Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life

While I really enjoyed this follow-up, there were less take-aways to be found than expected. Great for re-vitalizing my excitement about using the GTD system, only okay for real and concrete instructions. I may find it better after I have the full GTD system in place but for now, Getting Things Done and Making It All Work are the essential titles in the series.

Unless you are absolutely messy, unorganized and have no clue how to get things done, this book might help you - a bit. If you don't fall into the category above and can manage to be discplined about making and executing lists and tasks, avoid reading this book. It will just give you a headache.
Moreover, I feel that solutions given by Allen are a tad-crazy. I don't see the point of having a 43-tabbed/foldered to-do list and believe that using that and other tools and methods suggested in the book will make my life tedious, cumbersome and frustrating.
AVOID THE BOOK AT ALL COSTS!

I've been listening to David Allen's Ready for Anything this week along with Getting Things Done - his first book. One comment that he made in Ready for Anything summarizes why I like his approach so much. He said that some of the best projects he has created were never on his lists. He has very detailed lists of action items, projects and his reference material is extremely organized. Getting organized is similar to both feng shui and yoga in that what you get out of it is not necessarily limited to the meager benefits that you were expecting. When you are organized you can take advantage of unexpected opportunities, you have more creativity, and you can handle any setbacks you experience with power.

Ready for Anything is a companion book to David Allen’s Getting Things Done. The book is comprised of 52 reflections/essays on various aspects of the GTD methodology. The content was okay, but I found the book rather distracting because the author found a need to seed the book with quotes with little thought to placement. Here is a great idea of how to implement — insert 1/2 page quote here — and back to my great thought. If you are into the GTD thing it may be worth the read. If not, skip it.

If read through and set aside this book really has little value, but if you read through it once and then used as a reference for that you go to daily for the next few months until the GTD system becomes habit then this book is worth every penny.

If read through and set aside this book really has little value, but if you read through it once and then used as a reference for that you go to daily for the next few months until the GTD system becomes habit then this book is worth every penny.

I am stuck between a 3 and 4 star rating. The content is good, but you have to go through a lot to mine those good nuggets. Since I enjoyed Getting Things Done so much, I was expecting something more.