The Natural Planning Model is a productive way to think about projects, because it allows to get maximum value with minimum effort. This is an informal approach that does not require great elaboration.

1. NATURAL PLANNING MODEL
GETTING THINGS DONE

2. GTD. NATURAL PLANNING MODEL
The Natural Planning Model is a productive way to think about
projects, because it allows to get maximum value with minimum
effort. This is an informal approach that does not require great
elaboration. Although you don’t realise it, you usually do these
five things to accomplish any task, no matter how simple it is:
‣ You define your purpose and principles
‣ You envision the outcome
‣ You get ideas
‣ You organise everything
‣ You identify the next actions

3. GTD. NATURAL PLANNING MODEL
YOU DEFINE YOUR PURPOSE AND PRINCIPLES
First you ask yourself why are you going to do that. Defining a
clear and specific goal is common sense and has significant
benefits. It allows you to define what is the project success,
create a framework to make decisions, think about the needed
resources, clarify the focus and awaken your creativity.
You rarely think about your principles consciously, but they exist,
and are of particular importance when there are more people
involved. You don’t want to reach the result at any cost. If your
personal values are violated, you will consider the project as a
failure.

4. GTD. NATURAL PLANNING MODEL
YOU ENVISION THE OUTCOME
This is the what. You get a clear picture in mind of what the
final result should look like in reality. It must be the best
picture possible, with the project completed successfully.
This way allows you to activate all the conscious and
unconscious resources available to you—ideas, thoughts,
patterns.

5. GTD. NATURAL PLANNING MODEL
YOU GET IDEAS
Here comes the how. Ideas start to pop in your head in a
somewhat random order. It is usually an internal process, but
if the project is complex, you should capture those ideas
using mind-mapping or any other type of technique. This
prevents you from forgetting the ideas and helps you to
generate new ideas from the original ones.

6. GTD. NATURAL PLANNING MODEL
YOU ORGANISE EVERYTHING
Once you know why, what and how, you are able to identify
the different components of the project and to define the
sequence of activities to be undertaken as well as their
priorities.

7. GTD. NATURAL PLANNING MODEL
YOU IDENTIFY THE NEXT ACTIONS
Finally, you allocate the needed resources to get the project
moving. It is about deciding the next actions for each of the
moving parts of the project.

8. YOUR MIND IS FOR HAVING
IDEAS, NOT HOLDING THEM.
David Allen
GTD. NATURAL PLANNING MODEL