Revisiting "Get Everything Done"

As evidenced by my previous posting, I’ve been re-visiting some of the techniques in my first book Get Everything Done. It was interesting coming back to it eight years after it was published because I could see that the principles in it are basically sound. Almost immediately though I saw how the basic system could be greatly improved by making a few very simple changes.

Over the last week or so I have got through the most immense amount of work. I’ve rediscovered the feeling I got when I first invented the basic GED system that I had no idea that it was possible to get through so much work in a day.

No, I’m not going to tell you what the changes are… yet! I’ve got to test this out more thoroughly and see what other improvements might be necessary.

Comments

[Taragh]

I think it is still your best book and so I am excited to hear about some improvements and hope you will share them soon. Hope you are well and happy. Best wishes.

[Mark Forster]

Thanks, Taragh. Good to hear from you again.

Mark

[Fraser]

Thanks Mark! GED was revolutionary for me. Can't wait to see the re-visit.

[Alex W.]

Funny coincidence. After having huge problems making DIT work for me (which I'll probably describe in a forum post), I began to (really) read GED a few days ago, after having the book lying around for more than a year. It came to my mind how similar some of the advice is to that of DIT (which is obviously a more developed system built on some of the principles already to be found in GED, adding some new ideas while leaving out some of GED's thoughts). DIT has proven to be too rigid for my situation, while GED - not being such a closed system - seems more flexible.

And while I'm at it: I haven't been to this site (and the forum) for a while, and therefore had no chance to comment on the site redesign. I'd like to do so now, even if it's off-topic in the comments to this article.
There's a lot of screen real estate wasted at the top (look at the space above and at the right of the "Get Everything Done" heading, for example), which takes away place from the content. That's a little annoying if you watch the site on a low-res display (like I do).
The same goes for the horizontal "Home" etc. menu, which in addition is hardly legible in its light grey (btw, "light grey" in the world of computing usually indicates "inactive", therefore the color is confusing).
Overall, the site looks too barren. A little more color would be beneficial.
In summary, I don't consider it to be an improvement. Sorry to say that.

Please feel free to delete my redesign comments if you'd not want to have them in the comments section here.

Kind regards,
Alex

[Mark Forster]

Thanks for your comments, Alex. I will probably be making some changes to the website before too long.

[Alex W.]

Oh, I forgot to add a positive note: The new site seems to load quicker that the old one did.

And I'm looking forward to your re-evaluation of GED, too.

[Ben H]

Hello Mark,

Great to hear about the work on GED. I read the book recently I find the general principles (particularly around going towards resistance rather than running away from it, to paraphrase) really helpful. I looked at a lot of different ways of managing time before realising after reading GED my problem was managing my attention! Any more tricks on that would be really helpful.

Ben

[Kofi]

I loved GED and refer to it from time to time.I have found the time spent analysing resistance or no resistance to be frustrating.The idea I have used the most from GED is timed bursts.I think they sort of tie in with the idea of limits from DIT
I have never really been able to consistently over a long period engage in any of the suggested depth activities.
I am still trying to establish a personal system gleaned from those two books.
Thanks .