Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

I've had this on my shelf for ages. I first got it after hearing Merlin interviewing David Allen, and soon gave up because his monotonous voice on the audiobook talking about business douchebaggery bored me to tears. In Back to Work #95 LINK, Merlin persuades Dan to read the book as prep for the next show, so I went back to it and listened to it myself. And yep, once again, monotonous voice talking about business douchebaggery. However I did bear it to the end and I didn't learn ANYTHING that I haven't already learned from hearing Merlin talk about productivity. And when I listen to Merlin talking about it, I get so much out of it it's quite ridiculous. I have implemented a lot of GTD into my workflow without having read the book and it helps me tremendously.

So my recommendation to anyone who is not a business douchebag and is wondering whether to read this book, don't bother. Instead, read Merlin's stuff and listen to his podcasts. If you're the corporate boardroom type, maybe give the book a whirl, but if you're not into filing cabinets, golfing weekends and big cigars, Merlin's the go-to guy for you. Start with the podcast linked above, which has loads of links in the shownotes, including Merlin's article on 43folders.com: Getting started with GTD