Time Unknown (Entries tagged as gtd)

The siren song of closed formats

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:19:13 +0200

LifeBalance seems like a really great Palm GTD application. Really yummy and pretty much perfect for my needs. It even has the nice nested places that I have been wanting to see in a Getting Things Done app. However, LifeBalance is proprietary software and does not seem to allow exporting of any kind, at all. That means, once you are in, you are really in, probably fenced in and stuck. Damn you pretty LifeBalance.

Foolscap for my GTD reference system

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:18:04 +0200

After intensive searched for A4 manila file folders (the non-suspending kind) for my GTD reference system, it suddenly dawned to me. I don't need A4 manila folders, which are almost impossible to find. The mysterious word I had ran into over and over again "foolscap" did not refer to the edge of the folder, like I had assumed, but to the size. And the foolscap, sizewise, is the size almost designed to take A4 papers.

Yey! Armed with this knowledge I could find the folders I need for less than £4 per 100 (if I settle for quite thin kraft folders) or around £35 per 100 if I want the fancy, heavyduty, coloured version made by a well-known brand. Granted, I have not yet inquired about the shipping.

The folder you don't want

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 13:47:22 +0200

When revamping my GTD setup last week, I discovered a monster. The scary creature in question was a folder titled 'Other actionable' and it was full of stuff. When I looked at the contents, my fears turned out to be true: it was stuff I hadn't looked at since filing it into that folder. Uh oh.

Luckily none of the contents were really important, but now I am a less-than-proud owner of 15 4 euro exercise coupons that will expire on Monday. I'm considering getting a 10 session gym card to Motivus with them.

The ellipsis of undoability

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 11:02:02 +0300

I have noticed that the fastest way to make an action or project feel undoable is by adding an ellipsis. In a way ellipsis is the very symbol of undefined and unfinished and should have no place in GTD projects or next actions.

GTD - doing things that are in the system

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 12:12:19 +0200

If you use GTD, do you do what you want to do, keeping your next actions and projects in mind? Or do you try to only do the things that are in your system?

I think latter can work well if you allow some vague projects like "have fun with the spouse". Currently I still have some things I do from outside the system but I'm aiming to have at least a vague someday-maybe project for even the really spontagneous things.

Simpleology review (unaffiliated)

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:34:00 +0200

I have been an avid user of Getting Things Done but decided to give Simpleology a try despite the fact that all reviews I found about it were glowing reviews by affiliated people.

Simpleology 101 is a free course that promises increased productivity.

When I wrote the first version of this review I had just finished day 18 for the first time. Yes, in Simpleology 101 they want you to go over all 18 lessons a second time right away, with slightly different exercises. I must admit Iam not enjoying taking 18 days to repeat it, despite thinking that Simpleology 101 was rather nice free offering.

There were things I liked and things I did not like about Simpleology 101, and the main thing I was looking for is just not there.

Likes
+ Writing down goals
Simpleology is very focused on the importance of knowing what you want and tells you to write down one long term, one medium term and one short term goal. Simpleology calls those targets. Doing this can be very helpful for a Getting Things Done person who feels that they are getting much done but not getting anywhere in their life.

+ Energetic Daily Target Praxis
Every morning of a Simpleology person starts with Daily Target Praxis. In course of the Praxis you are supposed to imagine reaching your targets and how that feels. This can be a very positive way to start a day and reminds you what you really want in life.
During the Praxes you are also supposed to pay attention to things that waste your time or energy and think about ways to remove those things from you life. You are also told to look for things that increase your time efficiency or your energy and find ways to have those more in your life. I noticed that I was drinking too little water and that gathering errands to be done in one go makes my day more efficient.

+ Productivity
By starting my day with focused action I do get more done than before.

Dislikes
- Often feels very focused on selling Simpleology 102
Unlike Simpleology 101, Simpleology 102 is not free. They try to sell you Simpleology 102 before you have even seen Simpleology 101. And when it comes to writing down your targets, they tell you your medium term goal is finishing Simpleology 102.

- Paperheavy
Targets, daily targets and observations are all kept on paper and doing the Daily Target Praxis requires copying your notes from one paper to another. This felt annoying to a Palm using, treehugging GTDer like me. Simpleology would benefit much from a piece of software for that task. The copying also makes the system vulnerable to copying errors. More than once I have noticed something is missing from my daily targets because I have accidentally skipped over a line.

-Requires remembering
The system seems to assume you will remember everything you have to do the morning you start doing the Daily Target Praxis. There is no gathering of inputs into your system. If you do not remember what you need to do when you are already done with your Daily Target Praxis, according to the system that can always wait until all your daily targets are done.

- Assumes you do not have a job which can have emergencies
Simpleology tells you to wait till answering your phone and reading your emails until your daily targets are done. Most of us do not have jobs or lives that make that possible.

Missing
Daily target praxis reminds you of the targets, but does not much help you to fill your daily targets with things that support your long term targets.

At the moment I feel hesitant about buying Simpleology 102 for two reason. One, I am reading a very promising book on personal finances already, and two, I have seen so may affiliate things for Simpleology and I have a nagging feeling that Simpleology 102 will tell me to participate in that.

Unique is good

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:46:47 +0200

If you go through the trouble of making a podcast, please do give the episodes unique* filenames instead of naming the file the same and putting them into unique subdirectories.

At least Juice/ipodder cannot deal with episodes that have the same filename. Personal music players can also have trouble dealing with 15 files all called download.mp3, forcing the user to either rename them or put them into separate directories.

Ironically, I ran into this problem with 43folders podcast, otherwise very excellent podcast on Getting Things Done and personal productivity. I hope it will return to the good habit of unique filenames soon.

*) Unique here does not need to mean unique in the whole world. As long as all the episodes in a single podcast have filenames different from each other, things are quite fine.

Capturing everything

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:21:00 +0200

For about 5 times already I have thought I have captured all my inputs into my Getting Things Done system but then always something more comes to my mind. My latest discovery was that my browser bookmarks file still needs to be waded through in search for things that need to be in my system. I'm close though, and it feels good.

"The world is my widget!"