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My GTD Implementation

For GTD to work, you must find a way to implement your own organizing system that you can trust. You must trust your system for it to work. If you think that your system might not be good enough for capturing all the stuff that gets your attention, it won’t be successful.
You must free your mind from the task of remembering everything that you need to do, and focus on actually doing those things.
So I have built myself my own PDA, Hipster PDA that is. Even if it sounds like something highly technologic and expensive, it isn’t. It’s just a bunch of index cards and a binder clip to hold them together. Maintaining lists on these index cards it’s all you have to do. You can have an index card for each context.
For example I have the following cards:
  • @Work – list of next action items that revolve around the “work” context
  • @Home – self explanatory
  • @Calls and Emails – list with calls I have to make and emails I have to write
  • @Agenda – actions that depend on other people (meetings,
  • @Someday/Maybe – list of things and projects that I don’t have time right now but want to do them some day
  • @Projects List – list of projects I’m in at the moment (personal or work projects, books that I read etc.)
  • @Skills – list of skills I want to be better at (it’s good to keep an eye on this in order not to forget what is you’re trying to be better at)
  • @Shopping – self explanatory
  • @Inbox – if any of the ideas, tasks, issues I’m encountering cannot be rapidly integrated in one of the previous lists this is where it lands (the Inbox) till the next review.
This system would not work if it wouldn’t be reviewed periodically, this means at least once a week, preferably on Friday, but can be other day as well.
Every time I get done one action item from one of the lists, I check it and move to the next action item that can be done in that context.
For example on the @Home card you could have the next list:
  • take out the garbage
  • clean windows
  • read 10 pages from “Pragmatic Programmer”
  • draft ideas regarding “Expenses Project” Plan
  • burn music selection on DVD.
When you reach home, the system tells you, what action items you can get done in this context. So after cleaning windows you check it as “DONE”. After that move to the next action item that you have time and mood to do. That’s it.

Comments

Anonymous said…
that sounds interesting enough.. a must have, i might say.
10:52 AM
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