43 Folders

43 Folders feed subscription icon - Shiny! Drowning in email? Try Inbox Zero to learn sane tips for dealing with high-volume email. And don’t miss the free Inbox Zero video. »

Login or register

Register for free on 43 Folders to comment on articles, post to our forum, customize your visits, and much more. Current users can login now.

Creative reminder checklists

David Allen says that there are seven types of things that need to be kept track of:

  • projects
  • project support material
  • calendar
  • next actions
  • waiting for
  • reference
  • someday/maybe ideas

But then at the end of Chapter 7 of GTD, he suggests how useful it is to maintain plenty of checklists of creative reminders. So what are these? They don’t fit into any of the above categories, and he doesn’t say how or where there should be organised.


TOPICS: Ask 43f, GTD

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
wood.tang's picture

Wish Lists

He means lists of stuff like things you want to buy (books, music, movies), grocery lists, places you want to go, restaurants you want to try. Wish lists and shopping lists, mainly. Just anything you can think to keep track of, outside of your normal to-do list. I think most people end up tracking these in the same place they do the other lists, whether that’s on the computer, index cards, a notebook, etc.

augmentedfourth's picture

Seven things to track

It’s also not important to think about each of those 7 things as discrete things that must be tracked separately, as long as you make sure there’s a place for each in your system.

For instance, my Waiting-For is actually just an @waiting context in my next action lists. Also, my Someday/Maybe is just a subset of my project lists (I just put “SOMEDAY:” at the beginning of the title and don’t associate any actions). I handle the “creative reminders” similarly.

I also keep project support material and reference stuff all filed in the same place, though the material for in-progress projects is positioned for easier access.

So it doesn’t have to be so complicated. I know I’d freak out if I felt like I had to be constantly monitoring 7-8 different information locations.

MarinaMartin's picture

Ways to Keep Track

I started out keeping a dedicated "Movies to See," "Books to Read," etc. sheet of paper in a folder alongside my project support materials. This got really annoying, really fast.

When it comes to tracking things like this, I think it's easiest to keep the list in the place you're most likely to consult when you want to consume something on it.

For example, I add any movie I want to see to my NetFlix queue. It might take a few years, but this way I'll consume it at one point with zero extra effort on my part.

I add books I want to consume to my AllConsuming.net list and access the RSS feed of "Items I Want to Consume" via my Blackberry whenever I'm at a bookstore.

I add music I want to download to a "Wishlist" playlist on iTunes. (If the music isn't on iTunes, I add it to AllConsuming.)

Since I use del.icio.us for all my bookmarking, I'll tag interesting vacation sites as "tovisit," things I want to read as "toread," and so on.

labête's picture

I haven’t really settled

I haven’t really settled on a suitable way to store all these details in a way I can access when I need to. I track the books, movies, someday maybe etc. on the whatsnext app on my mac and I keep a notebook in the kitchen to jot down things I need from the supermarket. This all works well for scheduled trips out where I can check these before I go, but for those sudden moments when I find myself in Borders I am less well prepared. Perhaps an index card in the back of my moleskine is the way to go.

productivity_evangelist's picture

Jott for notetaking and GTD productivity

I know Jott is really popular mobile app for keeping notes for yourself and for sending mass messages to your co-workers.

For blogger both Jott and Utterz are great way to save time and keep track of to do lists or brilliant bursts of ideas wherever you are. You may not always have your moleskin or laptop, but you will usually have your mobile at hand.

About EvilDMP

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

An Oblique Strategy:
Distorting time


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Inbox Zero

The original 43 Folders series looking at the skills, tools, and attitude needed to empty your email inbox — and then keep it that way. Don’t miss the free video of Merlin’s Inbox Zero presentation.

Making Time

3-part series on attention management for artists and makers. Read Bad Correspondence, The Job You Think You Have, and One Clear Line.