Getting Things Done (GTD) - Cult or Awesome?

My notebook has been invaluable while we've been moving. There's no way I would have been able to keep track of all the phone numbers and work order numbers etc etc without this thing.

writing things down in a notebook is hardly a new weird thing to do, though.

Indeed! I think that was discussed upthread a bit, buncha people going "lol you guys = aspies for making a whole system around your to-do list."

The heart of the whole thing for me is the "processing." It forces me to either get the Thing done or schedule it for a specific time in the future on my GCal or my cell phone calender. Then I can move forward in the notebook without worrying "did I schedule/do that thing?" I can be confident that it's done. Less worry, more organization in my life.

So I'm trying to figure out if a "personal wiki" for Someday/Maybe stuff has any benefits over a simple file in Google Docs. Are you still around, Jeff? Anything you think makes a wiki a must-have?

GTD is saving my ass right now. Saying "no" to shit would be better though.

For about a year and a half I've been using this awsum GTD tool to rule my life and make everyone genuflect at my organisational brilliance (and even impress my future boss enough that she asked me to teach her how to use it!).

However, since getting a new position in September (partially because of my wikkid org skillz) I'm in so many meetings and following so many different projects that my GTD system is srsly fucked. By the time I get back to the PC to add everything I've forgotten what it was. As a result, my organisation is rooted, I regularly forget to do some really important things, and I'm frequently stressed about forgetting stuff.

So, I'm going to have a crack at this Moleskine thing. I have a fresh Moleskine here but it's a standard book style, not the reporter-flip-up type. Does that matter?

There's also this 'hack,' which seems to be a bit less anal about where to draw margins etc. I don't know which one to go with yet.

Does anyone have helpful advice before I start wrecking my Moleskine?

(I didn't want to derail rrrobyn's diary thread as it's not technically diary-keeping)

just wreck it!!

wtf with the colored markers and organizing

I dunno, I've not read the instructions properly yet

you should use a black ballpoint with it. for best results and long life.

i just read the first wikipedia link but isn't that just saying "get a diary and write down a to-do list"?

Autumn:

My only advice is to always have a pen on you and always be ready to write something down. I use little page markers that get me directly to a blank page/directly to my last-processed item, respectively. When something hits the brain, out comes the notebook. Flip to the pink tab, write it down.

Like I said on the other thread, Jott is a lifesaver for when I can't write stuff down.

I should clarify that I have a Google Docs file for Someday/Maybe stuff & a whiteboard for projects. The moleskine is strictly for capturing & notes on the way to processing.

ken:

see the long, unclear discussion upthread, but in short: yes. plus another thing or two. really only helpful if you have difficulty remembering Stuff/have a high volume of Stuff etc.

Cool, thanks hoos. I'll go with yours because that other one I found is disastrously anal and would break my brain within 12 minutes.

We don't have Jott in Australia, as far as I'm aware.

Yeah I use a really really simplified version of the half dozen GTD Moleskine things floating around the internet.

http://www.davidco.com/blogs/kelly/archives/2008/01/david_allen_giv.html

^^^^^ The Man Himself gives a talk at Google on the basics of GTD.

Though if you want the short version try

http://www.the-happy-manager.com/david-allen-time-management.html

and scroll down

45 mins vs. 7

HI DERE UNREFLECTIVE SUCK-UP TO NOB-SUCKUNTRY. I HOPE YOU WANNA DIE SOOON. PEACE OUT I'M NOT GENERALLY FLECKING

the triumphant return of noodle vague

if I ever arrive at a point in life where I genuinely feel that my brain is incapable of dealing with the volume of shit that I have to keep track of to function like a normal person, then I'm going to ditch out of every commitment I have and go live in the goddamn woods. or beach bum it. regardless.

^^^^^^^^^^ this

- BIG AND aka the whatdriver

For me, the feeling that you need a system or need to do a better job keeping track of things stems more from thinking you could do a lot more than you do usually do if you could just keep up with the little random "oh, i should xyz" ideas that come and go all the time. It's not at all about functioning like a normal person, it's a sense that there's some next level, training montage shit out there.

yeah that concept can also eat my balls. human brains are not for being pushed beyond their stock performance in every aspect just because a few latter-day snake oil salesmen talked some Type-A bozos into believing that the answer to their chronic insecurity was to augment said insecurities with pen-and-paper DIY databases on top of their other imaginary friends mr. e-mail and mr. cellular

if I all of a sudden started "doing more than I usually do" it would just make relaxing that much harder and not actually get me extra vacation or a bigger paycheck - and I'm saying this as a person who has felt many times that I'd feel better if I could just be another overachiever, tried, and learned otherwise

you boys have fun

my favorite posters to 43things.com are the ones who just wish they could wake up on time in the morning

<3 <3 <3 tombot

im getting all abbott here

that's what y'all get, working for the MAN

Thanks hoos, I'll have a look outside work.

Others: I don't use 90% of the GTD shit, just recording things and sorting them into do now / do later / information only (by project). No 43 folders, no any of the other stuff, I just can't be arsed with it.

I don't have too much to do, but I do have too many things to remember. A system like this just works like an organised to-do list for me.

same here

but i don't plan on wasting any more breath defending this stuff to people who aren't interested. no reason to defend it anyway. works for me. you'll never want/need it. a+ everybody.

ja. More absolving myself of wankery than anything.

moleskine hack

watched hackers this morning and all we could keep saying was 'check out this sick xxxxx hack'

'check this epic hamburger hack'

'peep this ocean hack'

had-to-be-there hack

l337 grilled ch3353 hack

Jott. Jott! A THOUSAND TIMES JOTT!!!!

(http://www.jott.com)

Dude one of my buds I visited in Boise had like 7 filled-up Moleskines on her shelf on a moleskin display box she stole from a store. And I told her 'lol orange juice hack' (w/context). She was not sanctimonious tho and did not have the FOLDERS.

This is the most useful thing in my life since the cell phone. I always have my phone on me and a "jott" takes less than 30 seconds from dialing to hangup. On average I use it at least once a day. Recent Jotts:

- 4 or 5 reminders of supplies I need to buy at my job (they always seem to occur to me when I'm not at my desk, or when I'm at lunch)
- Xmas gift ideas
- movies or books I want to buy or check out of the library or go see (probably the most common way I use the system--used to carry around a scrap of paper but lots of time didn't have a pen)
- reminders of Dr. or dentist appointments
- work/meeting schedules

Jott takes a load of my mind.

Oh man but finding yr old movie/book lists is the best! "I was that convinced I had to see Pump Up the Volume? wtf?"

Went with a tailored version of this method. More suited to the type of work I do, and projects can go in the same book. Now I have to get all the SHIT I have to do in there.

She was not sanctimonious tho and did not have the FOLDERS.

-- Abbott, Wednesday, January 9, 2008 4:04 AM

yeah i totes do not need the folders

We need a thread for what the hell to put in 43 folders

botw