I think where a lot of people fall down on these things is in switching systems over and over again - we lose focus.

Instead of being aimed on being productive we get lost in the idea of the productivity system. Then, when a new system comes along it looks all shiny and attractive and we shift to trying that out as well.

Partly we’re probably all vulnerable to this because we have a lot to do and keep track of - why else would we be looking for a productivity system to manage it? However, the action of looking for and considering a productivity system has an alluring, but problematic dark side - it provides a way to avoid our actual work while rationalizing to ourselves that we are actually doing something important - you know, developing a system to make ourselves more productive.

In the end I suspect that any system that is reasonably designed - from GTD to Hipster PDA’s to actual PDA’s - can work for a person if we stay focused on the actual objective of increasing productivity.

It sounds like you have some things that actually do work for you, but you keep abandoning them (or adding to them) for the sexy Moleskine that’s smoking French cigarettes in the corner.

Sounds like you may need to give yourself permission to buy the Moleskine notebook just because you like them and leave the productivity work to the things that actually already work for you. You’re a writer - surely you can justify carrying around a notebook for ideas without needing a separate excuse.

Hi Merlin,

the last of your constant practices (“daily agenda”) is also the most obvious constant in my setup. Not that I want it, but I have no choice. I more or less consider it a sure sign, that you have not yet reached a true GTD workflow (choose task by context and available energy). The goal of which would be to not have “emergencies” anymore (maybe I am wrong - what do you think?).

I too switched a lot, but start to settle down since I always return to the same tool (Microsoft’s Entourage). I try other tools basically for the same reasons that you do (impressionable lad) and because Entourage feels so un-apple. On the other hand, it seems to be the best fit for me. So no more switching. But then there is Leopard … ;-)

/Sven

I am this way too. Agh!

But in the end I always fall back on my cell phone, Google (the many and various goodies), and the white board.

I think the solution is, as the first commenter said, to let your system be the way it is, and, if you find something really cool or new, add pieces where necessary.

I recently started using the white board in my bedroom, again. Whenever I get an idea of something to do, an article to write, what have you, I put it up there. Usually this isn’t in list form, just in bubbles of text or “maps” of ideas. I also jot down addresses I get, emails, phone numbers (while on the phone, etc.), people to read about or books to buy (etc., etc., etc….). Later, after I’ve edited, re-worked and pondered over the course of the day or night, I’ll add them to my action item list (or address book, amazon wish list, etc.).

This is just an example of something I never thought I’d use in a GTD system, but that works really great for me. I don’t like the idea of an erasable (of all things!) don’t-forget-this list, but no matter how many other things I’ve tried (paper, PDA, emails to myself, pre-to-do lists…), this method just sticks with me.

I hear you! I keep trying to find a better way to do my system, but I think the fact that I always end up falling back on / preferring my original system speaks for itself.

I’m sure that a lot of us constantly flip-flop between different systems, and I know that for me the trigger is usually an on-the-spot realisation that my current system is preventing me from [insert capture/reminder event] right now.

For me, it’s a constant battle between two warring titans and their weaponry; Computer and Paper. These two will be fighting for a long while to come, but my problem is that I have a vested interest on both sides winning.

Computer

• Vast array of GTD applications
• Can be searched
• Can display filtered information
• Alarms
• PDA and web synchronisation
• Looks beautiful, dammit

Paper

• Superb input of tiny, accurate text and drawings
• Foldable, portable
• Requires no power
• Looks beautiful, dammit

When I’m using my computer or PDA I think “O computer, your clever software reminds me of things, and your synchronising reach spans the globe, but your fiddly stylus / buttons really suck.” When I’m using paper I think “O Filofax, your beautiful coloured pages allow me to scribble and jot and they never mis-interpret. Yet I have to duplicate and transcribe, and I may well miss something in the process. And what happens if I loose you?!”

Clearly the victor will be neither, but the hybrid creature that will come along with all of the qualities. However I think it will definitely be on the electronic side of the house.

If Apple (I know, I know) came up with a Filofax-form device, with several flexible smart-paper displays to allow fast flipping, stylus input that perfectly emulated a 0.5mm pen on paper, pockets for stuff, and all the searching/filtering/syncing advantages of Computer… that creature, I feel, would end the war. Then we’d be happy.

Cloud Thought Number One
It's good to think about tools and methods of productivity, but along the way, we end up focusing more on the tools and methods, rather than on productivity itself. We mislead ourselves to thinking that if we fiddle hard enough and long enough with the tools, and the methods, we are being productive. Or, at the least, we eventually become productive. Well, this is one of them. Fiddling.

Cloud Thought Number Two
A friend and colleague couldn't decide on a camera system. The past 5 years, he switched from one to the other, between Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Sony, and Pentax. Switching to a new camera brand is not as simple as naming the brand. Any professional photographer knows that switching means changing the entire system. From the camera body and all lenses, and all accessories that goes with it. And it's an expensive proposition not only because the cutting-edge models cost a lot more, but because he had to sell his old stuff at a very low, discounted, throw-away price. Plus, the learning curve to put the new system to work adds a certain degree of difficulty to switching. My friend is so focused on switching that he ended up not being productive at all. He couldn't think of anything else other than keeping up with the Joneses, in digital SLR terms.

Cloud Thought Number Three
The first time I took the leap to the new-fangled technology of digital photography from the traditional film photography, I chose a camera and brand that uses the same kind of lenses system that I used for my film photography. I've always been a Nikon guy, and I was happily using up to the F4s camera before digital technology jarred our world. And I know I have to switch. And so, I chose to go with Fuji's FinePix Pro S1 because it uses the same kind of lenses as the Nikon (since the body of the S1 was licensed from a design owned by Nikon, and using the same Nikkor mount). I ended up counting the numbers through the years, remaining loyal to Fuji, and hence Nikon, from S1, S2 and then S3. I was looking forward to switching to the S5 when Nikon finally caught up, and I was motivated enough to switch back, to the Nikon D2Xs. And now, I'm about to switch again, to the Nikon D3. And through the switches, I feel that my decisions have been logical, unified. It just makes sense. There is that thing that holds them all together. In reality, it's the Nikkor lens system that holds it together. But even now, when Nikkor have decided to introduce all sorts of variants to their lens line, it's still as unified as ever. Neat.

Finally, A Convoluted Conclusion
I don't know and why I end here, but the conclusion to me seems obvious. Every single time I lose track of real productivity, I know because an internal alarm goes off inside of me that says: "Uh-oh ... This is not how it's supposed to be!" And so, I stop. And I think. And I think some more. And I go into the balcony, and smoke a stick of Marlboro (though you know it's not politically-correct, and I won't recommend smoking). The point is, it gives me time. On the spot, I review. I assess. I give myself the chance to sort, ramify, and even justify, whether whatever it is that I've been trying to be busy with, is the one that I like to be busy with, and is the one that will give me the outcome I expect it will or I'm hoping it will. This method, more than any other productivity tool, gives me a chance to assess how I'm doing. And I can do it all the time, any time; in 30 seconds, in 1 minute, in 5 minutes, in 30 minutes. And off to the race I go. Taking the time to think is like a pitstop "moment" in a NASCAR race, there's nothing happening but it is the time devoted to regrouping one's talent, resources, motivation and all. (I don't know anything about racing, by the way.)

And Last, But Not The Least ...
Every time I get lost, which can happen quite often, like, right now, particularly when I unwittingly fall for aimlessly padding through the river of life, I end up thinking about the old great navigators of the high seas during the 16th to 18th century. To get to where they need to go (and so they won't get lost), they used in their time a high-tech and perfectly calibrated instrument, a compass called the astrolabe. Let's look inside our own astrolabe and set or reset the direction we have willed upon ourselves, and, as an aside, not those dictated by others.

Dominique James
http://www.theplaygroundstudios.com
http://www.dominiquejames.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominiquejames

I’m right there with you my friend. In my case, I’m certain it’s because I should have been some sort of process engineer instead of a lawyer, because I’m much more interested in the process of getting things done than in the getting, the things or the doing.

I also have to try each new tool because I hope to find a soulmate, of sorts. Someone who sees the process the same way I do. I try a lot of these tools and think “Man, you are a weirdo. Who would ever need to prioritize their tasks using a letter and a number? Freak…” But then, secretly envy them because I assume their systems work, for them, sick and wrong as it is, and I have yet to find my system. Once I find it, I’ll have no excuse for those days when, obligated as I am to bills 8 or nine hours, I still manage to waste two of them on spider solitaire. When you find your shrink, please give me his or her name.

Switching systems is very, very hard to do, especially when there is no understanding of the underlying fundamentals.

Most of us are confused when it comes to managing our time management systems, and we respond to the latest advertisements and hot trends only because we have don’t understand how our time management habits work.

Think of Michael Jordan, a player who had mastered the fundamentals of basketball, and could be found practicing them day after day, using many of the same drills he learned as a teenager.

Imagine him seeing an advertisement for some flashy new “tip.” I imagine that he would ask himself how it would improve his fundamental skill, and that he would ask that question first.

We, however, don’t have the benefit of knowing the fundamentals of the time management game, so when a new PDA, book, website of tips or software comes along we can see some value, but are unable to adapt it to our personal habits because we don’t know the fundamentals.

When we know them, it makes life much easier, as we can then do a proper evaluation of new doo-dahs that come along.

Also, the game of productivity is one that never ends. Habits become old, and users are always on the lookout to improve their current systems. The challenge is that there is no system that can encompass everyone from the very beginner to the expert, and everyone’s idiosyncratic way of managing their activities.

However, what they can come to understand is that the same practices underly ALL time management systems, and that moving from one system to another is really about changing habits in order to become more productive.

At that point, changing “systems” is trivial. Changing habits is what is really important, and when this is well understood, users are more kind to themselves, allowing themselves to do so slowly, gently and with great awareness.

Francis http://www.changethis.com/proposals (to help me expand this idea)