I was going to post this in my weekly links post this weekend, but as I started thinking about it a bit more I thought it might make a good post. So earlier this week, 43folders posted a round up of their GTD articles. Alot of these are great tips if you are using GTD or are interested in getting started with it.
About a year ago I started using GTD. And I am still using it, although nowhere near the way I started out with it. This in itself makes it the ONLY system that has ever gained any traction with me, and I think it is a testament to it’s versatility and power. The only reason I stuck with it though is that I made some changes and discoveries about how I work.
When I first started, I fell into the trap that I am pretty sure that everyone who starts GTD falls into. Endlessly changing and tweaking their system.. I ran it from text files off my thumb drive, I ran it off my Palm, I got the 43 hanging folders and the moleskin notebooks. But I never really felt comfortable with the system. It just didn’t reflect the way I worked.
When I ran into MonkeyGTD at Tiddlyspot, I thought it was just another tool. But the longer I used it, and the more I refined the system I was using, the more useful it became. I’ve done away with alot of the GTD methodology. I don’t do weekly reviews, I hardly ever use my @inbox. What I’ve found is that MonkeyGTD makes a great brain dump location. When a blog entry pops into my head, I jot it down under @blog in the Someday category. When a project I want to tackle with my house comes up, I dump it into the @house category.
When I firm up a blog post and actually get ready to publish it, I’ll move it from the Someday location to Next Actions. I’ll do the same when I am actually getting into the project for the house or my computer. This ends up with large lists in my Someday/Maybe locations and very short manageable lists in the Next Actions locations.
And it seems to work (at least for me). I don’t drop ideas because I forget them. I don’t half start on projects because I need something and then forget about it. I actually seem to accomplish alot more and can see what and when I did it.
Now this system would probably make David Allen spin in his grave (What? He’s still alive? Well you know what I mean…). I drop some of what he considers the most important parts of GTD. I don’t do the weekly review. I don’t dump into my @inbox. I am sort of loose with my categories. But it all still works. That is why GTD is a powerful system. It is as customizable as you need. You can hack the system so it fits you, not shoehorn yourself into something that only sort of meets your needs. And that is why I stick with it.
