simplicity). I think it would be much easier to implement this way.

Also, in the addendum, I didn’t say that ZTD is simpler because it spells out its components. What I was getting at is that other systems might seem simpler, because they *don’t* spell out their components, and also that ZTD is simpler than many, which have dozens of habits to implement. If you were to implement the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, for example, there are actually more than 7 Habits if you look at it on a daily level. Each habit is a general principle that must be implemented in several ways (each a habit) on a daily basis.

Leo Says:

April 17th, 2007, 22:18 pm

Mark, another addendum … this probably won’t cure your disappointment, but to further clarify what I meant when I said this was a system of simplicity … that doesn’t just refer to the number of habits … it also refers to the following:

1) ZTD advocates that you use the simplest tools and the simplest system of lists possible. Too many people look for complicated tools, software with a lot of features, a complicated tagging system (see implementations that use stikkit or Remember the Milk), etc. ZTD recommends you use a small paper notebook and either paper lists or the simplest list program you can find, although this is not mandatory.

2) ZTD focuses on the doing of your tasks - and asks you to eliminate all distractions, focusing on one single task at a time — a simplification process that is different from the complexity of GTD.

3) ZTD also asks you to adopt the simplicity habit … to simplify your tasks down to the most essential ones.

4) The MITs and Routines habits are also designed to create a simpler work structure … in this sense, GTD is very complex and hard for many people to adopt. These two habits of ZTD greatly simplify the process.

I hope that helps clarify my meaning of “simple system”. Thanks, Mark!

Mark Siegal Says:

April 17th, 2007, 22:28 pm

Your title refers to ZTD as “The Ultimate Simple Productivity System,” and the initial paragraphs say that “ZTD captures the essential spirit of the new system: that of simplicity, of a focus on doing, in the here and now, instead of on planning and on the system.” To me, that raises expectations of a system that is itself relatively simple.

I see the simplicity in the things you’ve mentioned: implementing a system piecemeal, making its steps explicit, encouraging simple tools, etc. But when I envision myself trying to implement ZTD, it still feels decidedly un-simple. Just my take.

Leo Says:

April 17th, 2007, 22:37 pm

Hi Mark … well, I think your input has been valuable, so thank you for that.

You mentioned the sentence, “ZTD captures the essential spirit of the new system: that of simplicity, of a focus on doing, in the here and now, instead of on planning and on the system.” And I think that ZTD does exactly that. It does focus on doing instead of planning and on the system. But I think you read more into that than I intended — that there’s only a small number of steps necessary. Actually, if you wanted to do just what’s in that sentence, I would recommend doing only habits 1-4. If you did that, you would have a great and simple productivity system. The rest adds value, but 1-4 would be the minimal system.

As for implementation being un-simple, that would be a matter of opinion, and you are entitled to that opinion … however, if I may add, I have implemented this system myself, and it has not been complex. I didn’t implement it in this order, but have done it in a more piecemeal fashion … but I have worked on each habit individually, and have implemented each of the 10 habits. It’s not complicated at all, and I have found myself much more productive because of it. Each person is different, however, so I suggest you take away from it whatever works best for you (which may be none of the above!). Thanks, Mark.

Leo Says:

April 17th, 2007, 22:53 pm

Mark … I’ve created a new version of ZTD, for you and for others who think that this version is too complicated. It’s called Minimalist ZTD. I hope that it helps! Let me know what you think.

Monica Ricci Says:

April 18th, 2007, 9:09 am

OMG I could have written that post myself! (so of course, it’s *excellent*!) :)

I know it happens to everyone, but I still find it strange (and heartening) to read something that someone else wrote and feel as if they pulled the words right out of your own head.

~Monica

Sean Says:

April 19th, 2007, 8:26 am

nice post. i almost totally agree and want to mull it over.

quip: does ‘ultimate’ really fit with the true philosophy of zen? ;-)

Leo Says:

April 19th, 2007, 15:20 pm

Hi Sean, thanks for the nice comment. And you’ve got me there — I just used “ultimate” because it sounded cool to me. I’m still a little kid and “ultimate” was one of the coolest words from my childhood. “Ultimate Warrior” was my favorite wrestler! But no, from a larger perspective, this is not the ultimate system. :)

keywester Says:

May 23rd, 2007, 15:23 pm

enhancements to consider your 10 habits list

1. for collecting/capture, in addtion to index cards, i use a DVR (digital voice recorder) in situations where i am on the move (or even at home sometimes…) in addition to index cards - i will not elaborate on this, surely you can see the benefit in that this method is less cumbersome / more convenient

2. for a tracking/todo list, I use a bulletin board with eight 8.5 x 11 poster board papers, one for each day of the week and one for “offload” or whatever, and in some cases one for each high priority, or large, “project” - each task is written on a sticky post-it note and positioned on the appropriate poster board; when a task needs to be moved up or deferred, simply move the post-it note accordingly - for me, this saves an inordinate amount of rewriting items/tasks on lists and also allows for a more flexible plan that requires less up front consideration…

Anaamica Says:

June 20th, 2007, 1:16 am

Leo,

A very well written post. I can see the amount of effort that has got into to writing this post. I skimmed through your post and liked what I read. I need to ’study’ it before commenting on its contents. I wanted to thank you for taking the time and effort in writing this post.

Treet Says:

June 21st, 2007, 20:06 pm

So happy to have found this information! Just what I need in my creative life~ ZTD! Thanks so much for sharing.

Life goals formula Says:

July 28th, 2007, 10:51 am

Here is an idea for setting life goals: At or near every birthday of yours, set goals for your life based on the factors and multiples of your age. If you just turned 28, set goals for 1 year out (age 29), 2 years out, 4 years, 7, 14, 28, 56, … to however long you think you’ll live or would like to live. Some birthdays will be busier than others, and the prime numbers (29, 31, 37, etc.) will be sparse, but that will be offset by the closer goals you set in previous birthdays. If you keep all the records on this, you can also observe how your goals change over time. Review them at whatever interval you find appropriate.

A.R. Rhoads Says:

August 1st, 2007, 11:38 am

I think you’ve posted 9 of the 10 ZTD steps so far on other pages. It would be great if you would link all 10 of them here under “See Also”
– and, of course, post the 10th and final installment. :)

Leo Says:

August 2nd, 2007, 0:17 am

@A.R. Rhoads: You’re right, and I’ve been meaning to go back to the old posts to put links to all of the ZTD posts, but just haven’t had the time yet. :)

However, you might be happy to know that I have finished writing the ZTD ebook, which has all of the posts (including the 10th habit) and more. It’s just going through the layout process, but I hope to have it available by next week.

Sunnan Says:

August 7th, 2007, 5:26 am

For the longest time, I did ubiquitous capture, but I never did anything about the collected notes.
I’d also figured out that to-do-ASAP lists were probably better than trying to shoehorn tasks onto calendar pages for me since I never know how tired I’m going to be on a particular day, but I never really got to doing the stuff, there always was something that I wanted to do more.

It was only when I tried all the habits at the same time that it finally fell into place and became worthwhile.

The weekly review was absolutely one of the missing steps.

arnold Says:

August 7th, 2007, 13:54 pm

I like this approach. Simple and effective. Complex systems get broken or abandoned, yet this is easy to follow.

Visit me sometime!
http://streetjesus.blogspot.com

Mark Goodson Says:

September 24th, 2007, 6:29 am

Great improvement on GTD. GTD is good but it is too easy (I know because I do it) to reliously collect stuff with your system and then still end up getting driven by email and urgent trivialities.
The key is the daily and weekly “big rocks”. I actually found that I was doing this almost without thinking… going through all the GTD process and then still writing down a “to do list” for the day.
The other great problem (feature) of GTD, and one of the great attractions for geeks, is that you can spend forever on different ways of implementing the system (Web 2.0 tools, pda, smartphone, outliners, moleskine…) and tweaking the process. So simplifying it to the barebones is a good idea.
–
Cheers
Mark

Michael Vu Says:

October 24th, 2007, 21:57 pm

Excellent post. GTD simplicity is just what I need.

c awar Says:

November 7th, 2007, 17:34 pm

good job

Ernest Says:

November 15th, 2007, 17:35 pm

Hi — just wanted to thank you for tackling GTD and working to make it simpler and more easily implemented. I’ve struggled with GTD for several years now, always feeling that it was an ideal solution but never managing to make full use of it; ZTD feels like the solution for me, and I really appreciate you providing it.

Many people have remarked on the complexity of the system you describe, and it does have a lot to it. But so does life, and a system that is a perfect manifestation of Zen simplicity is not something that most of us can live with in the world we’ve chosen to inhabit. The beauty of what you’ve done is to take a system which is spectacularly effective but (for a lot of us) unimplementable, and to illuminate a simpler, saner path through it.

I would love to see more of your thoughts on some of the less-documented steps above, but as it stands it is already a great help to me, and I am grateful you’ve shared it.

Thank you!

Leo Says:

November 15th, 2007, 18:16 pm

Hi Ernest … thank you for your positive feedback … I’m glad the book is working for you!

I’d love to share my thoughts about anything related to ZTD … which ones in particular are you interested in?

BarryMorris Says:

November 18th, 2007, 23:01 pm

Leo,
I’ve paid far more for eBooks that contain half of the value ZTD offers. Great work on this book! :)

Your ZTD is an excellent resource for those who want to tame the GTD process and still remain focused on simplicity.

I’ve had ZTD a week now and am going to recommend it to my readers this week.

Elnys Says:

November 21st, 2007, 13:34 pm

Hey there leo! I really like the ztd thing. But one problem. I cant find the pages for habits 8 or 9. I dont mean the quick overview where you listed the habits and stated what they were. I mean the big long pages where you went into detail. One webpage per habit. So could you please post the links to the last two? Thanks.

Christian Sweningsen Says:

December 20th, 2007, 22:07 pm

Many thanks; note - the link to “30-day Challenge” is dead.

Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:

December 29th, 2007, 1:53 am

Great list! Number 10 really is important and I hope more people focus on it. There’s no point in being productive/successful if it’s in an area that isn’t all that appealing!

Francis Wade Says:

January 4th, 2008, 7:52 am

I just read ZTD and I think that the GTD hacks are great — I have made some of my own.

But hasn’t everyone?

It strengthened my resolve to think that we should all be looking to create our own system, as I imagine that only a few people on the planet can use GTD “as designed.”

If we are all designing our own productivity/time management system anyway, why not help each other to do so in a structured way?

It’s a little like learning from the guys who design airplanes — maybe if they teach us to design our own, we could! Then we wouldn’t be stuck trying to use their 747 designs to hop from Miami to Orlando, for example.

I recently renamed the sub-title of my blog on the strength of what I learned from reading ZTD to “Tools for Designing Your Own Time Management System.” Thanks!

Barry Says:

April 17th, 2008, 2:04 am

I love this system. GTD is very tough to get used to for the very reasons described. I use the tool http://www.kalisty.com to do most of my project organization and to keep lists. I wonder how it could be used for this system? Can I put the 10 habits on http://www.kalisty.com?