GTD Cafe: The Cheapest GTD Hack I Know

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's system for Getting Things Done.  Today we look at a cheap hack that anyone can use  to practice the weekly review.

Many folks have commented on how difficult the weekly review can be to practice over time.  Last week, guest post Stephen Smith gave some great tips on how powerful the weekly review can really be.  This week I'd like to share a simple- I mean super simple- hack that anyone can use. 

All you need is a highlighter. Choose any color and have it handy.  I have about 10 of them that I bought from Staples in the closest drawer to my writing space at work.  Simple right?  Here's how to connect it with the weekly review:

1. As you go through your day and see something that you know you'll want to process for the weekly review (which I practice on Sundays), highlight it.  Don't be bashful with this.  You can simply highlight or you can circle, underline, star, whatever.  Go nuts- it's your highlighter after all!



2. A highlighted item could be any number of things: a phone number, an item that you're waiting for, or an unfinished project detail.



3. Finally, as you then go through the weekly review, you'll save time by looking back at the week gone by and can just extract those items that you've highlighted, transferring them to the appropriate place (contacts list, to-do list, projects list, etc.).

It's that simple!  I'd love to know which GTD hacks you've been able to implement over the past few months...

Resources for the Road
LifeHack & GTD hacks
Student GTD Hack & the Moleskine
Paperless Hack
Designing a GTD Office

GTD Cafe: Mother Theresa and David Allen

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.  Today we look at the way that GTD changes one's lifestyle .

I went with author and friend Allan Wright last night to a convent of Mother Theresa's nuns in Plainfield, NJ.  After one hour of prayer we chatted with several of the sisters, introducing our daughters to them and thanking them for the opportunity to pray with them.  How simple these women are!  You can't leave without wondering if your own life is "in check" with what matters most.

Does GTD provide the same gut check?  If "success" lies in the smallest of habits, behaviors and routines, then GTD should affect one's lifestyle.  As David Allen once said,

"We must all constantly reevaluate and potentially
renegotiate our agreements with ourselves, and many of those include
other people."

This reevaluation causes day to day adjustments.  Sometimes these are small and at other times, they can be like a difficult hike up a mountain.  No matter the habit to master or the agreement to renegotiate, the words of that simple woman still ring true, "Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

Resources for the Road
Nobel Prize biography of Mother Theresa
Sayings of Mother Theresa
What do Mother Theresa's Sisters Do With Their Time?

GTD Cafe: How to Manage a Growing Blog

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.  Today we look at the art of managing a growing blog.

One of the key aspects of GTD is the role that our systems play in a productive life.  Systems like having an in-box and using a calendar are vital to implementing GTD.  Go a little further down the road and you'll find that something like blogging is actually a good extension of one's practice of GTD. 

Read on.

I started blogging in 2005 with a post on the spirituality of time management.   Now a few years later, I  use GTD-like systems to manage The Daily Saint, a growing blog that is not only climbing the Technorati ladder but maintains the respect of readers from around the globe.  We're not the biggest blog out there but I use the following to keep things moving along:

1. Post at the same time every day.  As part of my morning routine, I post at around 6am every week day.  I do this for my own sanity and I find that it's a good morning ritual.



2. Provide 3 themes per week.  Lisa at Productivity @ Home does a great job of this as well- providing daily content that readers know is coming.  Readers like to have a sense that the blogger has a plan and my system provides three "hard schedule" days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and then two other days for "soft schedule" material.



3. Give resources away. The best bloggers have way too much info to keep to themselves.  I started the Monday Download series and it's been successful.



4. Invite others onto the "team".  Since TDS began, we've added writers for monthly spots on GTD, Public Speaking, Productivity @  Home, and the Organized Executive.  This gives me a little breather but it gives those writers exposure and further builds the network of resources.  I think it also adds credibility, letting readers know that you're not some weirdo in the basement just blogging to kill time.



5. Don't be afraid to show your true colors. Folks who spend enough time on TDS know what I'm all about and what drives my passion.  Be real and be yourself.



6. Guest post on other blogs.  I write for LifeHack.org each week and find this a great way to network and gain recognition.



7. Be a balanced stat watcher.  Watch the stats but don't be consumed by them. 



8. Join a network.  The GTD Network via Feedburner changed the way I blog and drove traffic higher and higher.  Look for other related networks that share your interests and views.  A network also gives you a sense as to how fast other blogs are growing (or not).  I watch to see the RSS growth rates of other blogs and then set goals to grow at a faster pace.



9. Go out and get new business. Email other bloggers, submit articles and just ask for space on other's sites.   The worst someone can say is "no" or "not yet"- I can handle either one.  Any space on someone else's blog will drive traffic to your own.



10. Correspond with subscribers and commenters. If someone is generous enough to post a comment or subscribe to your email blasts, have the courtesy of thanking them in a personal way.



11. Keep things pithy.  Be brief, proofread your text and get to the point.  Take out unnecessary words and concepts.



12. Keep things visually appealing. As a visual learner, I'm turned off by blogs that are inundated with ads that scream "cheesy"!  If you're monetizing your site, don't assault your reader with obnoxious ads that dominate the visual landscape.  The best example is Seth Godin's blog which is not only wildly popular but also free of ads.
    

Portable Wisdom

"Spend the hour blogging, and you will discover many more free hours during the day.
" Mickey Kaus

Resources for the Road
My 10 Commandments of Blogging
What I Learned About Blogging- by Not Blogging
Why I Switched from Blogger to Typepad

GTD Cafe: The Calendar as Hard Landscape

Today's guest post is from Stephen Smith from Hidden Dragon Biz Blog.

Your calendar or organizer is one of the three pillars of Getting Things Done.
Along with your In-box and Tickler File, your calendar is where things
really happen. In older forms of time management the calendar was
considered to be the central tool of tracking your activities,
generally assigning priority codes or creating an artificial schedule
of how you should execute your day. In the GTD methodology the calendar
is limited in its use:

1. Time-specific Actions



2. Time-specific Information



3. Appointments

That is all. It seems pretty simple, doesn't it? Old habits die
hard, they say, and after years of training in making "daily to-do"
lists, it can be difficult to refrain from writing a list of actions
that you would like to do on a certain day.

 

"You need to trust your calendar as sacred territory,
reflecting the hard edges of your day's commitments, which should be
noticeable at a glance when you're on the run...those that you
absolutely have to get done on that day."

 

~David Allen, Getting Things Done

Your Time-specific Actions are those things that must get
done on a specific day, or at a particular time. A conference call, for
example, or a package to be shipped.

Time-specific Information is a category of reference material
that you do not need all the time, like directions to a restaurant or
an agenda for a meeting.

Appointments, of course, are those entries that indicate you
are meeting someone else at a time-specific location.

Everything else that we used to write down in our planners
(or punch into our PDAs) goes into a Context-specific list of Next
Actions. Now there is nothing to say that you cannot keep these lists
in the same notebook or computer file, but when you look at today's
field in your calendar you should only see the places that you have
to be and the things that must get done.

Over the years I have used a variety of calendaring systems: Franklin-Covey,
Daytimer,
and a Palm
Pilot.
Each system has its own strengths and weaknesses, and you will need to
find the right system for your needs. If you have some time and
motivation, D*I*Y*Planner
has some terrific templates for creating your own custom system.

I would appreciate hearing about your system, or tools. Leave a
comment below, and I leave you with this quote for the road:

 

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to
schedule your priorities."

Resources for the Road

GTD and Google Calendar

How to Make a GTD System for about $20

Stephen Smith on GTD Gear

Daily Challenge

Pick a planner and use it consistently for 3 weeks.  If it's not working for you, make a change.  If you're already happy with your planner, how can you use it better?

GTD Cafe: The Simplest Habit of All

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.  Today we look at the simplest habit of all: writing things down.

Geoff at Gearfire tagged me with the question of writing things down.  In the GTD mindset, getting things out of your head is very important for a few reasons:

1. The human mind can only be focusing on so many things at one time.



2. The human mind isn't capable of remembering things with the speed of information delivery that we currently experience in the modern age.



3. Getting things out of your head relieves stress and allows you to focus on "high end" activities.

As a school administrator, I have to write things down, a lot of things!  Records are very important for the sake of students, parents and yours truly.  Still, much of that writing is for legal reasons and behavior tracking.  The GTD recommendation of writing things down is more of a lifestyle habit.

Here's what my writing down looks like on any given day:

• I keep a journal which I write in nearly every morning.  It's my mental "check in" point of the day when I'm free of distractions and can get whatever is in my head out of it and onto paper.  I also use the journal for blog post ideas and whatever comes up in the course of that early am (5am-5:45am) time slot.



• I use my FranklinCovey planner pages for capturing thoughts.  The key here is to keep the pages neat and clean.  While I might write "DF: Sump pump maintenance" in large letters if I'm running out the door, it's more common that I put the item right into a to-do and schedule it.



• I use a Moleskine reporter notebook for my car.  I don't use this too often but it's handy when you need it.



• I use my TypePad blog to get things out of my head.  I find that blogging stretches me, keeps me mentally sharp and fits my style of organization.  I'm not "writing" with pen and paper but I am getting things out of my head.

Resources for the Road

GTD Cafe: Surprising Moments of GTD Clarity

GTD Cafe: The Power of Small Decisions

GTD Cafe: David Allen and Bruce Lee

GTD Cafe: Does GTD Help Your Career?

The Week in Review: GOOD Productivity Posts (and a few that you might have missed)

Here are some excellent posts from the past week, in case you missed them:

Relaxing is Good
Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur talks about the role of vacation and unplugging.

Simplicity is Good
Stephen at Hidden Dragon Biz Blog provides a pithy quote that is worth our reflection.

Customer Service is Good
Read Seth Godin's discussion about how Sprint is letting 1000 customers go because of too many complaint calls.

Driving to Work Might be Good
Check out Sustainable Future's commuting stats in the U.S.

New Websites are Good
Lisa Hendey has a new productivity blog which is worth reading.