How do you start with GTD? [What's the next action]
Recently I got a lot of the same question: I read the book, got my folders, got my labeller, the works. Now HOW do I start? Where do I start?
Somehow I seem to get stuck, not get going very good with being GTD.
Interesting question. Especially because there is not one answer I think.
Because everybody has their own specific problems. For instance, maybe your actionlist is not made up of individual actions, but
little projects. Maybe you are afraid to really get everything out of your head
and into an objective system (I know I am sometimes). So I turn to my valued
readers. If you are already into GTD, what was the one thing that got you
started? And if you are still struggling to get started, what is it your
struggling with? Let me be the first to give an answer: How did I start with
GTD?
Once I read the book I had the same problem. Where do I start? I found myself
trying to get everything into one system, trying every sort of software. But
still, little projects and actions fell through the cracks of an incomplete
system. So I tried it step by step. At work, I started using the GTD addin for
Outlook and committed myself to try to get an empty inbox every week. I also
tried to do a Weekly Review at set times. This is still the hardest part for me
(as described in this article) and I found out by doing mini-reviews, you also
cover 90% of your work. I do a big review once every 2-3 weeks. I do want to go
back to the weekly review since it feels better. But workload and other
priorities almost leave me no choice than to do otherwise.
I don't use the GTD Outlook Addin anymore. We have a companywide system now
called eSynergy and it has some GTD-like capabilities. It's basically a big
projectmanagement system with lots of bells and whistles. I can track my current
projects, tasks and I can organize my files in it, like email correspondence and
Word files. We are still working on this system to really make it our own but
we're getting there.
At home, I just made sure I had every open loop in some sort of system. I
have a plastic inbox on a shelf (Thanks to Pascal Venier for the
picture) at home where everything gets thrown in. Mail, bills, loose papers,
receipts. That's how I started. And once a week, every mondaynight, I process
that Inbox. Most of the times it's all financial and administrative work so
after processing I go directly into doing our budgetplanning and administrative
work. All the other "stuff" in this Inbox just gets processed and organized
accordingly into my system. I tried different systems and all stopped using them. You can read why I stopped in this article.
The last couple of months I used ThinkingRock as my system. Great application if you are on 1 computer. But
lately I see myself switching more and more between my own laptop and the
Macbook Pro we have at home. For instance, I have some Next Actions where I want
to learn more on the Mac with programs like Quicksilver. I also found out I do miss the mobile access to
my actions and Inbox. I don't use it everyday but every once in a while it would
have been handy to have my lists with me. Ofcourse ThinkingRock offers a
printversion but trying this for a couple of weeks really didn't get me going. I
am becoming more and more a digital nomad and paper is just a means to get from
thought to action. I use paper to jot down ideas and URL's I see around me. I
put them in my system and the paper is gone. So at this moment I am switching to
Nozbe. I will try it
for at least one month and see how it works and feels for me. I will keep you
posted on the developments ofcourse!
Now don't think this plastic Inbox is my only Inbox. I have two more which
are my Gmail-account and my Autohotkey-textfile. I use this one to get thoughts, ideas and
other stuff out of my head into 1 (ONE!) system as fast as possible. You can
read more about this ubiquitous capturetool in an earlier article.
These are the first steps I took to get started with GTD. A plastic Intray,
an appointment on every mondaynight with myself and some spare time at work to
get things going.
If I should give one tip: Get an empty head and Inbox as fast as possible.
Get everything out of your head on loose paper or in a textfile. Start at the
bottom of your email Inbox and keep thinking at every mail: Is it actionable?
Yes or No?
Please, share your tips and stories with the rest of us. How did YOU get
started with GTD after reading the book or listening the CD's?
(Photo: by Kogakure with Creative Commons License)
Original post here: Rob
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