Ep. 366: 2019 GTD Summit Opening  🔗 **Source:** [Ep. 366: 2019 GTD Summit Opening](https://share.snipd.com/episode/b35b387c-02e8-43e0-b3c4-f0caeb5bc5e4) ## Highlights - **How GTD Went From Book To Global Movement** - David Allen described deciding in 2001–2002 to scale GTD beyond his own speaking circuit as a partnership-driven choice. - He recalled early uncertainty, a pivotal email from a Philadelphia reader, and growth to 60+ countries and 2 million copies. Transcript: David Allen 2001, 2002, after getting things done was first published, Catherine and I had a question about what should we do with this because it was beginning to be translated into different Languages and people were knocking on our door from around the world saying, wow, can I be a GTD consultant or trainer? It was just much too bigger gum than we knew how to chew to build an international organization. And we're not that entrepreneurial anyway. So we had to make the decision. We had a small staff at the time. We said, well, do you guys want to do this? Shall we try and see if we can scale this in some way? They said, yeah, yeah, come on, let's do that. Not just me, my own speaking circuit thing. So we said, well, the only way to scale it, since I'm not particularly a good manager and don't particularly interested in doing that kind of stuff, partnerships and technology. Many of you in the room are here because, A, you read the book or ran across this stuff, or you ran across people who are now distributing this around the world. So it's become a global phenomenon. You know, 10 years ago, we did this in San Francisco just because the coolest people were starting to be attracted to this work. We said, let's raise the flag. GTD was this brand that ran out from under us. It was just our shorthand for the book. We didn't plan on, we never did any marketing, whatever. And suddenly this thing is spreading around the world. We said, oh my gosh. And I really wasn't sure that we could get this methodology in some sort of virtual form. I knew if I hung out with people long enough, I could get them turned onto this and they could implement it. But I didn't know. So when the book was first published, that was a big milestone in 2001. The first weekend it was on the shelves of the bookstores. I got an email from a lady in Philadelphia, I think. And she said, David, I just read your book. I implemented it. It changed my life. I went, yes, we can scale this. So that was actually fairly recently we made that decision. And then we started to do it in just one foot in front of the other. And now here we are in 60 plus countries and the book's 2 million copies and 30 languages. ([Time 0:02:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/fe534c0f-db2b-40d6-ad6a-bab765871211)) - **Process Outgrows Personality** - David Allen observed GTD became bigger than his personality and spread without planned marketing. - He noted the method outgrew him because people adopted the process globally, not due to a deliberate PR strategy. Transcript: David Allen It was just our shorthand for the book. We didn't plan on, we never did any marketing, whatever. And suddenly this thing is spreading around the world. We said, oh my gosh. And I really wasn't sure that we could get this methodology in some sort of virtual form. I knew if I hung out with people long enough, I could get them turned onto this and they could implement it. But I didn't know. So when the book was first published, that was a big milestone in 2001. The first weekend it was on the shelves of the bookstores. I got an email from a lady in Philadelphia, I think. And she said, David, I just read your book. I implemented it. It changed my life. I went, yes, we can scale this. So that was actually fairly recently we made that decision. And then we started to do it in just one foot in front of the other. And now here we are in 60 plus countries and the book's 2 million copies and 30 languages. And it is a global movement. And it's bigger than me. It really is. You know, I kind of raised the flag and I understand it was easier to sell a personality than a process, folks. Come on, how many of you got? Hi, everybody, be totally accountable for your life and keep everything out of your head. Track all of your commitments. Make sure that you're really clear about exactly what you're going to do about all those. Come on in. ([Time 0:03:12](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a2fef04b-8682-4870-b524-0d3e9c1569ba)) - **Step Out And Meet New People** - David Allen urged attendees to step out of their comfort zones and meet strangers to create the "wicked coolest" opportunities. - He repeated a mentor's tip: many great things come from meeting someone new, and gave permission to network at breaks. Transcript: David Allen A mentor of mine many, many, many, many years ago gave me one of the best pieces of advice I've ever been given by anybody. He said, David, all the wicked coolest things that will happen to you in your life, you can pretty much attribute directly or almost directly to your willingness to step out of your comfort Zone and meet somebody you never met before. And I've never been able to disprove that. So just to warm it up a little bit more in here, I know it's already starting to be that way too. Would you all please step slightly out of your comfort zone and meet somebody you can reach with a long handshake right now that you haven't met yet. Okay. That's it. Thank you. Come on back. So, you have our permission. You have our permission to continue that process on breaks and at lunch, etc. I know you need permission from the authorities to meet strangers, so you now have it. Please meet some strangers. ([Time 0:04:46](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1982d8be-7a56-4d9c-984b-c2bcc46b9b3f)) - **Summit As A Campfire For Shared Stories** - David Allen framed the summit as a campfire of short stories where the whole experience is greater than individual talks. - He encouraged openness, sampling sessions, and allowing space to reflect and rest cognitive resources. Transcript: David Allen This is a campfire. So you're attracted to come to the campfire, but there are going to be people telling tales and spinning stories in here of all different sorts. So this is a smorgasbord. Pick what rings your bell out of all of this. And I think we will all see that there's a larger story that will emerge from the, you know, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts here. So I invite you to play, invite you to stay open, invite you to with each other. And if you just want to use this time to step back and reflect, I mean, come on, how many of you in here could use more time to just step back and step up and reflect and rest your brains? Come on, you know, that's, we know now how important that is. I thought I was just lazy over all these years, but now I've discovered, given the cognitive science, that I'm really smart. That I take time to sleep to archive stuff in my brain. So, I'm optimally cognitively there. ([Time 0:07:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a562ed50-acc4-40bf-88dd-3c57445c27f7)) - **Rest As Cognitive Strategy Not Laziness** - David Allen joked about needing rest and referenced cognitive science showing sleep helps archive memories. - He reframed his past laziness as smart behavior that supports optimal cognitive function. Transcript: David Allen We know now how important that is. I thought I was just lazy over all these years, but now I've discovered, given the cognitive science, that I'm really smart. That I take time to sleep to archive stuff in my brain. ([Time 0:07:46](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b7b9c4b1-e319-43ea-b47e-23c90de4168e))