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How to implement GTD for university students
Lilly252 | Jan 15 2006
Hello all, This weekend I took out seven HUGE trash bags out of my office after cleaning everything hidden in every corner. I had boxes that had never been unpacked from four moves ago that are GONE! What a liberating feeling! I don't have my tickler file set up, but have my someday/maybe and my "next actions" set up. The entire office is set up like a GTD Central Command. I had been using the Hipster last semester before life took a weird turn. Anyways.... the reason for my question is this... I'm a doctoral student, and as such I have weekly assignments for classes, papers for the semester, and some independent projects that I"m working on like grant proposals, etc. I keep wondering what the best way of keeping track of everything, and I can't come up with anything concrete, so I thought I'd consult with the experts on this board. Thanks! 61 Comments
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 I have enjoyed people's posts...Submitted by gipsyrose on February 3, 2006 - 8:25am.
I have enjoyed people's posts about getting that thesis done, and organising life around academia. I handed my doctoral thesis in on 31 Aug 2005, and I am still waiting for it to be marked. So I read many of the posts recognising the dilemmas and challenges, and I am always looking for hints to get the perfect system Regarding keeping references, and not buying EndNote. I found applying the principles of EndNote by writing any reference I thought was useful in an alphabetical list in a Word document, making sure the reference was as accurate and full as possible and noting where I found it, where I had filed it, library reference number etc, and any brief thought I had about it was really helpful. I also used this list to cut and paste into subject/topic lists as it suited me. When I finally obtained EndNote I actually found that the ease and simplicity of my model suited me better. And actually used it, with a lot of cutting, in my final submission. I found with all the articles that I collected that in the end I filed most of them by author, but initally I had filed many by subject. As I became more and more familiar with my subject area the authors became more important, so I gradually shifted to filing much more by author. The critical thing was having them filed in cardboard boxes that were close to my computer, because as I wrote I was referrring to them so much. I also think the GTD idea of having an in basket that every thing goes into is fantastic, but one has to be religious about clearing it regularly. I carry about a cane basket that I put everything in (thoughts captured on paper, paper that is given to me, things to do, articles to be filed) as I travel through my day, knowing that I when I'm at home/work and it's quiet I can sort it at my leisure. The most helpful hints I came across for actually completing were to write before I checked email, or went on the internet, to do at least 15 min of writing a day, and to regularly write for three hours as the first thing I did in the day before I did anything else. » POSTED IN:
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