I’ve been through a variety of motivation spells in the past, so I’ve become fairly good at spotting them from far off.
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You’ve noticed by now that I’m a Moleskine junky, and that these trusty little books are the cornerstone of my GTD system. It’s true that every time I get a new book, I tweak my layout just a tad…but that’s to be expected, right?

My most recent adaptation has been completely away from @”Person” lists. There are several people with whom I need to converse on a daily basis, and initially, I created a list for each of those people. These lists would team up with my @Calls list, sometimes spilling over into my @”Building” list (where the “Building” is an actual, physical location), and it was effective…but dreadfully complicated. Let me illustrate, with an example.

If I need to speak with Tom about TPS reports, I might add “Asked about TPS report status” to my @Tom list. Intuitively, the next time I see Tom, the reminder will be right there. But Tom’s office is in Building 20, so it might also be appropriate to add “Asked Tom about TPS report status” to my @Building 20 list for a trigger. Then again, while I need to speak with Tom, I don’t necessarily need to see him to speak with him, so I might throw “Asked Tom about TPS report status” in my @Calls list.

I’m dumping this nightmarish overlap in favor of one ubiquitous @People/Calls list. In this list, action items look like this “Tom: Asked about TPS report status.” This isn’t anything ground breaking, but my philosophy is simple: when I’m talking to people, I check the list; when I’m walking, with access to a cell phone, I check the list; when I’ve got a few minutes at my desk (and am not on the phone), I check the list. Since there are several ways to accomplish “talking” to someone, I’ve found that this method keeps things more orderly…especially as I start stacking lists inside my Moleskine.

As a quick note, I still keep email actions rooted in my @Desk list: “Sent email to Tom about TPS report status.” While I’m trying to streamline the “talking” actions, they still need to be contextual.

Tags: gtd, moleskine, @calls

It finally happened. I caved and bought a Moleskine.

I’d been reading about how fantastic they are for an awfully long time…but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I happened upon a decent deal and picked up a couple.

I love it. Really.

The key here is that it’s part of my ongoing GTD implementation, and not all that novel.

You can find scores and scores of suggested hacks for using your Moleskine with GTD, and many of them are good. Most people suggest using tabs along the edges of your pages in order to create quick “folders” or action lists. There’s no doubt that this approach is the most practical, but I don’t want the tabs to get all jacked up when I carry the Moleskine in my pocket.

Therefore, I’m using those little colored circle stickers that you can get in packs of 200 at any random store. You can see one of them in the picture here. I’ve found that the trick here is to fold the stickers over the page edge so that there is a slight excess, and so the sticker fold forms a miniature “tab” that only protrudes away from the paper just slightly.

I’ve had minimal problem using these special “tabs” and carrying the book around in my back pocket. And as an added bonus, get this: you can store a sheet or two of unused stickers in your accordion file at the back…perfect for quick, on-the-fly list creation.

technorati tags:moleskine, gtd, hacks

I hate to say it, but I’m waving a stern goodbye to my Backpack account…at least, for the interim.

Part of what was so great about Backpack was that I can access it from just about any internet connection – my PDA/phone included. I’ve been able to send e-mail updates to my lists, and work fairly comfortably from them in conjunction with my GTD effort.

Unfortunately, the single biggest problem with Backpack is the inability to move items between lists. It’s one of the most fundamental tactics of Getting Things Done, as everything is supposed to start in the inbox and propagate its way through your system (even as it becomes actions). It’s difficult to do that without retyping everything, on Backpack.

For now, I’ll be using Outlook on my Windows machine (in conjunction with my MDA) to categorize to-do list items. It’s not what I want to do…but my GTD implementation is suffering on account of my hesitation to re-type items as they move between lists.

Sorry, 37Signals. I’m still a loyal Basecamp user, at least.

GTD, Backpack, 37Signals

Here are the things I’ve observed about myself over the course of my Getting Things Done implementation.

• I have a tendency to skip my inbox on things that show up on my desk, and file them directly into the appropriate folder. That’s bad.
• I don’t check all of my folders regularly.
• I tend to put the great majority of items in my @office folder, knowing that I will review that one, if nothing else.
• I haven’t been very good about entering new items directly into Backpack via my PDA; I’ve tended to scribble them down as notes, and address it later.
• My "Project" lists have become almost worthless, because I haven’t been referencing them.
• I haven’t been consistently asking the question "what’s the next action here?"

This lists doesn’t mean that my GTD effort is shot, just that I need to get my proverbial ass in gear.

GTD, David Allen, Backpack