My Get Things Done List » Blog Archive » Moleskine and Me: A Quest for a Mind Like Water [Productivity in Context]

Moleskine and Me: A Quest for a Mind Like Water [Productivity in Context]

Today we are pleased to have a guest-post from Phil Stanoch, the editor of A Better Life, Every Day. Through personal development and personal productivity articles, A Better Life, Every Day aims to help people make each new day better than the day before.

Over the years, I’ve tried many different techniques/philosophies for getting organized and getting work done. I’ve used many different types of paper organizers and software on different PDAs in an attempt to ensure that I was getting everything done that I needed to do. While I’ve had some success with these various tools, none of them ever really “stuck”.

That all changed a couple of years ago when I had the good fortune, through work, to attend a three-day training course on Getting Things Done taught by Jason Womack. To say that the GTD training course improved my life would be an understatement. While I still have some work to do on my GTD implementation, my productivity has gone up and my stress level has gone down. While reading various GTD-related blogs, I discovered the Moleskine, and I decided to add a ruled, pocket Moleskine to my productivity arsenal.

My Moleskine comes just about everywhere with me, whether at work or outside of work. While I use my Treo to house my Calendar and Task lists, my Moleskine is a repository for everything. Along with my Cross Tech3 (black pen, red pen, & pencil in one) I use it to:

Write out any thoughts, ideas, or feelings I may have. Since I always have my Moleskine and pen with me, I am able to capture any thought or idea that I deem important at the time. I will either develop these thoughts and ideas further at the moment, or when I have time later, I sit down and expand upon them. I also note any tasks that I may need to complete at a later time.

Write out my Most Important Tasks every morning. I usually write out 3-5 tasks that I want to accomplish throughout the day, and I immediately begin to work on the first one. As I complete a task, I check it off with my red pen, and move on to the next task. Using the red pen makes it stand out, and gives me a great feeling of accomplishment as I review it throughout the day.

Keep meeting notes when I meet with someone face-to-face or over the phone. This works well for me because I can refer back to these notes whenever I need to, no matter where I am.

Create mind maps for some of my projects. For instance, I created a mind map about this blog post a few days ago when Stephen first told me he was giving me the opportunity to write it. I’ve referred to it and added to it multiple times this week when using my Moleskine for another purpose.

Create checklists projects I am involved with or with events I am attending. Having the checklist helps prevent that nagging thought that I am forgetting something. There is nothing that ruins an event more for me than constantly thinking about what I may have forgotten. With my checklist, I am able to ensure that I am fully prepared.

In addition, I add my own notations, in red, to many of the things that I write down. This makes it much easier to find various things when I review my Moleskine weekly. Some of the notations I use are:

A checkbox for tasks that I need to complete

A check mark for tasks that I have completed

A star for those things that I deem very important

The word “blog” for ideas for my blog posts

The acronym “TDS” for the things that I want To Do Someday. These are later added to my Life List

Discovering, and then using, my Moleskine has definitely helped increase my productivity. It has also helped clear my mind so that I have more time to think about deeper, more important things. Since I am not always in “fire fight” mode, I am much more relaxed, and I have found that I am enjoying life more than ever.