implement GTD

but still I am struggling big time! I really need to make lists, mind sweep, wack my mailbox to 0 and empty my sky hight physcial inbox and preferably all of this in the next 24 hours! I know it is just not possible so I will just go for as much as I possibly can do and continue the rest on monday! Rome is not build in one day and my GTD system isn’t either! I really admire the people who can do this in one weekend! Masters of organisation or of a organised mind, or both! I am neither so it takes loads of time but I will get there! And if I do I will throw a party I must also admit that I really enjoy the process of organising, thinking and making baby steps that on their own already make a huge difference! So I am not giving up! I am going to make this work and then move on to that level!

The weather was stunning this weekend, so I didn’t get quite as much done as was planned. However, (while basking in the sun) I managed to mind-sweep. I wrote down all the tasks and actions I could think of and separated them into 5 categories: home, career, self, someday, and see/buy/go. Then each of these is further broken down. I’m using (and loving) index cards, as in the hipster pda. I also, of course, have a card for next actions, which I think is key to this whole system.

I have a small red moleskine that I will continue to use as my calendar, and I’m going to use both my filing cabinet (for paper stuff) and 43things/kaboodle (for web stuff) as project support.

Tomorrow I am going to do the same thing with my work stuff. It will be easier because it’s essentially just one category. So, I will have one card for a project list, then each project will have its own card with a full list of actions. Easy! I can’t believe how simple this is… and how much of a difference it’s gonna make!

http://www.gtdtimes.com/2008/04/28/a-simple-index-card-gtd-system/

http://www.43folders.com/2006/03/21/gtd-2

http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-started-with-getting-things-done

http://www.diyplanner.com/templates/official/hpda

http://wiki.43folders.com/index.php/Hipster_PDA

http://kvet.ch/2006/12/05/how-to-print-diy-planner-hipster-pda-cards-direct-to-3×5

http://www.flickr.com/photos/helz/43617452/

pretty!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/natalinha/3414894233/

very cool – my favorite so far: http://moleskine.vox.com/library/post/minddepositor-by-scription.html
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/moleskineart/sets/72157610458565391/

I’ll definitely be doing a version of the hipster pda, that last link is totally inspiring. But… one step at a time! I’m still reading and mentally preparing.

I got the book at the library today – I’m excited to do this because I’ve been neeeeeding some sort of system of organization. I’m so all over the place, I can’t think straight! I’m going to set aside this weekend to get sorted. That’s all for now. I will update soon.

I cleared my desk and established a very basic system for organisation of my projects so I can work again in my office. I also deleted 4000 mails (yes, I know!) from my stressed out mailbox and deleted a dozen unnessacery folders. The big clean up of my life! It’s kind of funny how things that were super important two years ago are no totally useless… while others are still very emotional. So GTD is not only orgnaisation it is also moving on and lettin go! Very interesting! Anyway, I am now off to bed, to be continued at the same pace tomorrow, or better later today! I am proud of myself!

I will do that tomorrow! The things I need your help, inspiration and support for will happen here, the ones I just need to dig in with and work hard on, will move to an action list. I really need to clean up stuff, starting and stopping here since the total make over of my life also started here and hopefully is a never ending story continuing here for years and years to come… ;-) So not stopping, cleaning up!

I read quite a few articles on this (strong recommend the 43folder wiki) and tried several experiments. Here’s what works for me:
- No items in inbox
- Setup few categories(and link them with search folders) in outlook: Now, Later, Wait, Reference
- Everything is marked in these categories and the mail is archived in subsequently
- If email disturbs you a lot try these:
a. Instead of showing unread count show total mail count on folders
b. Sort the mail wrt “From” or “Date” reversed :)

Well thanks to my procrastination, I am still planning to complete the book someday :P

since I still suck at it! My overfull desk, inbox and kilometers long to do lists in my head and everywhere around proof it! So next week I am going to invest time, effort and patience to do this the way it is supposed to be done: toroughly! I know it is going to help me tremendously getting my administration in order and my projects started so I just need to make a start and then stick to it!

I’ve slipped on this something major. I still follow some of the tenets, but I don’t maintain my system. I use my system heavily for some projects, but will avoid it altogether for the next. I have plenty of open loops in my brain, and that general sense of stress and dread that comes from allowing things to get disorganized.

Once a week, I process my inbox.

I update any needed stuff using thinkingRock.

When deciding what to do, after weekly review process is complete:
I. PRINT PROJECT OUTLINE
1. Go to File/Reports/Project Outline (Current).
*Project: current project
*Include done Items (this is so that I can see how far away I am from completing a project)

II. PRINT ACTIONS BY CONTEXT
1. go to File/Reports/Actions by Context
*show project/thought
*show notes

III.DETERMINE NEXT ACTIONS
1. First I look over the project outline, making any necessary notes.
2. I then look at my next actions list and write out a list of next actions that I want to complete the most.