I want  you know that since I have returned to GTD (over 2 months now), I have joined GTD Connect and listened to 38 podcasts out of the 145 from Connect that I have downloaded to my iPhone.  I cannot begin to tell you how much they have helped and inspired me. Hearing you, David, Meg and others patiently go over and over the concepts, pitfalls, suggestions, etc. have helped more than anything.  I not only feel like I have an intellectual grasp of the concepts, but I feel part of a support group that will be there with me over the long haul.  I actually feel a personal connection with you, David and Meg especially.  Plus, I am hearing it….really hearing it….if you know what I mean…..

The first time I got into GTD was a couple of years ago.  I did not sign up for Connect.  I didn’t do weekly reviews.  I did not use all the support available.  I ended up with lots of un-reviewed lists and everything back in my head along with all the chaos.  When I surrendered a couple of months ago, it was a deep surrender.  I am definitely “ALL IN.”

GTD Connect holds the world’s largest library of GTD podcasts, documents and articles.  Note: Podcasts are only an option for monthly or annual members (not free trial participants.  But the free trial will allow you to watch or listen to them on the site.)

(I suggest you copy and paste into your word processor, and customize it for yourself. If you have a boat, go fishing regularly, or have other special kinds of trips, you might want a separate checklist for those. I used to additionally have a “take to boat” checklist, when I was sailing regularly.)

David Allen’s Travel Checklist

UNDERWEAR
SOCKS
SUITS
TIES
DRESS SHIRTS
SLACKS
CASUAL PANTS
BELTS
DRESS SHOES
JEANS
SPORT BELT
SNEAKERS
T-SHIRTS

TOILETRY KIT

HAIR DRYER
GLASSES
SUNGLASSES

ALARM CLOCK
UMBRELLA

BOTTLED WATER

GLOVES
OVERCOAT
CUFFLINKS

RUNNING SHORTS
RUNNING SHIRTS
RUNNING SHOES
RUNNING SUIT
RUNNING GLOVES
EAR MUFFS
BATHING SUIT
SWIM GOGGLES

MOCCASINS
SANDALS

SWEATERS
JACKETS
SCARVES
SLIPPERS
SHORTS

SUN LOTION
BUG SPRAY

STATIC SPRAY
TOTE BAG
IRON
STEAMER
SHOE RUBBERS
HANDKERCHIEFS
TENNIS BALL
NECK & BACK SUPPORTS
CLOTHES BAG
CLOTHESPINS

COMPUTER
AC CHARGER CORD
DC POWER CORD
DICTATION GEAR
HANDHELD CHARGER
IR KIT for POWERPOINT

CELL PHONE
PHONE BATTERIES
PHONE CHARGER

BATTERIES – AAs & AAAs
EARPHONES

BRIEFCASE
PACK
KEYS

TICKETS
CLIENT INFO
CITY INFO
UPGRADE CERTIFICATES
MAPS
MISC. READING

OVERHEADS
MARKER PENS
BUSINESS CARDS
PROMO MATERIALS
WRITING PAD
MODULE PADS (xtra?)
ENVELOPES
PETTY CASH ENVELOPE
IN-TRAY
COACHING SUPPLIES (LABELER, LAMINATES)
AIRLINE CARDS/UPGRADES

CAMERA – 35mm/Pocket
FILM
BINOCULARS

HANDLED?
PRINT OFF THE WEB
PHONE SILENCED
WEATHER CHECKED
CAR RENTAL
CAR P/U ARRANGED
COMPUTER BACKED UP
LOTUS NOTES REPLICATED
HANDHELD  SYNCED
TICKLER FILE FORWARDED
SPRINKLERS
CASH

International

PASSPORT
ADAPTERS
FOREIGN LANGUAGE BOOK

When Google unveiled Buzz a few weeks ago (and Wave a couple of months before that), it got me to thinking about how the emergence of each new technology often means an associated emergence of a new inbox.

These new inboxes now can sometimes creep up without us noticing right away. For example, when I got an iPhone in 2007, texting suddenly became a major new source of input. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a self-professed “Geek Girl” — it’s not like I didn’t have a phone capable of texting before 2007. I did. But, it was rather clunky and I didn’t use it often. Most people I knew didn’t use it much (I’m a Gen Xer, so we don’t text as profusely as those Gen Y youngins do). Once I got an iPhone, texting was suddenly dead simple. Once my PARENTS got iPhones…good night. Suddenly I was getting texts from my Baby Boomer dad (“Hi, honey!” “Did you get that?” “Is this working?”)

As part of one’s GTD Weekly review, it can be useful to also monitor the landscape for new collection areas that may have cropped up. Because I work in the internet technology realm, I need to do this more often than others (like, every few weeks). For muggles, quarterly or even annually may be enough. Below is a list of new collection areas to watch out for. In an upcoming Connect webinar I’ll share some of my strategies for dealing with them, and talk about some inboxes I’m struggling with right now.

Digital Inboxes
- Email
- Text Messages
- Instant Messages
- Blog Comments: your own blog, blogs you contribute to, or posts you are monitoring
- Twitter: people you are following, @replies, direct messages
- Yammer: Yammer is a private version of Twitter, often used inside companies. (My company is experimenting with this right now.)
- Social Bookmarking: e.g. Delicious
- RSS Feeds
- LinkedIn: Updates, Answers, Group discussions
- Facebook: Friends you are following, Comments, Messages
- Discussion Boards and Forums
- Google Wave: My brain is melting…
- Google Buzz: My head has exploded.

Goal
My goal is to have as many collection areas as I need, but no more.

Strategies
My strategy is to aggregate as many inputs into my email inbox as possible. I do this for a few reasons: 1. it simplifies processing and tracking because I’m already in the habit of checking and emptying that inbox regularly (I aim for Inbox 0 once a day) and 2. budgers piss me off.

Budgers
One of my issues with all these new inboxes cropping up is that it reminds me of standing in a long line at a store when the phone rings. How the store handles the call says a lot. If they deal with the call while everyone else waits, it makes you think — damn, I wish I could have called. I’d be at the front of this line! If they put them on hold, and deal with them as if they *were* in line — it somehow feels better. More fair.

My attention is the same way. Every one of the inboxes I listed above is constantly jostling with the others to get my attention. Each one thinks they’re more important than the others. They all try to budge in front of the others in line. All the time. When someone instant messages me, I have to get back to them this instant, right?! Wrong.

I try to be careful about who and what I allow to budge in line for my attention. Letting some things budge isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is a bad thing if I’m allowing myself to get distracted by stuff that I don’t want to be distracted by. If I’m letting my brain be led around on a leash that I’m not controlling, how do I know it falls in line with any of my own projects and goals?

It’s basically a “You kids get off my lawn!!!” approach.

Approach
Aggregating everything into email is not for everyone; I have co-workers who think I’m insane. But, I don’t want to have to remember to go to 10 different places to see if there’s anything I need to deal with. I like launching Mail and knowing that 90% of what I need to deal with is represented there. For some people, this would be crazy-making, but I’ve gotten used to receiving massive amounts of email so it doesn’t stress me out anymore. I’ve also gotten good at processing email very, very quickly. In my experience, this is not so much about learning keyboard shortcuts or being a fast reader as it is about making decisions quickly. Over time, I’ve practiced how to decide what to do about things in my inboxes very quickly.

I’ve added a question to the very end of my weekly review. I don’t look at it every week, but every so often I do: “Are there any new sources of input that have cropped up? Any new “inboxes”? How are you handling and managing those inputs?”

Meghan Wilker is a regular community contributor to GTD Times.  She’s also been featured in David Allen’s In Conversation series on GTD Connect, spotlighting some of the most fascinating people in our network of GTD’ers around the world.

Want to see more videos of David? Check out GTD Connect.

As a GTD Coach, and also intimately involved in the education and offerings from David Allen, I would suggest one of the following products:

The GTD System – This is, in my opinion, one of the best educational products we offer.  You get a ton of resources to learn GTD at your own pace.  You get the GTD book, coaching CDs with David Allen, GTD Connect and more. Good stuff.

GTD Live – If you like to learn by listening, then this is for you.  It’s David presenting the full two-day GTD seminar.  Follow along as if you are in the audience. I’d personally love to see a video version of this as well, being more visual than auditory in my own learning style. But it’s a fantastic resource to learn directly from DA.

The Getting Started Series – GTD Connect has a 16-part Getting Started series. It walks you through all of the key topics of GTD and includes audio and video of David and the coaches chatting about the best practices.  A great way to get up and running in bite -sized chunks.

…and if any of those don’t do it for you, go back to the original manual for GTD: the book.  Can’t go wrong. After all these years, I still find new pearls of wisdom in it, but then again, I love this stuff.  Of course, seminars and coaching are the crown jewels, but as far as products you can do at your own pace, the list above is where I would start.

Cheers,

Kelly

more about me…

OK, so what you should really be keeping?  This is a standard records retention list that we got a few years ago from our accounting firm in California. There may be better ones out there, or more specific to your location. It should in no way constitute final judgment for your own accounting and record-keeping. We’ve heard that it is quite a grey area, and can differ from state to state.  It might help with some general guidelines, however.

Type and Retention Period (years)
Accident reports and claims (settled cases)— 7
Accounts payable ledgers and schedules— 7
Accounts receivable ledgers and schedules— 7
Audit reports of accountants— permanently
Bank reconciliation— 1
Capital stock and bond records; ledgers, transfer registers, stubs showing issues, record of interest coupons, options, etc..— permanently
Cash books— permanently
Chart of Accounts— permanently
Checks (canceled but see exception below)— 7
Checks; canceled for important payments, i.e. taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc..— permanently
Contracts and leases (expired)— 7
Contracts and leases still in effect— permanently
Correspondence (routine) with customers and vendors— 1
Correspondence (general)— 3
Correspondence (legal and important matters only)— permanently
Deeds, mortgages, and bills of sale— permanently
Depreciation schedule— permanently
Duplicate deposit slips— 1
Employee personnel records (after termination)— 3
Employment applications— 3
Expense analyses and expense distribution schedules— 7
Financial statements (end of yr. other months optional)— permanently
General and private ledgers (and end of yr. trial balances)— permanently
Insurance policies (expired)— 3
Insurance records, current accident reports, claims, policies— permanently
Internal audit reports— 3
Internal reports (misc.)— 3
Inventories of products, materials, and supplies— 7
Invoices to customers— 7
Invoices from vendors— 7
Journals— permanently
Minute books of directors and stockholders— permanently
Notes receivable ledgers and schedules— 7
Option records (expired)— 7
Payroll records and summaries, including payments to pensioners— 7
Petty cash vouchers— 3
Physical inventory tags— 3
Plant cost ledgers— 7
Property appraisals by outside appraisers— permanently
Property records including costs, depreciation reserves, end of year trial balances, depreciation schedules, blueprints and plans— permanently
Purchase orders (except purchasing dept copy)— 1
Purchasing orders (purchasing dept copy)— 7
Receiving sheets— 1
Requisitions— 1
Sales Records— 7
Savings bond registration records of employees— 3
Scrap and salvage records (inventories, sales etc)— 7
Stenographers notebooks— 1
Stock and bond certificates (canceled)— 7
Subsidiary ledgers— 7
Tax returns and worksheets, revenue agents reports and other documents relating to determination of income tax liability— permanently
Time books— 7
Trade mark registrations— permanently
Voucher register and schedules— 7
Vouchers for payments to vendors, employees, etc.. (includes allowances and reimbursement of employees, officers, etc.. for travel and entertainment expenses)— permanently

Account and $ numbers- credit card #s, PIN #s, etc. (make sure wherever you keep these, it is safe and secure.)
Affirmations- personal self-talk scripts for positive internal programming.
Basic personal numbers (self and family members)- drivers license, social security, insurance policies, Whatever you may need for yourself and others when filling out forms. (Again, make sure wherever you keep these, it is safe and secure.)
Birthdays- (if you don’t put them on your digital calendar system), group by date, as reviewable (those during a month, put in tickler for that month, etc.)
Borrowed stuff- things you’ve loaned folks and might care to get back someday.
Checklists- Travel, Take sailing…, Personal New Habits to Create, etc.
Gifts- organized by people and/or a general list of neat things to buy for others. Great for birthdays, ad-hoc niceness, and holidays.
Ideas I don’t know what to do with, now that I’ve had them…- we all have them, and they don’t fit anywhere except in an “they don’t fit anywhere” place.
Jokes- the current ones that you’d like to get some more mileage out of (but damn! they disappear out of our brain so fast.)
Might wanna buy…- could be one mega-list, or (more commonly) grouped by the type of thing it is: cds, wines, books, videos.
Might wanna do when…- possibilities when you’re in a certain location or doing a certain activity. By city, country, or region (things to do/think about when I’m in Napa Valley, London, Santiago.) Or by activity (Web surfing places to visit.)
Might wanna do with…- if you’re into any animate or inanimate objects: my kids, my spouse, my dogs, my piano, my woodcarving tools, my garden, my computer.
Previous addresses and employers- keep at least your last three. (What a pain when you have to supply them and you don’t have them!)
Quotes- quotes I’d like to see again from time to time.
Restaurants- for business or pleasure, to review for ideas instead of same-old same-old.
Style or product numbers I may need when I’m buying things- oil filter, vacuum cleaner bags, labeler cassettes, etc.
Tips/Shortcuts- speed-key codes, shortcut codes for new systems (voicemail, answering machine, pager, software apps, new Palm III, etc.) Any new skill set you’re learning can have a remind-me-about list specific to its features and activities until they are habitual and under your belt.
Vacation things to do- those things that you might like to do if you are into seriously doing nothing (take pictures, hike, hotels to stay in for a night, spa treatments, places to explore, etc.)

There are a few excellent resources from the David Allen Company for applying the GTD methods to your email:

1. The GTD Setup Guides, specific to your tool, will cover the best practices of email.
2. There is a terrific free article called “Getting Email Under Control” that covers this issue as well.
3. Our GTD Connect online learning center also runs regular Webinar classes on topics such as email. There is a Webinar in the Archive Library called “Managing Email” that you should find useful. GTD Connect is $48 per month (cancel anytime) or $480 per year (one-year commitment.)
4. Our public GTD Mastering Workflow classes cover email best practices.  These one-day classes are a great way to learn all of the GTD essentials, including email.
5. There are loads of posts on GTD Times on the topic of email. Search on the keyword “email” or follow the tag.

]]> http://www.gtdtimes.com/2010/03/04/tips-for-managing-email-with-gtd/feed/ 1 http://www.gtdtimes.com/2010/03/03/creating-a-network-of-gtders-in-your-organization/ http://www.gtdtimes.com/2010/03/03/creating-a-network-of-gtders-in-your-organization/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:00:45 +0000 GTD Times Team https://reports.davidco.com/admin1/gtdtimes/?p=3367 People ask us all the time how to get GTD to stick in their organization.  Here’s a great testimonial for how to build a network of GTD’ers:

David,

Just a quick note to let you know my company is still employing GTD and getting better at it!  We conversed a few years ago about a group we created at my business for people to implement and be accountable for creating their systems and establishing the habit of the Weekly Review…

Well…I am pleased to say we are still doing it!  And, we resurrected the group again in January, and this time there are 12 participants (voluntary of course).  I wanted to let you know some of the successes and insights we have had during this session.  
Several people who had been in the prior courses are in it again.  Many of these people who didn’t quite get to full implementation, I am pleased to say, now are really getting it!  One of the company’s biggest offenders (I use this term in good spirits) now proudly boasts he keeps his inbox empty on a regular basis, and boldly shares how powerful the Weekly Review is to the newcomers.

Many old-timers (again, in the fondest meaning possible—especially because I am one of them!) are finding the group to be useful to boost their systems and get fresh insight on ways to make their programs better.

We created a simple e-mail Blog too that let’s people share their successes and frustrations with the rest of the group.  Many people have chosen to screen-shot their inbox to show the others how it is now empty.  One new person in the group had over 12,000 emails in his inbox prior to beginning the group!

We have people phone conferencing in from their home offices in various places throughout the country too…

The group lasts for 10 weeks, and we started it just after the first of the year—which I found really taps into peoples desire to start the year off with a clean slate.  The group is completely voluntary, and I sent out announcements to the company a month in advance, as well as several times just before—encouraging them to just show up, with no expectation that they have to do everything that we are doing.  The only requirement really is to commit to being a part of the group for the entire 10 weeks.  We even opened it up to family members and friends, of which my sister is a part of the group.

Many of us have purchased OmniFocus and have found it to be a really great tool.  I even bought a new Mac because I wanted to fully utilize my iPhone and OmniFocus…Obviously everyone in the group purchased a copy of your book too:)

I just wanted to share our progress with you.  It seems like yesterday I sat in my office over Valentines day and did my first mind dump.  Since then, which has to be at least 7 years ago, I am still utilizing GTD and it keeps getting better and better!  The old days of being unclear and feeling out of control seem like a distant, faint memory.  It feels even better to be supported by so many people close to me at my company.  And, I am so excited for all the participants in the group!  For them personally, because I know how powerful this stuff is, and for our company because I know how much more effective and ultimately profitable we will become as a result of it!

Thanks again for your support David!

Michael Goldberg

You’ll find more on creating a GTD culture, with input from David Allen, the Coaches and members, in our GTD Connect members-only Forums.

If you’re still searching for the best tools for your GTD implementation, be sure to check out our latest Productive Living newsletter.

Looking for motivation and coaching on the GTD Weekly Review?  Get the CD set. Includes Coach Meg Edwards walking you through a Guided Weekly Review.

• 50,000 – Purpose
• 40,000 – Vision
• 30,000 – Goals
• 20,000 – Responsibilities
• 10,000 – Projects
• Runway – Calendar & Actions

We got a letter from Mike who has been reading the Getting Things Done book and shared his experience with us of what David’s means by “keeping the runway clear.”

A few years ago, I took some classes in New York. A guy came in who had just finished a book on The Beatles–Bob Spitz. He talked to the class for maybe an hour or so about his writing. He managed a big name rock star band then wrote for Rolling Stone. One of the things that has stuck with me, these past few years, is that he said that he always needed the house to be clean before he could write. He said he’d Spic-n-Span the whole house/apartment/condo (whatever he had) before he’d write a word.

This comes to mind today because Chapter 9 goes back to the basics. David mentions Chapter 2 at least a couple times, so this is a “don’t forget” chapter. Specifically: don’t forget to keep the runway clear. For Bob, his runway was having nothing in his writing area that he could possibly construe as out of place. In fact, I’ve heard about a lot of writers that need everything clean before they write. At first, I thought the writer was always Bob, but it turns out that tidiness is an important state that keeps a lot of people from distraction.

I did my own cleaning today. I did in just a couple hours, what I haven’t been able to do in the past month: clear out all the junk from my ski trip and clearing a spot in the basement to write. I focused first on the end result; I need a clean area to write. Then I thought about what that clean area would be like. I decided that I needed a table, chair, and a computer. Moving my desktop seemed like a serious hassle, so I decided that my laptop would do fine. Once I knew what I wanted, it was easy to push aside what I didn’t need and set up a nice writing area.

DA: You’re trying to use your Inbox as your organizer, and that won’t work. You have to make the decision about the action step for each one of those, and organize the reminder of the action (if it’s longer than 2 minutes and can’t be delegated) in your system. That doesn’t take long.  Sounds like you’re avoiding the decision about what to do, or you don’t feel like you have any system better than your Inbox to sustain it.

One of the upcoming Webinars with David Allen on GTD Connect will be all about processing these kinds of things that seem to get stuck in the Inbox.  Thursday, March 11th @ 11am.  Free for GTD Connect members.

Sophisticated without being confining, the subtle effectiveness of GTD lies in its radically common sense notion that with a complete and current inventory of all your commitments, organized and reviewed in a systematic way, you can focus clearly, view your world from optimal angles and make trusted choices about what to do (and not do) at any moment. GTD embodies an easy, step-by-step and highly efficient method for achieving this relaxed, productive state. It includes:

• Capturing anything and everything that has your attention
• Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps
• Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on how and when you need to access them
• Keeping current and “on your game” with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)

Implementing GTD alleviates the feeling of overwhelm, instills confidence, and releases a flood of creative energy. It provides structure without constraint, managing details with maximum flexibility. The system rigorously adheres to the core principles of productivity, while allowing tremendous freedom in the “how.” The only “right” way to do GTD is getting meaningful things done with truly the least amount of invested attention and energy. Coaching thousands of people, where they work, about their work, has informed the GTD method with the best practices of how to work (and live), in that most efficient and productive way.

GTD’s simplicity, flexibility, and immediacy are its attraction. Its ability to enliven, enlighten, and empower is its magic. What, indeed, is GTD? More than meets the eye…

If you’re just getting GTD off the ground, there’s a terrific “starter kit” called the GTD System.

You can never get enough of what you don’t really need. And you can never work hard enough, long enough, or fast enough, to eliminate the stress or discomfort that drives those behaviors. Your Weekly Review brings a much-needed break in the pace.  -David Allen

Grab the free article on the GTD Weekly Review

Although they’ve been recorded for our GTD Connect online learning center, we have been posting the GTD Best Practices series to our free public podcast as well, for all to benefit from.  These informal podcasts are a great way to learn the essentials of GTD.  Here are the first 4 in the series.

Best Practices of Collect

Best Practices of Processing

Best Practices of Organize

Best Practices of Review

The final phase, the “Best Practices of Doing,” will be recorded in early March.  It will be released for GTD Connect members first, then put into the public podcast feed some time after that.  If you like these podcasts, GTD Connect has over 110 recordings like these, with more added every week, that you can play on the Connect site or  sync to iTunes.  It’s a great way to learn coaching tips from David and the staff, listen to interesting interviews with GTD’ers (Evan Taubenfeld being one of the recent ones), watch the “Slice of GTD Life” videos and more.  Good stuff.  Check out the free trial of GTD Connect.

GTD® Tweetup at CoCo Collaborative

Are you a fan of GTD? Do you have questions about what it’s all about? Come join us for the first GTD Tweetup in the Twin Cities. No matter if you have achieved mind like water or feel like you have water on the brain, all are welcome. Meet others in the area that are fans of GTD or just come hang out with us. It’s all going down at Honey Lounge, one of the hippest new venues in one of the coolest areas of Minneapolis.

Learn more…

Projects = Your outcomes that require more than one action step.

Next Actions = Your next physical, visible action steps. Some are project-related, some are not.

Question:

If a project requires, by your definition, at least two steps, I am not clear about how many of the needed steps to put into my action list.  For example, say I have a project with 20 steps.  I may be able to do the step 1, but if I had also put down 2  or 3 steps of that project, I might have done more on the project.   Presently I have about 57 projects, but some are monster projects I’ll be working on for months.  Others I can list two steps and it’s done very quickly.  A few projects are so trivial–but important enough to be listed–that some days I don’t do the one item I listed as the next step for that project.  I could put it into the “Someday” list, but I know I’ll do it sooner than that, so it stays around not being done.  I’d rather do step 2 and then 3 and then 4 of a more important project (I might be on a roll!) than complete one whole project that is easier to do but less important.  So I’m a bit unclear about how much of one project to put in my action list.  I find myself doing the “Weekly Review” every day, so I can add more steps from more important projects.  Could you share any thoughts about how to solve this concern?   

David Allen’s reply:

The key to your action lists is that you do not have to re-think what you can and cannot do at the moment, as you look at them. If you put sequential steps there, it dulls the attraction of engaging with the list to begin with.

If there’s a good chance that a project can be finished in one sitting, in one fell swoop, then probably best to label it simply a next action and put it on your action list.

The weekly review, thoroughly done, once a week, should be sufficient to prevent having to think at that level much more often.

Nothing wrong with getting on a roll with a project, doing action steps as they show up; just make sure you’re taking some sort of note that you can throw in your in-basket if you don’t finish, which will serve as a bookmark to determine the next action before too long.

You might listen to this podcast that I did with Kelly Forrister on my staff, talking about some of those same questions.  You’ll also find a ton of resources on GTD Connect on managing projects.

I am part of a team with five teammates who are not using GTD.  How do I handle the frustration within the lines of communication and organization/productivity?

David replied:

The more anyone around you is out of control, the more you need the GTD method! You can only be responsible for what YOU need to track about what THEY are supposed to be doing, and following up with them accordingly.  Waiting For and Agenda lists are great for this (chapter 7 of the Getting Things Done book describes both of these in detail.)  Of course, the more they get onto this method, the more they’ll be doing their part… but you’re going to have to manage yourself, no matter what.

The problem is not information overload, by David Allen

E-mail overload has gotten a lot of press lately – the quantity, the distraction it creates, and our inability to do much about it. There was even a recent debate in a global newspaper between readers voting for keeping e-mail at zero vs. those who use the digital in-basket as a giant library keeping useful information at hand with no concern for the volume. The issue is tied closely with the popular concern about our always-on culture – that we seem to never unhook from the incessant demands of being in touch, put upon us by our clients, our bosses and ourselves.

What’s the problem? There is one, but not the one that’s been popularized. “Information overload” has been the commonly identified culprit, coupled with universal access. That gives the picture of a mounting pile of stuff under which we are constantly and increasingly buried. And if incessant information bombardment is what we are trying to deal with, then help shows up as attempts to filter, sort and organize it faster and faster so we can feel in control of it.

But information overload isn’t the problem. If it was, you’d walk into a library and die. The first time you connected to the Web, you’d blow up, and merely browsing a newspaper would make you a nervous wreck. Actually, a plethora of information is relaxing. One reason a stroll in the woods can be so calming is because of the quantity and variety of visual and auditory input. In an environment of too little information, we get really uncomfortable. Sensory deprivation is unsettling.

And speaking of “always on,” what’s new and problematic about that? Someone estimated that we have fifty thousand thoughts a day. What are three hundred e-mails, compared to the assault of our own self-talk machine-gun brain?

So, why isn’t lots of e-mail experienced as a soothing event, like a walk in nature? Why hasn’t it been accepted as part of our ordinary reality, like thinking all the time, as we do? One simple reason: each one of those e-mails might mean something. The operant word in this problem is “might.” If the meaning of an e-mail were already clear, we would still have a lot to deal with, but it would be much easier. E-mail is not just news – it’s potentially relevant news. It’s not just communication – it’s communication that I might possibly need or want, about which I might need or want to do something. It is potentially important, potentially relevant. And it’s the necessity to determine that relevance that creates the sense of overwhelm.

When we walk through the woods we’re bombarded with information. But only so much has latent importance. What we notice tends to be either of a non-essential and soothing variety, or something very discrete that we’re clearly attuned to. Few people avoid the woods because they feel overwhelmed with the information. Sure, there can be surprises. But when the woods were our life, processing our stuff was easier. Snake rattles, berries to eat, animal tracks, thunder, and poison oak constituted the extent of meaningful input on any workaday Thursday. And when we came back out of the woods, we could get closure on all of that with little additional effort. Psychic RAM probably stayed pretty clear. We had the luxury of communing with ourselves and the subtler signs and signals of our universe, from a clearer space.

Now we’re overloaded – not with information, but with meaning to be mined. So the solution is not about slicing and dicing and reorganizing data – it’s about how quickly and discretely we can decide its specific meaning to us. Is it actionable? If not, is it trash, is it to be stored for later action, or is it reference? If it is actionable, what’s the next action? And what outcome, if any, should I now be committed to? And how does all of that fit within the total inventory of those things that I have collected to date, and which are still potentially meaningful?

The issues about e-mail are not whether I should keep them in my in-basket or file them. That’s just rearranging incomplete piles of unclear stuff. It’s what does each of them mean to me? Do I still need to read it and respond? And by when, exactly, against all the others I still need to deal with? Or just file it as reference? Or dump it? As common-sense as those distinctions might be, they implicitly require us to know what we’re doing and where we’re going. And that’s as easy as, well, knowing who we are and our purpose in the universe (or some derivative version of those eternal questions). Too many things in our in-baskets mean too many things that mean something about which we need to decide the meaning.

The e-mail beast is out of the barn, and it’s going to be nearly impossible to shove it back in. The natural selection of information our minds would do in the woods kept the decisions about meaningfulness to manageable levels, but e-mail invades through to a more intimate room in our psyche. Every one of them might contain a rattle, a berry, a deer track, or thunder.

The good news about the e-mail phenomenon, aside from all the marvels of virtual communication and connectivity with a global community, is that it’s forcing the average professional to grapple with the essential challenge of knowledge work: defining what that work is. That answer is elusive, and morphs frequently. And most of us weren’t taught how to get fast and comfortable with clarifying meaning and priority triage. It can be learned and practiced, as we have discovered in synthesizing the best practices of work flow. And it takes time and energy that many people still don’t acknowledge and accept into their lifestyle logistics. But we have to mature the conversation about e-mail from simple volume-of-stuff thinking, which views the problem as quantifiable, to the more sophisticated issue about how to learn to make rapid front-end decisions about what bright baubles NOT to follow, though they’re in our face.

An old maxim: if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will do. What they should have added is “…and everything coming at you will seem unclear, overwhelming, and a pain in the ass.”

This article originally appeared in a 2006 edition David Allen’s newsletter, Productive Living (formerly known as Productivity Principles.)  Click here to subscribe–it’s free. Unsubscribe at any time.

If you’re the “mover” type, would you use something like this?

The master key to clarity is maintaining a complete and current inventory of all your commitments and agreements with yourself. You need to capture, clarify, and organize them, so you can constantly review and reflect on the totality of your engagements with the world, so you can trust your choices about what you’re doing, moment to moment. -David Allen

Grab the free article on the 5 phases of Mastering Workflow.

New GTD Coordinators complete with blank forms and 2010 calendar:

Letter-size GTD Coordinators – Item#791001-05:  In stock in the DavidCo store. You will also be able to find these in Staples stores in the “dated products” organizers section.  Junior-size GTD Coordinators – Item#791002-05: Sold out in the DavidCo store.  Sorry!  However, there are over 1,500 Staples stores throughout the U.S. that stocked these. They are not available in the Staples online catalog (employees will not be able to locate this item in any catalog search.)  They are only available in the stores.  Specifically, they tell us they are in the “dated products aisle” organizers section –3rd shelf down from the top.   If you don’t find it in your local Staples store, try another Staples nearby.

Refills for existing GTD Coordinators:

Calendar Refills: Day Runner offers the following items which will fit your Coordinator:  Item #’s 061-785, 068-785, 481-185, 481-785.  These items are available on www.ataglance.com as well as www.dayrunner.com websites.  Mead has elected not to stock a customDavid Allen 2010 calendar refill-only product;  please customize your coordinator with the 2010 calendar of your choice.
Blank Forms Refill Paper: In stock in the DavidCo store for both Junior size and Letter size.  Includes blank forms for action lists and more.  Staples stores also carry these as item #36367 (Junior) and #806744 (Letter).

If you have any questions, please contact our customer service team.  Thanks!

If you setup Outlook like our GTD & Outlook Setup Guide describes, you should be able to have that carry over to Tasks on the BlackBerry.  The trick for seeing your Task categories is to “Filter” them.

Several of our staff use BlackBerry devices, including presenter + coach Wayne Pepper.  Listen to Wayne’s podcast on how he uses a BlackBerry for GTD (16 min). He also wrote about an app he uses on his BlackBerry for quick capture.

Whether you’re a proficient OneNote user or just started using it after reading my GTD and OneNote article posted on GTD Times it doesn’t take long to populate the software with a tonne of pages and a tonne of information (yes, I am Canadian).

First, some definitions:

MS Office OneNote 2007 is a digital notebook that provides people one place to gather their notes and information, powerful search to find what they are looking for quickly, and easy-to-use shared notebooks so that they can manage information overload and work together more effectively.

ActiveWords is a Windows application that relates words and actions, giving you instant access to what you want, making you more productive, and improving the quality of your work.  (Editors note: ActiveWords was also featured in a podcast by David Allen.)

For quick access to all your stuff, OneNote allows you to organize things really well into Books, Sections, Pages, and Sub-pages and they provide a nifty search box and tagging capabilities.  But those are like driving a Honda Civic – good, reliable, and gets you from A-B – but what I really want is a Ferrari – fast, exciting, and the envy of all my colleagues (OK, that last one is a bit of a stretch).

Enter ActiveWords (I’ll wait while you head back up to the ActiveWords definition).  OK. Still don’t really understand what ActiveWords does?  Maybe this will help…

ActiveWords allows me to do Ferrari like things.  (Keep in mind that ActiveWords works on top of windows so I can do any of the following while working in any program):

• Open software such as Google Earth by typing “Earth” F8,
• Open the GTD Times website by typing “GTDT” F8,
• Ditto for “Gmail” F8 (yes, ActiveWords has replaced marking favourites for websites)
• “Cal” F8 to open up Outlook Calendar
• “T” F8 to create a new outlook task (even if Outlook isn’t open!)
• “Projects” F8 to open up my projects folder buried deep in windows explorer
• “CFS” F8 to open up an excel file buried even deeper in windows explorer

In a nutshell, it moves me away from my mouse and using menu’s and allows me to use shortcuts on the keyboard with words that are intuitive rather than having to memorize things like “ctrl-shift-y” (No, I don’t know what that shortcut does – if anything)

So here’s how you can use ActiveWords to transform OneNote from a Honda Civic to a Ferrari.

Let’s say you’ve got a OneNote page that you access quite frequently.  In my case, and in this example, it’s my GTD Weekly Review page:

My goal is to access this page in less than 2 seconds no matter where I may be working in Windows (aka I want to be Ferrari fast).  To achieve this, we’ll need to create an ActiveWord.  So buckle up and we’ll get started.

1. Go to the page in OneNote where you want lighting speed access – “My GTD Weekly Review”, in this example.
2. Right-click on the page and select “Copy Hyperlink to this Page” (see screen capture below) – Note that hyperlinks can be created in OneNote for books, sections, pages, sub-pages and even text or objects on a page.
3. Move your cursor to somewhere (anywhere) on the OneNote page. Right-click and select “paste”.
4. Right-click on this newly created hyperlink and select “copy hyperlink” (see screen capture below)
5. Type “Add” then F8 to start the ActiveWords “Add” wizard, select “Open a Document”, and then click “Next”. (See screen capture below)
6. Right-click and paste the hyperlink into the top dialogue box.  Good habit to get into is to add a quick description while you’ve got the chance – e.g. “Open – My GTD Weekly Review OneNote page”.  It helps you search for the ActiveWord if you ever forget it.  Then click “Next”. (See screen capture below)
7. Now determine your ActiveWord for this task – could be “GTDWR”, or “Weekly Review”, or something simple like “WR”.  Then select “Finish”. (see screen capture below)
8. Now whenever you want to get to that Weekly Review page in OneNote, just type “WR” F8 and you will be there in less than 2 seconds – even if OneNote isn’t open (but why wouldn’t it be??)

Use ActiveWords in all your “often accessed” OneNote info and become — Ferrari Fast.

This is Ryan Oakley’s second Community Contributor post to GTD Times.  His first article on GTD & OneNote was so popular, he asked if he could contribute another.  Look for more from Ryan in the coming months on his personal use of OneNote.

It is a great thing to have this as the standard and comfort zone.  I would say in the last six months, I’ve consistently been here. What’s cool about GTD, is when you get here, it’s the starting point not the destination.  Can’t believe I’ve been using these tools since 1988.

As soon as I got myself in front of the steps leading down to my basement, I could see the black smoke billowing up to the first floor. I rushed into the basement to see where the fire was. There were no visible flames, but from the black smoke erupting from the party wall separating us from the twin house next door, it was quite clear that my neighbor’s house was ablaze.

My pregnant wife rushed outside to see what was going on. With my wife and unborn child headed out the door, that classic question came into my head.

What do I save?Here is how quickly your priorities can be clarified. That party wall has probably a two hour fire rating, so I feel comfortable that I have at least 30 seconds in this house before that party wall lets any fire through or the smoke gets very dangerous (my estimate, not the fire marshal’s). I have 30 seconds to do whatever it is I should be doing at this moment.

What is my next action? Put on shoes? Grab laptop? Throw iPhone in pocket? Find grade school spelling bee trophy? Process my inbox?

I quickly decided that above all else, my next action was to make sure my neighbor was safe. I even pictured in my mind how I would heroically bust down her door. “Done” looked like me jumping out their window with the neighbor in my arms.

So I didn’t put on shoes or process my inbox. I got my butt out the front door. Luckily the neighbor was out safe. And we were standing outside @Waiting For the fire truck.

Many teachers, bosses, and coaches over the years have tried to, as they were so fond of saying, “light a fire under my butt.” What they really should have done is help me clarify what was important in my life, identify my desired outcome and determine what my next actions were.

When there was literally a fire under my butt, those were the things I did, thanks in large part to a getting things done mindset I’ve instilled in myself over the last several years. But it doesn’t have to be a fire that is the catalyst which helps a person clarify what is important in their life, identify their desired outcomes, and determine what their next actions are. It can be a teacher, a boss, a coach, a parent, a friend, or even a book.

Matt Handal is a marketing professional who offers actionable advice on marketing, business development, and productivity at www.HelpEverybodyEveryday.com. He is an avid GTD’er and can be reached by email. Read more from Matt.

A Community Contribution from Chip Joyce

After retiring from being the most successful professional cyclist in history, Lance returned to the sport in his late 30s to compete, for the eighth time, in one of the most challenging athletic competitions: the Tour de France. During training, however, he crashed and broke his collarbone, was in a lot of pain, and faced surgery and physical therapy. It was the first major crash of his career.

In an article on VeloNews.com, Lance recounted, “Sitting on the side of the road in Spain, headed to an anonymous hospital… I wanted to never come back,” to the sport. His long-time team manager and mentor, Johan Bruyneel, said, “I could feel he was really down. I had a feeling he was ready to walk away.”Bruyneel, who says he and Lance have “a very special relationship,” shared several bottles of wine at Bruyneel’s home in Madrid, during which he reminded Lance of the importance of his Tour comeback to revitalize his Livestrong campaign and also remind him of one of Lance’s most famous phrases: “Pain is temporary, but quitting lasts forever.” Bruyneel recalls, “I said (quitting) is not what you stand for… I understand at a certain moment, you’re disappointed, you’re reconsidering. ‘Do I need to do this?’ No, you don’t need to do this. But at a certain moment when you go, when you make decision [sic], you have to go until the end.”

Lance’s ultimate response was, “I just spoke with Johan, and he said I have no choice, so I guess we’ll go forward.” Bruyneel said that, “from then on he started to feel better, we got into the Tour of Gila, it felt good, then he got to the start of the Giro, and he felt good, and everything started to roll again. But if I think about that moment in Paris [at the completion of the Tour de France], when he was standing on the podium, and think back to that conversation in the beginning of April, it was two different worlds.”

Lance’s renewed fidelity to his values, including his commitment to professional cycling and to the Livestrong Foundation, occurred amidst the drama of injury and a heart-to-heart talk with his mentor. In GTD terms, Lance realigned with his Horizons of Focus, and once he put into perspective his decision whether to quit or not, the decision was obvious to him.

If you invest the time and energy toward developing your Horizons of Focus, in trying times, you can persevere by drawing strength from these commitments, and remembering that “pain is temporary, but quitting lasts forever.”