Ishbadiddle: The Anxiety of Getting Things Do...

The Anxiety of Getting Things Done
I‘ve always been a procrastinator. I tend to go through cycles -- procrastination, sometimes coupled with depression; then rising anxiety. If I‘m lucky, the anxiety will push me through getting done whatever it is that needs doing. If I‘m unlucky, the anxiety will be paralyzing. System shutdown.
I‘m skeptical about the ability of any system to help me fix this. Even the basics -- make to do lists, break down projects into smaller pieces, prioritize, delegate -- are things that I know how to do, and know I should do, but I can‘t actually bring myself to do. And yes, I know, I‘ve managed to get a couple of Ivy League degrees, have a family, a moderately successful career, and of course a blog, so how bad could it be, right? Well, sometimes it can be pretty bad. It‘s not that I want to be 100% productive. I just want to get things done without so much angst, anxiety, and adrenalin involved.
So it may surprise you -- it certainly surprised me -- to learn that I bought an actual self-help book.
The blogosphere was all abuzz aboutGetting Things Done, a "nerd-friendly" time-management book. (Check out the43 Folders blog, dedicated to time-management stuff, especially theirGetting Started with Getting Things Done post.) I got it last fall, read it through, and resolved, yet again, to get organized. The book‘s not bad, although it suffers from business-speak, but I can grok that.
Here‘s the good stuff about Getting Things Done (GTD): Getting you to focus on the next task. Nearly any task is really a project, a series of tasks. GTD has you thinking about projects, writing out the lists of component tasks -- and only putting the next task on your To-Do list. Once you‘ve completed it, you can put the next task on your list. To keep track of your projects, you need a list of current projects.
 
Thinking about tasks in terms of where you do them, not what they‘re about. Example: I used to have a To-Do category called "Household." This might include stuff I actually needed to do at home (sort clothes), or errands to run (buy new toner), or phone calls to make (call cable company about installation). GTD would sort these three tasks, respectively, into the categories At Home, Errands, and Phone Calls. So when I‘m at home I look at my At Home list. Makes sense.
 
Let your anxiety set your priorities. This (of course) makes intuitive sense to me, since it‘s how I‘m used to organizing my life. If you review your lists frequently enough, you‘ll know what needs doing, without having to assign priority numbers to every task and project.
 
Calendars and deadlines. Keep your calendar free of deadlines; use it only for appointments. Use your dated To-Dos for deadlines and "I should get this done by next week" notations. The Tickler. Probably the most instantly useful GTD technique is the tickler. Take an open file box. Make 31 folders, numbered, and one folder for each month. The front numbered folder represents tomorrow. (In this case, "20".) Behind 20 goes folders 21-31, representing 6/20 through 6/30. Then comes the "July" folder. After "July" comes folders 1-19, representing 7/1 through 7/19. Then the month folders, August through June.
Here‘s how it works. I get something in the mail that will require my attention, but not until next week. I decide I don‘t need to think about it until Thursday. It goes into the "23" folder. Here‘s an email about a conference I need to attend on July 11. I won‘t need to do anything about it until a few days before, so I print it out and put it in the "7" folder. An event in November goes in the "November" file. At the beginning of the month, you go through that month‘s folder and put the items in their proper numbered folders. At the end of the day, the "20" folder moves after the "19"; now it represents July 20th instead of June 20th.
"The problem is, out of sight, out of mind!" my Mom said when I showed her the system. "That‘s just the point," I replied. "You don‘t want to think about these things until you need to." She borrowed my copy of the book.
 
The two-minute rule. If a task crosses your desk / inbox / brain, and it‘s something you should do, and it will take you two minutes or less to do, finish it right there and then. It will take you more than a minute to file the task in the proper place.
 
The labeller. I freely admit to having a lifelong fetish for office supplies. The labeller is just cool, and yes it does make filing less of a chore.
There‘s more, of course. But for me those are the essentially good points of the system. Here‘s the bad, for me:
The State of Grace. In order for the GTD system to really work, you have to trust that your task list is comprehensive and complete. You have to capture everything that you have to do and organize it into projects. You (ideally) should have everything sorted, and filed. Take a few days to get yourself organized, the book advises. A few days? I thought, looking at towering piles of papers. Try a few weeks.
The real problem is, if you aren‘t in this state of grace, the value of GTD drops precipitiously. Because you can‘t trust that your list of tasks and projects is actually complete. There‘s still the lurking anxiety that somewhere in that pile of papers you haven‘t attacked yet is something you really really need to do.
Maybe it‘s just me, but trying to get into this state is anxiety-producing in itself, especially if you‘re trying to get work done at the same time.
 
Out of sight, out of mind. Don‘t have a pile of folders on your desk to represent your current projects, sayeth GTD. Just have those projects on your list, and pull them from your files as you need them. Sounds good -- in theory. In practice, I actually like having my projects in front of me. There‘s something tangible about it that‘s extremely helpful. (That is, until having my projects in front me means I can no longer see my desk, computer, etc.)
So that‘s why I was intrigued by this link from43 Folders toMartin Ternouth‘s paper-based management system (actually described on Tufte‘s site.) I‘d never really thought about applying TOM lessons to my own workflow, but Ternouth clearly has. The part of his system that appeals to me the most is the Work In Progress pile and the "DeskKanban." Essentially, every project gets a coverslip. That coverslip goes in a clear plastic folder (more office supplies, yay!), and all the papers for that project go into that folder. When you‘re working on a project, it goes onto the "Desk Kanban." When you switch projects, everything gets swept back into the coverslip / folder, and put back in WIP. You only have one project on your desk at a time.
I‘ve been working with this for a few weeks now, and it seems to be going pretty well. I‘ve done some thinking about how to combine the Ternouth System with GTD, taking the parts I like most about each. Here‘s what I‘ve come up with:

Items in yellow are physical -- the inbox, the tickler, files, to read file, the WIP box. Items in purple are electronic (To-do lists, etc.) Green items are actions. You can get theflowchart in PowerPoint -- feel free to use it for your own purposes, I‘ve put it under aCreative Commons License.
Most of this is an adaptation of the standardGTD flowchart, with the addition of the WIP stack and the Desk Kanban. Two other additions:
The "Forwarding" action, for those items that aren‘t actionable but are of more interest to someone else than they are me. Since there‘s no action, it doesn‘t get added to your "Waiting On" list.
 
Blog. Blogging is a useful way to store and share information at the same time. In the GTD context, you‘re forwarding the information on to your readers, as well as saving it for future reference. Properly tagged, you can retrieve a useful link quite easily. (See"Turning a Blog Into a Semantic Web" for more details on making your blog a useful index.) If you‘re not up for full-scale blogging, I‘d recommend using a bookmarking service likedel.icio.us.
In practice, here‘s how it looks:

The WIP, the Inbox, my always-bulging To Read pile, and the current task in the "Kanban."

A project in its clear plastic folder. The coverslip is a convenient place to write notes and list tasks.

If I need to, I can spread out all the WIP to see what‘s going on. In practice, I tend to flip through it instead. Note that one-offs (single tasks) are in here as loose papers, with one page for each task. If there‘s something I know I need to do soon, I‘ll put it in WIP. There are about 15 items (tasks and projects) here, which is mentally manageable.

Update: The WIP, Inbox, and To Read piles are in standard stacking inboxes. Here they are, stacked, for when I‘m in working-mode, instead of figuring-out-what-to-do-next mode.

The tickler. The 43 folders are in front, then extra coverslips, then extra hanging folders, then empty folders. I find having all this in one place is very helpful.
As this is a largely-paper based system, I end up using a lot of paper -- printing things out to put in the tickler, file, put in coverslips, the "To Read" pile, and so on. I‘m constantly recycling paper -- there‘s a box under my desk full of scrap paper.
Why paper instead of bits? Primarily because the computer is a great multi-tasking tool. And that‘s the problem -- because multi-tasking is so easy, I multitask. And when I multitask, I tend to divide my attention, wander through projects, look up something on the Internet, etc etc etc. My next project is to figure out how to create a "Desk Kanban" on screen -- perhaps with multiple desktops? As it stands, I‘ve found that one of the most useful time management tools I have at my disposal is the "off" button on my monitor.
So there you have it. My new system, in rather exhaustive detail. Enjoy!
Update: A discussion of this system over at the43 folders group. Also, we‘ve hitdel.icio.us!
Further Update: My goodness, we‘ve been picked up byLifehack.org! And43 Folders, where I first learned of GTD, thus completing some kind of cosmic cycle.
And another update: I‘ve hit the Gawker empire! This article is up onLifehacker. Who knew that advising people to turn off their monitors would be so radical?
Stuff to buy update:
43 Folders recommends theAvery Extended Edge Document Sleeve. Haven‘t tried those yet. But if you want to go cheap (and the Lane family motto is "el cheapo is el besto") I‘d recommend getting someclear binder sleeves, slicing off the closed bottom and the three-ring side, and presto! Document sleeve.
I also mentioned in comments, but will repeat here while I‘m at it:
Paper capture device. You need something to write down stuff as it occurs to you. Everyone loves 3 x 5 cards today, but I prefer theMoleskine Cahier Pocket Journal. They‘re thin enough to fit in your pocket, if you get the "buff" version you can write the date on the front for later archiving, the back pages are perforated so you can tear out a page when needed.
Staples "One Touch" stapler. It sounds crazy, but I used to hate picking up a stapler. Maybe 30% of the time the thing jams, or the staples don‘t go all the way through. This stapler is only $15, but it‘s the best. It‘s got a spring inside or something and it staples like nobody‘s business. Found onCool Tools.
Yet Another Update: I was sorting through papers yesterday when I realized that my "To Read" pile was really just another WIP holding tray. So I redid the flowchart to make it a proper triangle, and put an "out" arrow to indicate that I have to do something with the paper once I‘ve read it (namely, trash, forward, file, or blog.) I also realized that I have another output for information, which is this blog. (See the "Blog" notes above.) So that‘s added to the flowchart as well. Finally, I added "RSS Feeds" to the long list of inputs on the left.
An interesting update:This FTrain essay on wide vs. narrow distractions, and why theAlphaSmart Neo is the best (digital) writers‘ tool.
Another update: You may be interested in readingThe Anxiety of Getting to Zero, my strategy for dealing with an overflowing Outlook inbox.
M E-L posted this on June 19, 2005
It is filed underCommunity,Featured Posts
It is also indexed with the following tags:Time Management |GTD |How To |Productivity |Organization |
Comments
Emily wrote:
I‘ve seen a lot of stuff about GTD on LIfehacker adn other places, but I just can‘t behind the paper aspect of it. And the high time-cost of setup. I did follow some instructions I found to create filters in MS OUtlook to hide emails that you don‘t need to deal with unitl a certain date, at which piont they "magically" reappear. Have you seen the GTD Wiki notebook thing?
Comment #1 ::link :: June 19, 2005 09:04 PM
Leo F wrote:
Hello
The best system is the one that works for you. It looks complicated to me, but if it works, great ! Have you tried to go paperless, trying to put as much as possible in a computer system ?
Leo
logsense.com
Comment #2 ::link :: June 20, 2005 01:51 AM
Doogie wrote:
Hi Leo,
Great article (found it via del.icio.us). Thanx!
Cheers,
Doogie.
Comment #3 ::link :: June 20, 2005 02:45 AM
Jez wrote:
Come on, this is pathetic. You spent hours working out this system when you should have just been getting on with what you had to do. These organizational methodologies excuse procrastination by letting you pretend that you are somehow increasing future productivity. For the past year I‘ve been juggling a PhD, conducting a major home renovation, planning a wedding, and running two online businesses - with no more than a small pile of papers on my desk and a little notepad on which I keep todos. The filing system is irrelevant - the challenge lies in keeping yourself disciplined.
Comment #4 ::link :: June 20, 2005 06:39 AM
Shanti wrote:
Jez -
Perhaps with a system you would have been able to accomplish 10x as much as you have done, even at your regular high rate of accomplishment.
Then again, perhaps not.
If you haven‘t tried any methodologies, I wouldn‘t knock them.
If you have, and failed, then sure, knock them all you want.
Like has been said above, the best system is one that works for you. If you‘ve found yours, great.
If other people require a more complex system, and it helps them be productive, there‘s no reason to judge them for requiring / needing / wanting to use an advanced system.
Comment #5 ::link :: June 20, 2005 09:55 AM
Jimpy wrote:
It must be hard for Jez, to live in such a world of fools.
Let‘s just hope that PhD doesn‘t have anything to do with counselling. Though I suppose her advice style would sit will with the Dr. Phil crowd: "Get Real!"
Comment #6 ::link :: June 20, 2005 10:33 AM
Derek Scruggs wrote:
Here‘s another vote against Jez. I spent a fair amount of time initially setting up GTD 2 years ago, and I often tweak it, but there‘s no doubt that I get WAY more done than I used to, and that other people (i.e. my clients and people who work with me) notice it in a positive way. They know I‘m reliable. Furthermore, I‘m so much more at ease and able to focus on the big things in life.
Jez may be happy with his system or lack thereof. That‘s fine with me. In my experience, people generally don‘t change anything until the status quo becomes intolerable.
Comment #7 ::link :: June 20, 2005 01:42 PM
Patrick wrote:
The best system IS the one that works for you. Here’s mine:
1) Get married
2) When something needs to be done ask your spouse to do it
3) Prioritize: If your wife says that she will do it, it is important.
If your wife says that you should do it, it’s kinda important.
If she doesn’t say anything, it’s not very important.
4) Go to the web and read up on all the past episodes of “The Shield”
5) Let a week pass.
6) Ask your wife if she did “those things” she was supposed to do. Look concerned.
7) She will ask you if have done your things. Look exhausted and say you will try.
8) Do this for a couple of months. Every once and while ask her “Isn’t there something we were supposed to do this week?” This will ensure that little things don’t fall between the cracks. It also implies that you care, which believe me fellas, goes a long way.
9) Do one or two things that your wife has reminded you to do three or four times.
10) Go back to step 2.
Comment #8 ::link :: June 20, 2005 01:59 PM
Mike S wrote:
This is GREAT. It is wonderful to see and read about what someone else is doing.
RE: Jez and "excuses"
I‘ve yet to have anyone come to me and say "I‘m sorry, I haven‘t completed my work because I am implementing GTD."
For those of us that have a large workload of much stuff (e.g. hundreds of specific actions, 10s of projects, and huge other potential commitments), a trusted system is turnkey to growth and success.
I actually find that a system I trust is far more important then a system that "works". What that system is varies according to your unique makeup as a human being, and the volume and kind of work you have taken on, and that you wish to take on.
The value of the system is easily measured: are you able to "do" your "work" with peace of mind while accomplishing your goals.
Comment #9 ::link :: June 20, 2005 02:29 PM
Emily wrote:
If Leo is still around, does he have any ideas on paperlessness? That would help me get on board.
When Chris and I were planning our wedding, one of my friends dubbed us "the most psychotically organized couple [he had] ever met." Plus, I‘ve always had the inclination to do the little things first, because DOING them takes less energy than REMEMBERING TO DO them. So I don‘t really need a new system. What I like about the tiny piece of GTD that I have implemented is that it gives you a RELIABLE way to ignore things you can‘t/don‘t need to do yet with the assurance that they will pop back up when you need them. It saves you a lot of worry and stress.
Comment #10 ::link :: June 20, 2005 03:37 PM
Andrea wrote:
Hi, here via lifehack.org. Your first paragraph sums up my academic issues to a T -- I‘m currently slugging my way through a rather overdue final thesis -- and while my kind of work doesn‘t require me to keep track of projects/clients/tasks right now, I do need to become more organized in general. Or rather, self-disciplined. Organizing is one of my hobbies. Ahem.
GTD would be way too ambitious a system for my needs, but I‘ve been picking up some tips from various "lifehack" and GTD blogs; the problem, as you note, lies in (consistently) implementing the ideas. So it‘s nice to read a success story every now and then. Shows there‘s still hope. :-)
(And wow, Jez. Rude much?)
Comment #11 ::link :: June 20, 2005 05:02 PM
Leon wrote:
Good post BTW! I love the level of your details. I havelinked this from mylifehacks blog.
Comment #12 ::link :: June 20, 2005 07:38 PM
Leo F wrote:
Emily,
Actually I do have a few ideas on going paperless. I am seriously considering going paperless and have blogged on logsense.com. Essentially I plan to use my PDA and computer for storage. Standard mail that I need to keep will be scanned, as soon as I find a good/fast scanner.
regards,
Leo
Comment #13 ::link :: June 20, 2005 10:25 PM
Matthew wrote:
I like the detail of your system! It inspires me to organize. Im going to try setting up my computer desktop to roughly correlate to your GTD design with files and folders.
Comment #14 ::link :: June 21, 2005 02:15 AM
Andrea wrote:
As an aside, you may want to tweak your anti-spam measurements a bit. I was told by the system that there‘d been problems with the security code and that I should submit my comment again. I didn‘t, but this probably explains all these dupli- and triplicate comments.
Comment #15 ::link :: June 21, 2005 08:35 AM
Brett wrote:
As a fellow Ph.D. actually I am a Ph.D. fellow and I have to disagree with the earlier comment that you can get by with a stack of papers and a notepad. Managing multiple research projects at once requires both filing and organization. Often projects are at very different stages and must be moved forward. Dealing with collaborators throughout the country and in different countries also requires organization to keep them moving forward. As a researcher you need to be able to quickly switch between projects as due dates approach and you need to be able to go back and find pertinent information efficiently. At the heart of research is to share your knowledge. Of course there are always those one‘s who like to be hyper critical, welcome to academia.
Comment #16 ::link :: June 21, 2005 09:57 AM
erik wrote:
Is anyone else having a I Heart Huckabees moment with GTD?
I‘ve been working with this for a few weeks now, and it seems to be going pretty well. I‘ve done some thinking about how to combine the Ternouth System with GTD, taking the parts I like most about each.
 
I keep expecting to find an alternate system where lists should all be combined together and things should be sorted all willynilly. Or maybe there‘s an out-basket instead.
Comment #17 ::link :: June 22, 2005 10:53 AM
Patrick wrote:
The first paragraph is me too. Anyone got any tips on just getting started on a (any) task when you will just do anything (at the moment just constantly surfing rather than do anything) not to.
I seem to go through a cycle (weeks) of do nothing phase then back to a productive phase (months hopefully).
Anyone got any tips on how to manage the do nothing phases.
Comment #18 ::link :: June 22, 2005 12:42 PM
amoeda wrote:
I read and selectively adopted GTD a few months ago; now I‘m trying to move from a half-assed to a more complete and seamless implementation. Because I‘m freelance right now and my weekly work schedule is always changing, I find it particularly difficult to get into the weekly review habit, though I can usually remember to check my tickler file every morning. Re the state of grace: I‘m not there yet, but I‘m doing it in stages: I divided my whole backlog into a few big chunks and started with the chunk that has the highest likelihood of containing buried important stuff. (Of course, now I‘m moving, which has a way of forcing the issue.) Re paperlessness: I got Treo in hopes of using it help me implement GTD and so far it‘s working sort of well. It allows me to code to-do‘s by context (@home, @phone, @online etc.) and also by project, so I can make sure I have a next action for everything. Then I use the same project codes for my paper files and computer files. On the other hand, this usually means I review tasks by looking at the Treo while sitting on the subway, which means I get reminders of what I have to do exactly when I can‘t do it. So, basically, I need to form better habits. Re "do nothing cycles": When I realize that‘s happening, I usually try to find a task on my list that really straightforward and easy. Doing one of those will sometimes make me feel more capable of tackling other things.
Comment #19 ::link :: June 22, 2005 03:40 PM
MEL wrote:
Wow! Thanks everyone for all your feedback, for linking to this article, and for responding to Jez with much more eloquence and snark than I could muster.
Emily -- I haven‘t seen the GTD Wiki notebook thing, are you using it?
Leo -- I‘ve tried to go electronic, but right now paper is working for me, for reasons described above. I still use Outlook to keep track of To-Do lists and of course the scourge of email, but I‘m doing more with paper. Sorry, trees.
Patrick (first) -- love the "marriage" system. Just don‘t go back to step one!
Patrick (second) -- amoeda‘s suggestion is a great one. I‘ve also found (and this from Cognitive Behavior Therapy) that it helps to think about why you‘re not doing something. In brief (and I‘m not a pyschologist, just a psychologee):
1. What‘s the task that you have to do? For example, "Finish the Wilkins Report."
2. What do you think about when you consider that task? Example: "My boss will yell at me because the numbers in the Wilkins Report aren‘t good."
3. What are the emotions that accompany those thought? "Fear, anxiety."
Now comes the kicker:
4. Consider, as objectively as you can, what the likelihood of #2 is? "Probably 30% -- he doesn‘t tend to fly off the handle."
5. What would you do if #2 happened? "I‘d tell him that the numbers in the report reflect the whole division, not just me. I‘d say I have some ideas on how to bring our numbers up."
Once you go through Nos. 4 and 5, you‘ll find (at least, I do) that tackling the task becomes easier.
A couple of other items:
There‘s a discusson on43 Folders Google Groups about how to have one task showing on your computer. Much Macness there, but I suggest this for Windows users: if you‘re working on a single task, hide the task bar at the bottom. (You can set it to "Auto-Hide" under taskbar & start menu properties). Not having a string of icons at the bottom of the screen not only reduces visual clutter, it also discourages you from switching back and forth to other programs. Remove the temptation! You can use alt-tab to switch.
Two tools I didn‘t mention in the article, but are essential to my system:
Paper capture device. You need something to write down stuff as it occurs to you. Everyone loves 3 x 5 cards today, but I prefer theMoleskine Cahier Pocket Journal. They‘re thin enough to fit in your pocket, if you get the "buff" version you can write the date on the front for later archiving, the back pages are perforated so you can tear out a page when needed.
Staples "One Touch" stapler. It sounds crazy, but I used to hate picking up a stapler. Maybe 30% of the time the thing jams, or the staples don‘t go all the way through. This stapler is only $15, but it‘s the best. It‘s got a spring inside or something and it staples like nobody‘s business. Found onCool Tools.
That‘s all for now -- keep the suggestions coming!
Comment #20 ::link :: June 23, 2005 01:19 PM
Kevin wrote:
Ish, fantastic system.
Patrick, you may find you have to go back to step *1* after a few years of steps 2-10!
:)
Kevin
Comment #21 ::link :: June 23, 2005 10:08 PM
Chris Ryland wrote:
Amoeda--
See Joel‘sFire and Motion article for ideas on how to keep moving forward (and why it‘s important to do so).
Comment #22 ::link :: June 28, 2005 05:08 PM
Steve wrote:
After trying many high-tech solutions, I‘ve gone low-tech with business-size preprinted GTD cards from www.nextactioncards.com. At first I used them just to capture items while out and about (since they are small enough to easily fit in a pocket, instead of larger index cards) but now use it as my whole GTD system. Worth taking a look at!
Comment #23 ::link :: June 29, 2005 09:12 PM
Chris G wrote:
Wow! I ran out today and bought me some office supplies & started organizing!! I‘ll see your system and raise you one - check out LifeBalance, from Llamagraphics (google it for the website). It‘s a palm (and desk top) management tool that I‘ve relied on for several years. It takes a little getting used to, but I find that it‘s heirarchical to-do list can‘t be beat, and the way that it can calculate priorities is fantastic, once you get the hang of it. The biggest draw back is that it purports to help you set & achieve a balance between your life‘s goals, from work to home, etc. And it would, if you took the time to enter all your non-work related goals. For me, I tend to obsess over things like that all or nothing-like, so I put down all my work related tasks and none of my personal goal related tasks.
Still, it‘s a big help!
And, BTW -- I‘d be interested in hearing about how you track grants!!
Comment #24 ::link :: June 30, 2005 10:14 PM
Natalie wrote:
Paper organising sounds very easy and, being on the desk in front of you, hard to ignore. My office however is going paperless, printing many sheets of paper in my office can be followed by a few accusing stares. Last year I helped the office “close the loop”, we now buy recycled paper, reuse the back of used pages, and recycle paper back to the same paper plant we buy from.
My problem is I want an electronic notepad system, I love the look of Circus Ponies Notebook but I can’t find one for windows. Is there anything that good for Windows? I like stationary to the point of obsession/fetish and was drawn to the Circus Ponies ruled pages and holes punched into the sides. I will overcome my need for this real world look alike and consider a notebook system with a different look and feel if the functionality is good enough.
Please help me, I am hoping to set up a system before (que procrastination) I get into some serious job hunting. Reading all these blogs on GTD gives me a little buss of excitement in my chest that says I could organise myself calm, positive way, avoiding some of the stress and guilt that seems to follow my projects, especially real, important life ones.
Comment #25 ::link :: July 4, 2005 05:15 PM
MEL wrote:
Natalie: Check this out -- ajavascript powered GTD system.
Comment #26 ::link :: July 8, 2005 03:26 PM
Michele wrote:
I‘d sure love to know where you found that portable black wire file basket. It‘s perfect.
You‘ve inspired me to set my daughter up with a tickler file before she moves into the dorms.
Comment #27 ::link :: July 11, 2005 02:11 AM
M E-L wrote:
I got it at Staples.
Comment #28 ::link :: July 11, 2005 10:35 AM
Todd wrote:
RE: Natalie and Circus Ponies NoteBook program for Windows.
Check this out: http://www.windsorinterfaces.com/notelens.shtml
It‘s by the designers of Hog Bay Notebook (another popular outliner for Mac).
Comment #29 ::link :: July 21, 2005 02:53 PM
Todd wrote:
RE: Natalie and Circus Ponies NoteBook program for Windows.
Check this out: http://www.windsorinterfaces.com/notelens.shtml
It‘s developed by the partner designers of Hog Bay Notebook (another popular outliner for Mac).
Comment #30 ::link :: July 21, 2005 02:55 PM
Todd wrote:
RE: Natalie and Circus Ponies NoteBook program for Windows.
Check this out: http://www.windsorinterfaces.com/notelens.shtml
It‘s developed by the partner designers of Hog Bay Notebook (another popular outliner for Mac).
Comment #31 ::link :: July 21, 2005 03:04 PM
Eric Prescott wrote:
I use Omni Outliner Pro instead of Notebook, and it looks like they do a lot of the same things, though the metaphor of Notebook is more familiar. My big thing about all this productivity stuff is that there are so many overlapping areas. I mean DevonTHINK looks awesome for a lot of things, but a lot of those features can be duped in Outliner Pro, too, so I don‘t really want to spend the money for a second program, even though it might be a bit nicer implementation (haven‘t used it, but I imagine because it‘s focused on an approach beyond mere hierarchical outlining that it is a better implementation for relationships your "stuff" might have with each other)...
I spend far more time on all this crap, and I‘m about ready to just sort of lock it and get some stuff done, because I think I‘ve hit the point of diminishing returns!
Comment #32 ::link :: August 6, 2005 06:43 PM
Dinah wrote:
I use a somewhat similar system, except that I find it a big waste of time to take physical objects that need to be dealt with later and turn them digital or vice versa. I have a folder called Tickler as a subfolder of my email inbox and it contains my 43 folders. I also have a To Read folder for emailed articles or links. URLs I find that don‘t come in as an email message I can either email to myself or (faster) enter them under the appropriate project in my big list (I use KGTD) with the "research" context.
Physical inputs needing action either go in an active project folder, the "waiting for" folder, the agenda folder (meetings coming up soon) or get filed. Mercifully I have very few physical inputs that need to be tickled. If I had more I‘d have both a physical 43 folders and a digital just as I have a physical inbox and a digital one.
Thanks for the charty goodness! Nicely articulated.
Comment #33 ::link :: December 26, 2005 11:22 PM
abp wrote:
The best anniversary gift ever! My husband gave me a notepad for my car. He knows me!
Comment #34 ::link :: January 11, 2006 02:45 PM
Daniel Coyne wrote:
I love this thread for the hummanity of it all.
My 2 cents: my last office participated in a Mission Controll workshop (http://www.missioncontrol.com/) just before I was hired. I arrived to a culture of capture tools and never-doing-now lists. I learned the new system as best I could through self-study and follow-up sessions with the coach.
The system worked pretty well for me to the degree that I followed it. It has since become one more source of guilt and anxiety. Procrastinating about re-committing and re-alligning to a lapsed productivity system, and having that task stand as a barrier to other tasks has its own special flavor of irony.
One thing I remember is that there was an affirmation that we were supposed to say at the end of the work day. It had something to do with stating to yourself that you have reviewed your capture tool, moved overwhelming issues to your never-doing-now list, and scheduled occassions for upcoming tasks. Then we said, tomorrow is set up for srenity, power and controll blah blah blah.
I started saying it out loud half for the humorous effect...but low and behold, it started to help me close the work day and feel ok about coming in the next day. I may put a sticky on my chair (gasp!) reminding me to create my own little affirmation to be said silently or aloud as the computer is shutting down.
Comment #35 ::link :: September 14, 2006 03:26 PM
Dave wrote:
That‘s a pretty decent implementation I gotta admit!
One little thing though... Why use clear paper sleeves when you can common manila folders? I know they are cute, by all means if they help you moving forward keep using them, but I would use the same kind of folders you use in your file cabinet.
Good job!
Comment #36 ::link :: September 15, 2006 10:37 AM
Tom wrote:
Had read Martin Ternmouth‘s post, and posted about it recently for the "Getting Organised Experiment" at www.donationcoder.com/Forums
http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=5641.0
(there‘s also a PDF of the system there from Martin)
Only came across this last week - it‘s a great page - really good to see it here combined with GTD & nicely illustrated & with photographs. (I also linked to this page in the thread above)
I combine it with Mark Forster‘s idea of an Inbox, well, for incoming stuff (!), AND a BOX FOR WHAT I WILL DO TODAY (in my case mainly stuff to reply to & get in the post, etc. - organised each evening for the following day)
Re previous comment:- Dave - I use both clear covers & manilla:
the manilla I use to hold large projects with many aspects - I write the contents on the cover, but it will get fairly scribbled if you use it for a while & keep the contents up to date.
With the clear covers you can keep a list of contents on first page or just look through the cover ...
Comment #37 ::link :: November 2, 2006 05:04 AM
Craig wrote:
I deal with workflow every day for http://www.webandflo.com. It is what I leave and breath and looking at the 43 folders solution it is actually pretty clever if you are in a micro business
Comment #38 ::link :: November 2, 2006 11:06 PM
Troubled Teen wrote:
I would have put “Getting the focus on actual task” first in order to educate the person that somebody needs to guide, but if you refer to the next task as the thing to be done than it’s all right. The fact is that we need inner power to fight back this kind of things that can erode our personality.
Comment #39 ::link :: December 15, 2006 03:40 PM