Streamlined Getting Things Done

Really enjoy reading all the personal productivity posts on Palm Addicts; I always learn a lot from you guys. I was always the mook who swore he’d never restrict himself by using a personal planner, never use a mobile phone—the fact that I’m posting on PA about Getting Things Done shows you how those resolutions are going.

I’ve used 3 personal management “systems” since the days when I was a college intern at The Franklin Covey Company & nearly knocked Stephen Covey out cold with a boom mike (My arms were tired & that guy can talk.) Still a big believer in the 7 Habits, but as a system, GTD has the right combination of simplicity and effectiveness that this father of 2/swimmer/writer/reader who works at a breakneck startup company needs to keep life on the rails.

Won’t hit you with all the details, but here are the main aspects of a fairly  streamlined system, based on vanilla Palm apps (used this for three years now):

Stuff, Next Actions, and Waiting For all go into 3 daily, recurring appointments (set at no particular time). Capturing ideas and “Stuff” is as easy as opening the calendar. Boss pops in and asks what my next actions are, I’ve got a fast and accurate answer.

Projects become individual Tasks in my Palm world. Also track Someday/Maybe as a Task.

References are entered as Memos. I see this as a library, really. Found it effective as well to archive completed Next Actions as a reference item in the library as well, for when the 360 review rolls around and the boss needs reminding about all the amazing things I’ve gotten done, thanks to this easy system and my ever-present, ever faithful Treo.