scottleduc

Getting Organized & Getting Things Done

Image from FastCompany.com

The GTD system involves a lot of writing down what you need to do as well as organizing and prioritizing those tasks and projects. You don’t just bother writing down what you need to get done because you’ll forget it, but because it doesn’t belong in your mind in the first place. If you use your mind as an office, you end up filing away tedious bits of information you don’t really care about. When you fill up on useless data, the useful has nowhere to go. – LifeHacker.com

The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: David Allen

Step 1 – Be Inspired

Step 2 – Question Your Productivity?

  1. Take the What Kind of Productive Person Are You Quiz at FastCompany.com

Step 3 – Learn and Document the ‘What’ of Being Organized

  1. Create a blog post titled, Getting Things Done
  2. Watch David Allen’s Ted presentation and take notes about his Getting Things Done, GTD, system
  3. Read Fast Company’s article: How to Create Organization Habits That You’ll Actually Stick To

Step 4 – Create a List of Features

  1. Create a list of requirements for an organizational system
  2. Install Diigo bookmarking button in your Chrome browser, if it’s not already installed to track your research
  3. Research organizational systems with Mr. Le Duc’s Delicious.com bookmarks tagged ‘GTD’
  4. Create or log in to your Feedly.com account and add LifeHacker.com and FastCompany.com to subscribe to great resources
  5. Review LifeHacker.com’s articles tagged ‘getting-things-done’
  6. Review LifeHacker’s articles tagged ‘personal-organizer’
  7. Watch The Secret Weapon
  8. Review the PocketMod
  9. Review Trello.com and overview
  10. Review HacknPlan.com
  11. Review Google Keep (overview)
    • It is a part of Google Calendar and a free app on Droid phones, too
  12. Review THE TRACKING JOURNAL by Holistic Songwriting

Step 5 – Compare the Best Options

  1. Create a comparison chart of features in a spreadsheet based on David Allen’s presentation and the articles
  2. Decide on and download tools to experiment with as a team, one per team member

Step 6 – Create a Spreadsheet of Best Features

  1. Add features to the spreadsheet
  2. Compare results with class
  3. Finalize your blog post with the results of your research and add an image to your blog post
    • Maybe an image showcasing creativity or productivity from the Creative Commons
    • Cite the image author and web site

Step 7 – Start Using your New Trusted System

  1. Share with the class in a few days how it’s working