A community contribution by Meghan Wilker. Join Meghan and Coach Kelly Forrister on the upcoming Webinar for GTD Connect Members–”Productive Use of Social Media.”

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?”) [Read more →]

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One of the key buckets in your GTD system is Waiting For.  So what’s the biggest creator of Waiting For? Sent emails. Sure, you could slog through your Sent folder for which ones you actually need to make sure to track, but that’s like searching for a contact lens on the beach.  Good luck having that be a trusted and efficient system.  Another way to track Waiting For items is to create a simple rule or filter in your email program.   Here are those rules for two popular mail programs:   Gmail & Outlook.  If you’re on a different mail program, it’s usually pretty simple to set something like this up if it’s got a filter or rule function.  [Read more →]

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We thought you would enjoy this story, passed along by Joseph McEntire.

I had a funny and rewarding GTD experience that I thought was worth sharing.

Today I found a piece of paper crumpled up inside of my vest pocket.  A pocket I use only for my voice-recorder and not for hand written notes.  The note was labeled as follows…

[Read more →]

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A couple of weeks ago (during an In Conversation that will be posted later this summer on GTDConnect), David Allen asked me if I practice GTD with my kids. In response, I laughed and said, “No.” After all, my daughter is three years old and my son is just nine months. They can hardly do GTD, can they?!

But, in the weeks since we talked, I paid more attention to how GTD factors into our family life and realized that — though they are quite young — there are elements of GTD that I am already teaching my kids.

Of the five levels of control in GTD (capturing, clarifying, organizing, reflecting, and engaging), most of what my kids are learning right now has to do with capturing, clarifying and organizing. [Read more →]

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David Allen & his team sat down to record a podcast on the best practices of Collect.

In this 35 minute podcast they talk about:

• Some of their favorite tools for capturing anywhere, anytime
• The essential tools for work and home spaces
• What makes or breaks a good collection tool?
• The essential “red folder“
• Collect versus organize and why most people don’t get the difference
• Why an empty inbox reduces interruptions
• What’s it like to work in a GTD culture?

Listen now>>>

Subscribe now>>> to all of the free podcasts

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In my earlier blog post about getting your email inbox down to zero, GTD’er Gil asked the question, “So, what do you suggest when the problem seems to be the sheer quantity, not just mail management practices?”

There are two things I would look at:  Speed + Input

One angle to consider is to get really good and faster at processing.  Speed will be required when you’re getting tons of volume every day if you hope to get through it all without it consuming your entire day.

I think it’s also helpful to look at what you’re getting with a fresh eye, now and again.  Do you need to be getting everything you’re getting?

[Read more →]

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If you’ve ever tasted Inbox zero, you know there’s no going back. It’s a powerful reference point in mastering GTD.  The key is knowing how you did it, and how to repeat it on a regular basis. (Yes, it’s not just about getting it there once–anyone can do that with Ctrl+A, Delete. )  The answers are all in the GTD workflow diagram. Download a free copy here.

The good news with the GTD model is that the thought process is the same no matter how something comes in (email, paper etc.) But since email plagues so many people, we’ll use that for our example.

[Read more →]

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