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Add to SafariWhen comparing Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity vs Zen To Done, the Slant community recommends Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity for most people. In the question“What are the best books on Productivity?” Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity is ranked 1st while Zen To Done is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity is:
A lot of different techniques are introduced (such as a filing system and planner) which can be overwhelming. The author breaks everything down into smaller steps that can be completed immediately.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Breaks everything down into steps
A lot of different techniques are introduced (such as a filing system and planner) which can be overwhelming. The author breaks everything down into smaller steps that can be completed immediately.
Pro Teaches to mage focus rather than time
Pro Holistic concept from capturing to doing stuff
Pro A lot of free talks available about GTD
Pro Teaches you to avoid wasting time on figuring out what to do next
A fair bit of time gets spent either switching between tasks, or figuring out what to work on. Getting Things Done teaches you the importance of narrowing your focus and having a plan of where to spend your time.
Pro Suggests that not all changes be made at once
Where many productivity books encourage you to start everything at once, Zen To Done takes a different approach.
Realizing that making a large number of changes at once can be discouraging, it suggests that you take your time implementing the changes (recommending a year to do so).
Pro Adaptation of "Getting Things Done"
The author of Zen To Done realizes the potential in the book "Getting Things Done", but acknowledges the ways in which it can be discouraging for some people, and a hard lifestyle change to maintain.
Zen To Done applies those same concepts presented in "Getting Things Done", but with a much slower approach.
Cons
Con Does not consider technology
Getting Things Done, including the most recent update (2015), includes very little about incorporating technology into the process (such as tracking apps) that could speed up the process.
Con Repetitive, infomercial-like writing style
A large majority of the book is filler writing, repeating the few initial lessons in various different wordings.
Con Plenty of typos
Though the occasional typo tends to make it through to publication, this book has more than it's fair share. The number of typos and other errors (such as incorrectly numbered lists) can get distracting and cause some confusion.
Con Ideas are rehashed throughout the book
The author takes his initial suggestions and repeats them frequently throughout the book, which feels like an attempt to fill pages. It makes for a somewhat dull read.
