Getting Things Done
Just a quick post to show you the cult-like organization methods that a lot of people, myself included, swear by. This is broken down on about a million places on the web, so I'm not going to work too hard at it.
I got David Allen's book, Getting Things Done, a couple of months ago. It's not the most riveting book ever, but the ideas are solid and the philosophies are really great. The main thesis of the book is that stress is a result of lots of open loops, or unfinished, nagging projects that pop up from time to time in your brain. You can probably think of 100 such things right off the bat. Anyway, by emptying your head of those things and putting them into some kind of trusted system, you can get all those things off your mind. Even with tons of things to do, it is possibly to be very calm and efficient.
This method is based in this book, but this being the internet, some nerds have taken it farther. A couple of great blogs regarding productivity: Lifehacker (part of the Gawker media EMPIRE) and 43 Folders. Lifehacker is more of your everyday tips, whereas 43 folders is more of a "Getting Things Done" and "Using your Mac productively" center. Both of them, though, have roots in the GTD book.
Finally, via Lifehacker, is the coolest little wiki I have found. The GTDTiddlyWiki (I never had to type that out before... now I feel a little, well, nerdy). This is a little guy that you download to your computer and update at your leisure. It's fully interactive, you can edit almost anything on the page. Lifehacker has a better description of it here.
Anyway, I can't say that these methods will work for everyone, nor that I will even use them for that long. The system works for me, but maybe it's only because it's encouraged me to ACT rather than sit around and THINK or WORRY. It might have nothing to do with the system. This video shows some of the same ideas, but is kind of nerdy. What about this post isn't nerdy though? I know...
What? Still nerdy? Damn, picky mofos!! Here, take your pick. Hot Seventh Heaven or hot Scientologist?
I got David Allen's book, Getting Things Done, a couple of months ago. It's not the most riveting book ever, but the ideas are solid and the philosophies are really great. The main thesis of the book is that stress is a result of lots of open loops, or unfinished, nagging projects that pop up from time to time in your brain. You can probably think of 100 such things right off the bat. Anyway, by emptying your head of those things and putting them into some kind of trusted system, you can get all those things off your mind. Even with tons of things to do, it is possibly to be very calm and efficient.
This method is based in this book, but this being the internet, some nerds have taken it farther. A couple of great blogs regarding productivity: Lifehacker (part of the Gawker media EMPIRE) and 43 Folders. Lifehacker is more of your everyday tips, whereas 43 folders is more of a "Getting Things Done" and "Using your Mac productively" center. Both of them, though, have roots in the GTD book.
Finally, via Lifehacker, is the coolest little wiki I have found. The GTDTiddlyWiki (I never had to type that out before... now I feel a little, well, nerdy). This is a little guy that you download to your computer and update at your leisure. It's fully interactive, you can edit almost anything on the page. Lifehacker has a better description of it here.
Anyway, I can't say that these methods will work for everyone, nor that I will even use them for that long. The system works for me, but maybe it's only because it's encouraged me to ACT rather than sit around and THINK or WORRY. It might have nothing to do with the system. This video shows some of the same ideas, but is kind of nerdy. What about this post isn't nerdy though? I know...
What? Still nerdy? Damn, picky mofos!! Here, take your pick. Hot Seventh Heaven or hot Scientologist?
posted by The Blake at 1:23 PM
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