Ask Readers: How to get started on Getting Things Done?

ryan says on July 9th, 2005 at 12:08 am

I too would be interested in hearing this. I’m already wrinting every task up in tasktoy (http://www.tasktoy.com).

I’m already planning on buying the book, but would love to hear comments before hand.

Shoe-Girl says on July 9th, 2005 at 5:14 am

When I come into my store in the morning (little shoe store in NY), I need some motivation, so I usually look for something new or fun to do first. Once I get into the work mood – sorting pairs of boots, putting away the fur Uggs until next year, etc. I find I can just keep going. It’s that first bit that’s so hard. When you’re in the swing of things, I find that momentum carries me along.

Organizer says on July 9th, 2005 at 5:47 am

I am a professional organizer! MetropolitanOrganizing.com

1. Are looking for “time shavers” (daily things that need to be done quickly)or do you have a huge project that you need help with?

2. Do you need help managing your time or things?

3. Are your bills paid on time?

4. Do you lose things (keys, glasses, documents) on a regular basis?

5. Is your calendar (assuming you keep one) electronic or paper?

6. Do you have filing system?

7. Have you ever been diagnosed with a reading/learning/behavior problem?

8. Are you a visual, kinesthetic, or audio learner?

9. What is the earliest time of the day that you can function well?

10. What is the latest time of the day that you can function well?

Tim says on July 9th, 2005 at 8:05 pm

Read this Getting Things Done Lunch & Learn. The whole GTD methodology is summarized there.

You do not have to focus too much on tools initially for Getting Things Done. If you can apply the method correctly, all you need is a piece of paper and some paper folders.

Arnout says on July 9th, 2005 at 9:05 pm

Well, that was my question in the post….
At the moment I’m mostly struggling to get my Outlook and iPAQ set up to be used. I guess having all notes/lists etc. digital makes it easier to search and archive (etc.). And since I have the d*rn thing, I would like to use it… :-)

But when searching the internet all I can find are applications for either Mac OS or for use with a Palm organizer (as it appears to can categorize notes….). No tools for Windows machines and/or PocketPCs. I just found Pocket Informant and that seems to be doing the (best) trick so far, but I am still struggling to find an optimal way of using it.
Any ideas (or experiences) on how to implement GTD digitally on a Windows based system?

Also I am still trying to develop a good list of daily and weekly routines (like a ‘cleaning the house’-list, a ‘get up and what to do next’-list), but that’s getting along quite well.

ryan says on July 10th, 2005 at 2:27 am

Arnout ,

Check out http://www.tasktoy.com and this post (has two web-based applications): http://www.lifehack.org/articl.....-list.html

Or are you looking for offline application? I prefer to keep my things online. This way I can access them everywhere. Well.. almost everywhere.

Usara Howden says on July 11th, 2005 at 6:34 am

I did a lot of struggling too, but found that a set of nextactioncards(www.nextactioncards.com) got me right into the system, and more importantly keeps me into the system since it has made it very easy to add new tasks, organize them, and to do reviews.

Usara H.

Tim says on July 11th, 2005 at 11:36 pm

Arnout,

Have you look at the screenshots on how to setup GTD for Pocket Informant 2005?

For free paper template for GTD, try Hipster index card setup or D*I*Y Planner Hipster PDA.

Tim

Arnout says on July 13th, 2005 at 2:42 am

Hi Tim,
Thanks! I had seen this a while ago. I guess before I tried Pocket Informant in all. But having another look really helps me understand the potential of the tool. I guess I can configure it totally ‘GTD’!

Ruth says on July 13th, 2005 at 3:48 am

Has anyone tried the Audiobook version rather than paper one? I see it’s available at the iTunes store and it would certainly save time to listen to it on my iPod while in transit rather than have to read the book.

Keith in Tokyo says on July 13th, 2005 at 3:59 pm

Ruth, I have both the GTD audiobook and the Ready for Anything audiobook. I think they’re great, but the GTD audiobook is abridged and therefore necessarily misses some of the stuff in the book. (I bought the book too, after listening to the audiobook.) If I had it to do over again, I’d just buy the GTD paper book and then get the Ready for Anything audiobook, because Ready for Anything has bite-sized bits of advice which you can listen to in any order.

Bruce says on August 3rd, 2005 at 9:27 am

Amout,

I found what looks like an excellent piece of software for Windows here:

http://www.dogmelon.com.au/ns/GTD_google.shtml

Matthew Cornell says on October 6th, 2005 at 5:54 am

I found that I needed the 100% capture (buy-in) to get the stress relief benefits. If you’re interested, I wrote up my implementation story (http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2.....with.html), in case you want to take a look.

mattt

Michael@ Awareness * Connection says on August 10th, 2008 at 8:24 pm

I think the combo of capturing all your ideas in places you can collect them easily, and carry with you, and identifying “next actions” the next physical action that anything you have to do entails is enough to get almost anyone off and running. The beauty of the system is freeing up your psychic RAM from all the swirling minutia to make room for creativity and flexible thinking. Just experimenting with this is can make a tremendous difference. It can be adopted on its own—all GTD skills can be used separately—or you may wish to continue building your skills set to really get close to the ideal of “effortless productivity”,

Good luck on your journey.