implement GTD

My GTD system fell into disuse as soon as I lost my job last year.

I’ve been muddling along using a single giant to-do list (in a blank notebook), a purse-sized planner, and Post-it notes on a bulletin board to remind me of my Top 3 to-do items for a given day.

For a long time, doing even one or two of those Top 3 items represented a major accomplishment for the day.

Now that my energy level is slowly returning to normal (hey, I exercised yesterday), I’m wanting to get more done.

I had been experimenting with using backpack.com to keep track of my GTD Next Actions and Projects, but was beginning to lean toward going back to a low-tech option like a small binder – the kind that ordinarily houses a looseleaf daily planner.

That’s still a possibility, but I do like the search possibilities of using software to house the main list, except that this approach limits me to doing Weekly Reviews only while at home (my 17” laptop is way too much trouble to lug with me to a coffee shop, and at the moment, I can’t afford the netbook I covet.

Well, for now, I’m at home (with access to the laptop) so much of the time that the issue is probably moot. And I’ve just discovered OneNote 2007, which looks as if it might make a super GTD tool (see, for instance, the 7Breaths blog).

So I’m going to try setting up the appropriate sections in OneNote, and begin feeding my intimidatingly long to-do list into that notebook.

...while I’ve been off work (first ill, then recovering from major surgery). Was able to juggle my much-reduced to-do list without the GTD system. Mind you, I didn’t accomplish much on my time off, either. Perhaps if I’d resumed GTD reviews, I’d have, say, gotten my apartment painted. Oh well. Not gonna beat myself up about it: I had a rough few months, and recuperating was my main job.

because I left the binder at the office. (This wasn’t an accident: generally the binder goes with me whenever I leave the office for the day, but I went to a work-related party on Friday afternoon, and then directly to the gym, so I deliberately left it behind, intending to return for it afterward. Instead, I wound up deciding to go to dinner and a movie with a friend, and there wasn’t time to backtrack.)

Oh, well. I’ll review the work-related lists and projects on Monday morning, and the personal ones during my lunch break.

I did indeed start moving items into my new GTD binder last Monday. Continued on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. By that point, I was fairly confident that I’d captured virtually all of the pressing to-do items and active projects, and was beginning to feel the difference in both lowered anxiety and improved productivity.

Turned out that I was juggling 43 active projects – 14 personal projects and 29 work projects. A further 4 personal and 7 work projects were on hold (”@Waiting For,” in GTD terms) pending information or action from someone else.

(I haven’t yet set up a formal “Someday/Maybe” list in my GTD binder. I intend to do so – perhaps this weekend – but my highest priority was to get on top of what felt like an impossible list of work projects that had been hanging fire, some to the point of causing people to begin expressing frustration. For now, 43T is serving quite admirably as a first draft of my Someday/Maybe list.)

Creating the action lists and project folders (along with – for the work projects – an Excel spreadsheet listing each project’s priority, the date it was originally assigned, deadline, and Next Action, as well as the estimated time I expected that NA to take) helped me immensely in two ways:

1. Having a written overview of everything that needed my attention allowed me to let go of the constant nagging fear that I might be forgetting something vital, and freed my mind from having to try to remember all this.
2. After noting a time estimate for only the NA on each project, I was much more motivated to make progress on a number of them. This was especially true because I tried to keep my NAs small enough to take between 3 and 30 minutes. Some of the projects that didn’t originally have a deadline (those “when you get time” assignments) had been hanging around for months – in part because whenever I thought about tackling one of them, I was thinking in terms of the total time that project is likely to take. So then I’d say to myself, “Can’t start that one now: it’s going to take 2 full days, and I don’t have that much time to spare this week.” Once I had a list showing only the NAs, I was easily able to find 5 minutes here, 10 there, etc. Each time I accomplished an NA, I’d pick a new NA for that project and add it to the appropriate context-specific to-do list.

By proceeding in this fashion, I’ve accomplished quite a bit over the past week, especially given that I didn’t really start on any of the projects (except the “implement GTD” project itself!) until late Wednesday, and then went away for the long weekend.

On the personal front, I completed 2 projects, one of which was join a gym (12 full days ahead of the September 17 deadline that I’d set using 43T’s Challenge yourself feature). I made progress on at least 2 more (including swim regularly – I’ve already been to 2 aquafit classes). And I even took concrete steps toward a Someday/Maybe goal (Learn Spanish) that I first adopted roughly 39 years ago!

At work, I’ve broken a major logjam, completing 2 of the projects from the list (plus another that “graduated” into active status from @Waiting For earlier today) and making significant progress on 6 more (plus 2 further @WF “graduates”).

What’s more, I did all of this while also handling various new requests from my co-workers that came in via e-mail, phone, and in-person visits each day; arranging to get a broken file drawer repaired; contacting our IT people to troubleshoot two different software hiccups; and spending a couple of hours updating a two-week backlog of time sheets (which I hadn’t listed as a project last week, but which would have blown up in my face if I hadn’t taken care of it yesterday).

(OK, I did stay quite late last Thursday, and again this evening. Still, I’ve stayed late many other times without necessarily getting so much accomplished or feeling so satisfied with my progress.)

By the end of this week, I expect to complete at least 5 or 6 (and possibly as many as 11) more. Not only will I be able to finish several of the projects that I’ve already made progress on, but several others are small enough that I can probably knock each of them off in one short sitting.

NA for this goal: Perform my first GTD Weekly Review on Saturday.

This past weekend I completed all the remaining steps from my initial list:

• Finished skimming the GTD book to refresh my memory.
• Finished my review of the online resources/tools.
• Bought and read Ready for Anything (Allen’s second book).

I’ve decided that I definitely want to try this system again. The main reason I got derailed was a series of health challenges, following by completely revamping my life (read: sold my soul got a real job for the first time _{since 1981} in quite a while). GTD worked well for me when I used it in 2002/03. And now there are even more resources, tools, and “hacks” available for customizing it to fit my personal preferences, work habits, etc.

My old binder proved too bulky for my current circumstances. (I now commute back and forth to work via streetcar, whereas previously I worked from my home, so that a big zippered binder could just live in one spot on my desk.) So I selected a slimmer binder from my on-hand office supplies and brought it to work this morning.

I’m planning to “move into” it during my lunch break, beginning by transferring items from my current to-do list (an Excel spreadsheet) and 43T.

Looking forward to returning more often to that marvelous “mind like water” state.

My copy of GTD surfaced on Sunday when I was tidying in the living room: I’d tucked it inside a binder and moved it to that room so that it wouldn’t get lost in the shuffle during the Great Office Reclamation Project.

Planning to skim at least one chapter per day until I either finish the review or decide that my memory has been sufficiently refreshed that I know whether (and if so, how and where) to jump back in.

...while working on the office reclamation project.

And I even have enough cleared desk space to open it! (This wouldn’t have been possible in the past 6 to 10 months.)

May be able to take another step or two toward this goal tomorrow afternoon, once the morning’s scheduled session with the professional organizer is done.

...and I’d like to at least consider implementing it again.

1. Skim the GTD book to remind myself of the critical concepts and core elements of the system.
2. Find my old GTD binder.
3. Explore some of the excellent online resources and electronic tools for implementing the system most effectively.
4. Buy and read David Allen’s other book, Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life.