Last Thursday, I wrote about how I set goals and structure my personal life. The Personal V/TO being the antidote to the chaos in my brain.
This is the second in a three-part series on the tools I use to keep my life organized.
“Have you ever heard of Getting Things Done?”
I said this to a new hire once and she looked at me with a face that said, “Is this guy serious right now?”
Well, she had never heard of the book Getting Things Done by David Allen, so she thought I was being completely serious. We both had a good laugh about it.
In all seriousness, have you ever heard of Getting Things Done? A friend first put me on to David Allen maybe four years ago and it changed everything for me.
The book’s subtitle says it all: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.
We don’t live in a stress-free world. Quite the opposite, I’d surmise.
For ADHD brains (and for leadership teams), GTD is really about getting ideas out of your head, breaking them into clear next steps, and trusting a system so you can actually focus on what matters instead of chasing what’s loudest.
Last night I had an idea for the novel I’m working on. It was the middle of the night, no idea what time, and I told myself I’d remember it. When I woke up this morning, it was gone. I know better.
And this is the crux of one of the main principles of GTD: Capture everything, immediately.
ADHD brains are masters at letting ideas slip away – GTD’s Capture step ensures nothing gets lost. Because here’s the thing: we all have so much in our brains right now. More than ever. Every post you scrolled past on IG today is up there.
Americans are struggling with multiple external stressors that are out of their personal control, with 27% reporting that most days they are so stressed they cannot function, according to a poll conducted for the American Psychological Association.
More than ever, we need a system to overcome the noise.
Here’s how GTD breaks it down, step by step, for ADHD brains and leadership teams alike:
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Capture everything – Don’t trust your memory. Get ideas, tasks, and thoughts out immediately.
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Clarify – Turn every captured item into a clear, actionable next step. No ambiguity.
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Organize – Contexts, projects, or due dates. Helps ADHD brains focus on what’s actionable right now.
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Reflect regularly – Weekly review keeps your Rocks, V/TO, and priorities aligned. Don’t leave it to chance.
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Engage intentionally – Decide consciously what to tackle next. “Do, Delegate, Defer, Delete.”
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Trust the system – Offload your brain. If it’s in the system, it’s safe. Focus on action, not memory.
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Iterate and adapt – Systems should bend to you, not the other way around. ADHD brains thrive on experimentation; leadership teams thrive on disciplined adjustment.
GTD is more than a productivity book. It’s a framework for clarity in a world that’s increasingly noisy – and a life hack for anyone trying to lead themselves or a team with intention.
“Kill your darlings.” – Arthur Quiller-Couch
So how can this work for you?
First, it’s vital to acknowledge that anything in your brain that isn’t being acted on is slowing you down. All of those game-changing ideas, things you’ll get to later, and your calendar for the week that isn’t actually in your calendar, can be crippling.
Warren Buffett’s 5/25 Rule: A Focus Strategy
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List Your Top 25 Goals: Write down 25 goals you want to achieve.
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Circle the Top 5: Identify the 5 most important goals from your list.
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Avoid the Remaining 20: The remaining 20 goals become your “Avoid at All Costs” list.
Buffett emphasizes that any effort spent on the remaining 20 goals detracts from achieving the top 5. This exercise encourages ruthless prioritization and focus.
This is why you need a Parking Lot, or a place to put all of your ideas that you don’t plan to execute in the short-term. Park them and forget about them. Don’t even look at them.
Next, you need a system to track what you DO what to execute. I use TickTick. Many leadership teams use Monday, or Asana, or Google Sheets. It doesn’t matter. But they need to live somewhere where they will be reviewed often. How about that parent/teacher conference next week? Please put it in your calendar ASAFP.
This goes for your LEADERSHIP TEAM too. If you don’t plan to execute an idea or task in the next 90-days, get it out of your primary tracker. It is stressing everybody out and slowing you down. Be ruthless. Kill your darlings.
Next, dedicate time to focus and execute on the main things.
Like Covey said, “Keep the main thing the main thing.”
Next week I will write about TickTick, the To-Do List ‘Menu’ concept, and how I tie it all together.