Revisiting Resolutions (Part 1 of 5)
Well, it’s been a little over a month since I posted my resolutions for the new year. As such, I figured it was about time to revisit them and see how well or how poorly I’m doing on them. I could just worry about it personally, but I figure posting it on the internet for everyone to see is a nice way of keeping me accountable. Since my responses and updates on each resolution may get a little lengthy, I’m going to break my resolution recap into a series of shorter posts spread out over the week. So let’s get started:
1) Better implement a GTD strategy for managing my life:
This is probably the resolution I’ve been working the hardest towards and most successfully on. I’m a fairly organization-centered person, so it was less of a chore and more of a freeing experience. I’ve been working within David Allen‘s ’43 Folders’ system.
I’m not going to go completely into my implementation of the system because it is a bit excessive for the average person, but I’ll give you a brief overview. ‘Basically’ I’m utilizing Cultured Code’s ‘Things‘ application to manage my ‘tickler’ file. This then has redundancy in a physical file drawer that sits next to my desk and in web form using 37 Signals’ ‘Basecamp‘ web app for managing from my iPhone. I use these three to manage and schedule the ‘projects’ in my life. When it comes to managing all the task lists within those ‘projects’, I’m using OmniGroup’s ‘OmniFocus‘ application which is then redundant across 37 Signals’ ‘Ta-Da Lists‘ web app for managing from my iPhone. See what I mean about being excessive to the average person?
So far I’ve been extremely successful in capturing and cataloging all the things that have to get done in my life. Unfortunately, having started my third job a few weeks ago, I am not able to process my lists as fast as I’d like to. What’s great about the system though, is that it allows me to schedule, review, shift, and change my priorities around without getting stressed out over everything that needs to get done. While I might have thirty or so tasks within the system, each day I’m only dealing with the tasks that have been moved to that folder. This gives me an effective list of only two to five tasks for any given day. It’s a great thing and I’m happy I’ve been able to get going on this.
posted by Christopher Schnese
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Amazing. You have got to be the most organized person I know….now. I’ve always wanted to be better organized and will look at some of these applications you have listed here. Isn’t it time consuming using all these different applications?
The initial setup take a bit of time, but once it’s going, it’s actually pretty self sufficient. I check the file once in the morning, once before I go to sleep, and then whenever I complete or have time to complete something on the lists. It’s not bad at all.