Getting Things Done With Work-Life Balance

By: David Allen

Narrated by: David Allen

Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

Relax - You'll automatically be in complete control of everything in your life!

In David Allen's newest program, he walks you step-by-step in helping you create this unique system. And once you do, you'll immediately be more calm and relaxed, feel more focused and in control, and essentially be at the top of your game! Always - when you're with your boss and your colleagues and when you're with your family.

It's this relaxed, stress-free state that drives a non-stop explosion of creative ideas and a heightened level of productivity. Thus opening the door to new energy, new promotions, new wealth, and a new degree of satisfaction in your life.

David Allen's Getting Things Done brand has helped people throughout the country find the quickest, simplest way to do more. Now it's your turn. Here's just a glimpse of what you'll discover:

• How to develop a "mind like water" so that nothing can send you into panic mode - no matter how urgent, unexpected, or challenging.
• How David's Six Horizons of Focus keeps long-range goals and big-picture ideas on your radar screen without losing sight of day-to-day details.
• Why your BlackBerry, PDA, or Daytimer might be holding you back.
• How to zero-out your email inbox lightning fast using this little-known trick!
• How to put your projects and priorities on cruise control with David's Five Stages of Control.
• How a mere two minutes can save you hours of precious time each and every week.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2008 David Allen (P)2008 Nightingale Conant

Recent recording, but not the most up-to-date material

I've been a follower of David Allen's since 2004. I thought this recording would be a more up-to-date version of his strategy than his book Getting Things Done, especially since he's recently released an updated and revised edition of the book. Instead, this recording was a summary of his original strategy combined with a few real life examples and a set of principles that Mr. Allen has found/rediscovered in the course of his work. As a result, this audio program didn't add much to my understanding of his strategy. He also uses circa 2000 language when discussing the Internet, smartphones, etc. which makes me think this recording wasn't actually made in 2014. I recommend reading the updated version of Getting Things Done (no audio available as of 9/30/2015) instead of getting this recording.

15 of 15 people found this review helpful

New music to the same talk

Don't get me wrong.
I love David. I love the GTD. I drink the cool aid as much as the next guy.
This cd, as Mr. Allen refers to throughout the program, has the same stories as before. I'm disappointed that the stories/scenarios weren't different.
Cost-wise, if I were smart about it, I should have just replayed his older books.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

No different. Still amazing.

The content is not much different to GTD, GTD Live etc, yet I still loved it.

This system is so obvious that it's sometimes too easy to overlook basic stuff. Hearing it in different ways has given me a better perspective and grasp on having a more complete system

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great follow up to original GTD book

This book helped to reinforce critical GTD principles and illuminated the positive impact that can be achieved when those principles are consistently applied. The concept of getting things out of your head and into a trusted system is quite powerful. This is a "must read/listen" book for every busy professional.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Helped me with perspective.

l have been looking for a new way of looking at my old problems. This really has helped with this goal. Started using my smartphone to collect my thoughts and have already felt more relaxed. Still have a long way to go to build habits but this audio book is helping continue my journey.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Gave me actionable steps everyday

Loved the stories and analogies made. The perspective in each step of the processes is empowering and motivating. Thank you!

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Very Good

Surprisingly helpful, this is not the first organization book i've read, so I did encounter some already familiar knowledge, but overall I learned some very good concept.

4 of 7 people found this review helpful

great book and strategies

hard to listen to, can't wait for it to end, but can't skip any because keep getting great nuggets sprinkled throughout. It would be awesome to get all the value without the repeating.

Change my life.

Love it, and it has change how I started doing things and getting my to do list done.

Great simple principles

The principles are the things I've been usually doing and taking for granted and didn't give time to evaluate its effectiveness until listening this book. This book highlights the area where I can hone in and enhance the day to day management of life.

Get this done!

What made the experience of listening to Getting Things Done With Work-Life Balance the most enjoyable?

I have been a fan of the GTD principle for some time, I have read several books, both by David Allen and other authors. I admit to being a follower, so may be a little biased. But as someone who balance law and medicine along with a busy life in general GTD is perfect. If you are knew to it, or want more information, what is better than hearing it from the horses mouth!!

What other book might you compare Getting Things Done With Work-Life Balance to, and why?

There are other books by David Allen, so I could compare it to them, but thats probably not what this question is after. GTD, to me, is a fundamentally different process to most other organisational philosophies out there. However it is essentially a self help/organisation book, so its format is similar to most of those.

Have you listened to any of David Allen’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I have listen to his other audio work and interviews, this one is such as logical and well structured. It covers everything you need to implement GTD.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Not the "Getting Things Done" you were looking for

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This is a simple re-hashing of the key points from the original Getting Things Done book, with a very limited scope, and a series of 'principles' added onto the end. These principles are vague and general, providing limited value.I would have appreciated a deal more original content (rather than just rewriting the 5 steps from GTD), and more focus on work-life balance, and how GTD applies to this (which isn't covered in any real depth at any point throughout this book).

What will your next listen be?

Getting Things Done, the original version (unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an audiobook version of the new edition, at the time of writing).

What does David Allen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

It's always great to have the author reading their own book, as there is more personality conveyed in the reading, and emphasis is placed where it was originally expected.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I was disappointed at how thin the content in this book is.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

A valuable addition to the GTD series of books.

Reaffirmed the GTD thinking with clear applications for those wanting to grip the seeming chaos of their lives. I found it really helpful in providing ways to start the process and understand how to gradually establish trust in the system you have developed using the GTD thinking/principles. A great listen.

Excellent audio book!

This is an excellent audio book read by the author David Allen. If you've read Getting Things Done then you'll love this too. It's a very easy down to earth way of putting these great ideas into practice!

Super book!

Absolutely invaluable to busy business folk! If you run your own business then this is the book for you, especially if you have a family or other commitments.

Should Be Condensed Into Less Than 1 Hour

Any additional comments?

I bought "Getting Things Done With Work-Life Balance" as part of a buy one, get one free sale and have listened to it for over 2 and a half hours. Despite starting to listen to it at 2x playback speed, I just couldn't take anymore.

To be fair to David Allen, he does say early on that his advice is just common sense. To save you time and money, I'll summarise his advice: make lists of your tasks and to-do items.

David then proceeds to drag this advice out over hours. At one point he seems to be going on about clearing up a messy office and filing stuff correctly so that you are better organised and have a list of things to do. I gave up when he started waffling on about the notebooks that he carries about in his bag and repeating an earlier bit of advice about leaving messages on your own answering machine. This is at around 2 hours and 40 minutes in.

Apart from the waste of time, what really annoys me about all of this that he then seems to claim that making lists is his 'Getting Things Done' system. Guess what? I've been doing it for years and never read/listened to a single book of David's.

To those people who might find this audiobook useful, instead of listening to it, spend your time creating categorised lists and then, where necessary, break down each item into a number of steps to complete that item. I call it my 'Don't Waste Your Time with Pointless Audiobooks' system.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Getting things done really gets things done.

Put these methods into practice and you can make a difference. I would suggest constant revisits and making friends with Microsoft OneNote will be a necessity.

Surprisingly good

What made the experience of listening to Getting Things Done With Work-Life Balance the most enjoyable?

Good to listen to interesting. Picked up good tips.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Tips on clearing e-mails was current and relevant.

Any additional comments?

Motivated me to get more efficient.

Not bad. Unnecessary if you've read GTD

Good stuff, but nothing new. A bit dry.

Implementing the system is hard for most people, but it is worth it.

Thought provoking

The irony is that nothing given here is new. Yet the simple, structured and logical way it is presented creates an interesting and workable fo