Getting Things Done (GTD) - Cult or Awesome?

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

We need a thread for what the hell to put in the other 38 folders

i'm doing pretty much the same thing as jesse, but with toodledo. when i think of stuff (really similar stuff to his list), i just email it to my toodledo account from my phone, and it puts it on the list. i am way too lazy to properly GTD, but as i have a crap memory it's a lot nicer to just send an email rather than feel like i have to get out of bed to do x because otherwise i'd forget and then something bad would happen.

colette, I was just texting and emailing notes to myself, but Jott made the whole process faster and way, way easier.

gtd: invented by steely dan

?

"send it off in a letter to yourself"

every time your collection list gets out of control you go back back do it again

I don't remember writing 'CLEAN YR FUCKING DESK' in my collection list yesterday.

lol my gf adds notes to my stuff all the time

But I actually wrote this and can't remember doing it. Yesterday was insane.

you guys i lost my moleskine. major ;_; + panic. stupid me focusing on the redhead in front of me instead of noticing the notebook wasn't in my pocket until i was down four flights of stairs.

not on the bus. not on any of the stairs. information & library lost/found don't have it. it's got my phone # in it + a reward listed on the front page, but way in back is my debit card (which i just canceled), my DL, my student ID, and my fucking social security card.

shit.

and all this on the first day of the new semester too.