The David Allen Company http://www.davidco.com/forum Public Forums: Getting Things Done en Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:49:39 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.davidco.com/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg The David Allen Company http://www.davidco.com/forum Brother Labelmaker for $14.99 http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8530&goto=newpost Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:39:35 GMT I wouldn't share this except it seemed like the type of deal someone here may want. I received an email from Staples, with some back to school sale starting July 6. Among other things, they are offering a Brother P-Touch 1200 Labelmaker for $14.99 instead of $39.99. Apparently it's first come first served and is a nationwide sale.

I imagine someone out there has been sitting on the fence about buying a labelmaker OR is trying to get started on the cheap, so I thought I'd pass this on.

JohnV474 ]]> Gear, Gadgets, Software, and Toys JohnV474 http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8530 <![CDATA[Personal & work systems-together or separate?]]> http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8529&goto=newpost Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:40:38 GMT I have been trying to implement GTD for about a year, but my personal circumstances have changed several times. With each change, I have gotten a bit lost on how to organize myself. First I was a stay-at-home mom with a part-time job that I worked from home. I found it pretty easy to implement the system at that time. Then I started a full-time job where I had a computer at work for work stuff, and my home computer for personal stuff. I was trying to maintain 2 systems that didn't seem to fit together very well, so I was constantly frustrated. I eventually tried to merge my systems together through my work computer and Outlook (since I also had access to web outlook from home). Now that I have left that job, I am needing to start over.

I am starting a new job soon where I believe I will have a laptop. I will be doing quite a bit of local travel (visiting clients around town), so I will not be sitting in an office all day. I will also be given a work PDA, but plan to keep my personal cell for personal and family use.

So my question is:
Do I use one organizing system or two (personal and professional)?
Electronic or paper? Or a little of both?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. ]]> Getting Things Done yogachic http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8529 David Allen in Business Week blog http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8528&goto=newpost Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:33:15 GMT David Allen is contributing to Business Week's time management blog for the next couple of weeks. Check out his first post on "A Mislabeled Problem." The post just went live a few minutes ago. Additional DA posts and information will be added to the Business Week blog in the next few days. ]]> Getting Things Done John Forrister http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8528 Members Only: Business Week blog post by David Allen http://www.davidco.com/connect/forum_view.php?t=8527 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:12:23 GMT David Allen is contributing to Business Week's time management blog for the next couple of weeks. Check out his first pos... ]]> Social Networking Lounge John Forrister http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8527 <![CDATA[Two questions - regular actions and ongoing "projects"]]> http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8526&goto=newpost Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:36:31 GMT Hi everyone, I'm new to GTD and I would like to know your thoughts on actions that must be done regularly, such as meditation or exercise or piano practice or checking the mail - should you create new next action lists marked "Daily" and "weekly" and not cross items off these lists when you've done them? How would you differentiate these actions from "one-time" next actions?

My second question is about project lists - I have set up different project lists for "short term", "long term", as well as "ongoing projects" - the last one isn't really a list of projects as such, but ongoing commitments that don't have a tangible goal in sight where I can say "finished". Am I on the right track or is there a more efficient way to do this?

Thanks in advance! ]]> Getting Things Done earthfriend http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8526 need help refining productivity system http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8525&goto=newpost Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:44:33 GMT I hope somebody who's mastered, or close to mastered, GTD or some modified form of it or any productivity system, can help me. I have been trying to implement GTD for over a year, and it just hasn't been working out. I've kept context lists, I carry a notebook around with me for capture, I learned the 2-minute rule, and have tried different systems for processing data, but I always feel more overwhelmed, because I have never found a way to organize my tasks and ideas in a way that made them all easily accessible and showed the connections between them. I've tried all paper, all digital, and a combination thereof.

This summer, I've been taking it easy, just using a daily task list (e.g. "do laundry," "go to store," etc. plus want-to-do items like "watch movie") and writing the few events or tasks with due dates in my calendar planner. I have a little notebook listing my current projects, which I've worked on occasionally this summer, but in the interest of motivating myself to move forward on some of those projects (which I won't have time for once classes start again), I decided to try to establish context lists, and pick up stragglers from my daily task lists and incorporate next actions from my project lists. But, I don't have project lists for every project, because I store a lot mentally, and I really hate writing things down in multiple places. Plus, I've been avoiding putting want-to-do or should-do items on my daily task lists, and now I'm wondering whether to even use context lists. l was feeling more relaxed before starting this, and I've found that since I keep having problems with any productivity system, starting from scratch is nearly impossible. But I was close to that this summer, but my life was not in the disarray that GTD assumes you're in when you start; it was simpler. Needless to say, I'm frustrated and wondering if GTD is really for me.

I'm not currently working, and I have many distinct areas of my life, from the basic (e.g. financial) to the involved (e.g. creative, which encompasses a whole bunch of projects, as you might imagine). And once classes start, I'll have all those tasks and projects to worry about. I need to know how to reconcile daily tasks with context lists with project lists, and I do NOT want to have a daily procedure that will direct me to a number of lists. Part of GTD that I like is the energy and time considerations you make before acting, but the system itself doesn't seem friendly to that, so I've never been able to access that benefit.

Please offer any advice you can...and sorry for this long-winded post. I hope you can pick it apart sufficiently; I'll clarify anything that needs to be clarified. ]]> Getting Things Done seaj11 http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8525 Members Only: Is the world overlabeled? http://www.davidco.com/connect/forum_view.php?t=8524 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:37:45 GMT We get two key things when we get hired by David Allen:

1. A Laptop
2. A Labeler

Just when I thought I couldn't label anoth...
Attached Images
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]]> Social Networking Lounge kelstarrising http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8524 How to measure individual load? http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8523&goto=newpost Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:48:50 GMT It's not possible to finish all projects you have. You'll never have only one project on your plate of projects. My question is how to measure individual load? When much is too much? Any ideas? ]]> Getting Things Done Borisoff http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8523 Members Only: How to start to enjoy what you have http://www.davidco.com/connect/forum_view.php?t=8522 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:44:55 GMT Maybe it's not the question GTD can answer. But I hope people who pra... ]]> Borisoff http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8522 obsolete next actions http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8521&goto=newpost Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:20:41 GMT Was wondering why my morning wasn't moving -- my next actions were nice and clear, what more could I ask for?

Well, as has been pointed out, work is a dynamic environment, and what were appropriate next actions on Friday are no longer appropriate today.

I just moved three quarters of my next actions to the SomeDay maybe list, replaced them with a couple that were appropriate, and back came the energy and the speed.

I just did my weekly review Friday, so it sure doesn't take long for direction to change. A good reason to keep the next action list as short as possible.

Rob ]]> Getting Things Done ArcCaster http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8521 Up-To-Date MLO vs AP Comparison? http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8520&goto=newpost Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:38:55 GMT Just wondering if anyone has seen a recent comparison between My Life Organized and Achieve Planner? The two products have so many features now that I would like to see a review on where the gotchas are for each product instead of trying them out myself and not hitting some of those areas until it's too late and I've bought it.

If I look at their individual forums, there seems to be very little activity on the AP side. I wonder if it's beginning to lose steam vs MLO?

Thanks ]]> Gear, Gadgets, Software, and Toys dgorecki http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8520 How to mark actions as complete on paper? (ticky boxes or cross out?) http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8519&goto=newpost Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:15:54 GMT When you have a written to-do list on paper, how do you mark an action as complete? Do you cross out the entire line? Or add a checkmark? Or put a tickybox in front of every item in the list, so the tickyboxes for the completed ones get filled in?

My to-do lists look messy when there are many items, some completed and some incomplete, and I tend to rewrite them to clean them up, which is a loss of time if I had a cleaner way of marking which ones are complete and which ones still need me to consider doing them, a way to let me quickly scan the list and know what's going on visually.

Sonja ]]> Getting Things Done Sonja Elen Kisa http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8519 Members Only: Good to go to 50k ft http://www.davidco.com/connect/forum_view.php?t=8518 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:12:25 GMT Having been involved in an exeprience recently that reminded me of how "fast and fragile" life may be, I decided I needed some time at 50k ft. As a GTD coach and presenter I speak about 50k ft. usually 2-3 times pe... ]]> Member Success Stories dannybader http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8518 Members Only: Weekly Review Tip – breaking up the 3 stages http://www.davidco.com/connect/forum_view.php?t=8517 Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:47:22 GMT I was working with a client the other day and was reminded of a tip that Meg suggests in the Weekly Review cd packet (http://www.davidco.com/store/catalog/New-GTD-Weekly-Review-3-CD-Audio-Set-p-16361.php): The Weekly Review is broken down into 3 parts: “Get Clear, Get Current, and Get Creative”. In a perfect world we would be doing the appropriate amount of “daily defining/processing”, such that when we sit down to do our weekly review, the “Get Clear” part would take us only 15-20 minut... I was working with a client the other day and was reminded of a tip that Meg suggests in the Weekly Review cd packet:

The Weekly Review is broken down into 3 parts: “Get Clear, Get Current, and Get Creative”. In a perfect world we would be doing the appropriate amount of “daily defining/processing”, such that when we sit down to do our weekly review, the “Get Clear” part would take us only 15-20 minut... ]]> Julie Ireland http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8517 Growing numb to list http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8516&goto=newpost Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:45:01 GMT Hi there,

I'm new to GTD so please be gentle!

I'm using Outlook 2000 to process all my actions which means everything ends up on one list, divided by context (phone, PC, office etc.) However, I'm finding that because I work across different projects and these projects are all now mixed up, that I am growing numb to what appears to be one long list.

Can anyone give me any advise? I'm not sure if I should go back to basics and use paper lists because I find that, while this would keep everything separate, it might involve a lot of re-work following my weekly reviews with superiors.

Thanks for any advise you can give. ]]> Getting Things Done michaeljcooper http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8516