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James Fallows on GTD apps

Submitted by Merlin on May 2, 2008 - 9:20am.

Bright side #5: interesting GTD software, including for Mac

The Atlantic writer (and recent Mac convert) James Fallows covers three apps that have caught his attention, including OmniFocus, ThinkingRock, and MonkeyWiki. Fallows says:

The GTD Way mainly involves habits of mind and action, but it also places a lot of emphasis on having the right tools, gizmos, and gimmicks to support those habits. Over the years I’ve used a variety of software to set up GTD-based systems on my computer.

And, if you’re in a real “grab the shovel” mood, don’t miss his link to a metric buttload of GTD apps.

As ever, though, friends, just remember: GTD’s power is in what it does to your approach and to your thinking; it’s not about magic beans and doo-dahs. Never allow yourself to obsess over tools to the exclusion of actually completing tasks. This is about action.

in

a simple way to promote action

Submitted by daybooker on May 3, 2008 - 4:17am.

I agree - many of us try to complicate action by creating complex systems to organise our actions, and then we spend so much time and energy on the system, not leaving enough of either to complete our actions!

Have you heard of The Daybook? As far as I can find it’s the simplest system for organising yourself. You don’t need to charge it or turn it on, you don’t need to attend a seminar to learn to use it, there’s no shuffling of pages, and you never run out of writing space. My husband and I created it for oursleves a decade ago now, and then others wanted it too. Check out our website at www.qapublishing.com.au for more info.

And if there’s no organising system that helps you to get things done, then you really need to look at yourself. It might be that you’re dominated by a part of your personality that just loves procrastination or is afraid of achievement. But the good news is you can learn to unearth a part who loves to act! If you’re into the psychology behind what determines our behaviours, including our ability or inability to act, then check out my web site www.voicedialogue.com.