[…] Organizing my work The above section continued to discuss my office set-up I still need to figure make sure that I record what needs to be done. My focus is on next actions (see Mark Taw, 43 Folders, DIY Planner). I focus my energies on writing everything down that needs to be done and then determining what is the “next action”. I use Omni Outliner Pro with the KGTD shell. Omni is currently creating Omni Focus which will replace KGTD. I look forward to it. I make sure that I enter data into my KGTD file daily and sometimes right as the task is being identified. Since I can create next actions on the fly by simply indenting on the task. The advantage of inputting directly into KGTD is that I don’t have to come back and enter it on Friday afternoon when I’m anxious to leave the office. […]

[…] Next actions: Both physical and visible - “But, for me, turning anxieties into projects and projects into discrete physical behaviors has a lot of appeal. It takes all the pressure off your brain and puts it back where it belongs: on your eyes, on your hands, and on that fat ass you need to get into gear.” […]

[…] Organizing my work The above section continued to discuss my office set-up I still need to figure make sure that I record what needs to be done. My focus is on next actions (see Mark Taw, 43 Folders, DIY Planner). I focus my energies on writing everything down that needs to be done and then determining what is the “next action”. I use Omni Outliner Pro with the KGTD shell. Omni is currently creating Omni Focus which will replace KGTD. I look forward to it. I make sure that I enter data into my KGTD file daily and sometimes right as the task is being identified. Since I can create next actions on the fly by simply indenting on the task. The advantage of inputting directly into KGTD is that I don’t have to come back and enter it on Friday afternoon when I’m anxious to leave the office. When I take the time to write things down I also take time to think about them. Later I can reflect even more. It is the mere act of writing it down that causes me to give it more thought. If the task has a suspense date on it I decide what date I must begin working on it or what date it is due from someone else and create a task in iCal. I have just started using zoodo and have great hopes for it. I really don’t like Apple’s “to do” interface. […]

yah, i’ve started doing that too. i write out notes even if it sounds dumb like, “go downtown after work and buy cheese X (were X == type of cheese)”. when i look at my list, i know what i have to do.

started reading your site a short while ago. love it. keep it up.

-m

This is a great subtlety that makes GTD so effective. (For me, at least.) I’m quite new to GTD, but once I saw digested detail of it, it was like turning on the lights in the room.

I’ve also started losing my memory (I think…), so I’m a big fan of writing seemingly unnecessary details into my todo list. Like, where I may have once written “cheese”, I would now write “go to [store] and buy [quantity] of [kind of cheese]”.

Great site, and I don’t even own a Mac. ;-)

I’ve also recently started with GTD, haven’t been doing this for long. I’ve been diagnosed with Adult ADHD, and I have to say that using these methodologies has really helped me start to get back on top of things.

Merlin, reading your tips and experiences has also helped out a great deal. It’s been very beneficial to see how people are putting this system together - I’ve been able to look at what has and hasn’t worked for other people and determine if I think I might experience the same outcome, given what little info I have.

Creating a physical representation of my memory space has been the biggest help by far. I used to make vague lists, just as you described, with only 2 or 3 items on them (clean office, grocery store). Now they’re about 7 to 8 times longer, but I have a discrete set of specific tasks that I need to accomplish, which makes the whole process much much easier.

Is this sort of thing fundamental to GTD? It seems so simplistically brilliant. I’ve never been big on lists and you’ve expressed some of the reasons why.

Braking it down into a series of smaller tasks DOES seem to make it easier to tackle — and it’s essentially the same exact thing you intended to get done!

I remembered to go to work today. I think that should count for something as far as GTD.

I also didn’t metamorphose into a giant cockroach, so, there’s that as far as NGTD.

Oh, and I managed to reach the masses of the psychological institute I work for about the importance of concrete language. How fun to break it down verbally with psychiatrists.

Cheers.

I only started reading your blog after it appeared in an entry at boingboing - even your overview seemed like the answer to my prayers, and I’ve been following avidly since.

I got the book on Tuesday, and am busy implementing workflow tips now. I too was starting to trip up defining actions that were more like projects. Today I was finishing reading the book and the ‘light I came on’ - I realised that you need to consistently define projects by their outcome - it really helps keep separation from the actions.

I have an assignment to finish. Earlier today my outline headers read eg “Finish Cert-Ed” & “Produce 3000 word assignment”. They now read “Bask in the glorious achievement of qualifying for a professional academic qualification” and “My curriculum assignment has been completed, printed, and handed in for review”.

Once I changed my focus to the outcomes, the actions flowed through as easy as anything…

I’ve been using Life Balance this last few days, and am relishing the flow of thought that is starting to come through. My ‘Mind like water’ was more of a ‘Mind of Mango Chutney’ this time last week!

Anyway, back to it - I have an assignment and portfolio to complete! Great work mate - please keep it up.

I think the two things that set GTD apart are:

— the emphasis on the Very Next Action, and — dividing actions up not by how important they are, but by where you have to be to do them and what resources you need to do them.

A friend suggested yesterday that this is all much like traditional motherly multi-tasking; that sense of not fretting about the things that you can’t do at the moment because the small child is trailing around, and just getting on with the things that you can do.

And what I find fascinating about GTD is David Allen’s observation that traditionally “coaching”, or “self-improvement” practises start from the “top-down” whereas he is suggesting there is power in working from the “bottom-up”.

That is, instead of starting with considerations of our purpose & grand visions and working down to our goals and next-actions, GTD suggests that starting from the bottom-up can have dramatic results in one’s life.

If we get really clear and precise and systematic about all those next-actions that have been cluttering up our mind, then it sort of frees our mental energy to gravitate to those higher levels: the 20,000 to 50,000 feet levels as David calls them. It’s hard to start with the big picture when your psychic RAM is full.

bongoman

Geting Things Done

After reading a comment at my favourite waterhole, boingboing.net, about 43Folders I started to read this blog by Merlin about “a bounch of tricks, hacks and other cool stuff”. This is a typical example what the web can do to you; I read a commen…