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So David Allen has kinda sorta changed how people increase their productivity. His Getting Things Done method is said to have revolutionized the way people, well… get things done. Despite GTD’s raging success, it has been met with some critisism, however, the most prominent of which is that GTD is too inflexible and impracticle to be implemented easily. While I agree, I think that GTD is not meant to be followed evangelistically. Rather, GTD should be thought of as a set of guidelines that should be implemented so that it fits into the way you work. Even David Allen has said that he falls off the GTD bandwagon every once in a while.

The point of this post, however, isn’t to defend or slam the GTD system. It is to give the seven of you reading this my take on David Allen’s methods and how I’ve implemented them into my daily workflow.

So, GTD’s major priciple (and the reason why I believe it works) is that you must empty your mind of all tasks by recording them externally. This external device must be something reliable so that information is not lost (and so that your subconcious knows that it wont be). This way, instead of remembering what you need to do, you can focus more on getting those tasks done. Allen suggests that the simple act of “unloading” your mind is enough to relieve most of the stress that hinders actual productivity. The unconcious mind is therefore free of anxiety so that the concious mind can focus on completing tasks.

The first step to implementing GTD is to identify where you will be storing things that need to get done. This doesn’t have to be in one place and can actually consist of several different ways of storing tasks. When I first started using GTD methods, a major roadblock for me was that I had not clearly defined my “inboxes,” resulting in a chaotic mess of tasks that hampered my productivity. After clearly identifying where I collected tasks, my productivity skyrocketed. For me my inboxes consist of the following:

1. Things (iPhone application)
2. Moleskine
3. Microsoft Outlook inbox
4. Balance (iPhone application)
5. Google Chrome bookmarks
6. Voice Memos (iPhone application)
7. Post-it notes
8. Paper tray (for letters and bills)
9. File folders

After identifying where you store your tasks, you must decide how your tasks will be stored. For example, in Microsoft Outlook, when I encounter an email that needs a follow-up, I either flag it, or categorize it. In my Moleskine (being the most flexible of all inboxes), I just write lists in a free-form manner and sort through them later. I use a similar method when recording memos to my iPhone. In a later post, I’ll describe in detail how I use the inboxes that I’ve defined and how I empty my lists on a daily basis.

Recording your tasks, however, isn’t all there is to GTD. A good practice after you have identified and recorded your tasks is to group similar tasks together. Not doing this can actually hinder producticty as your mind isn’t capable of reminding you of any related tasks that need to be done, just as it seldom reminds you of when and where a specific action needs to be taken. Grouping your tasks as well as identifying each action’s context is, therefore, very important.

Getting your tasks in your inbox isn’t the end all be all of the GTD system. The point is to actually get things done, so if a task will take less time to do than it would to record, then by all means, get it done. The trick is to know when to bypass the process and when not to.

So, the seven of you should get out your pencils, stack your paper, turn on your cellphones and/or get your computers ready and… GET THINGS DONE!

Well after playing with the iPhone for a month and discovering all the coolness that comes with it, I finally found a nifty little app so that I can post directly to WordPress from my phone.

It’s really simple to setup and use and the landscape keyboard goes a long way to improve typing speed. Haven’t played around with all the features yet, but this little app might just me to blog more. As a matter of fact, this very post you are reading came right off my iPhone.

For those of you interested you can find more info here.

I purchased a new motherboard to replace my previous one due to some weird USB issue. I suspect it was software related but I got so frustrated that I decided to just update my hardware. I decided to get the Asus P5Q3 (much to the disappointment of my friend) that supports DDR3 memory, built in WiFi, two lan adapters, and a feces-load of other features.

VROOOOOOOM!

First thing that caught my attention right out of the box is how racecar-like the motherboard looks. I mean, it’s a stationary piece of hardware with no moving parts, but it looked like it could do zero to two hundred in 2 seconds flat.

Second thing that impressed me is the Express Gate feature. From boot to web in 5 seconds (practically it’s a little longer but impressive none-the-less).

Third thing that caught my eye (and the reason for the title of this post) was what Asus calls a Qconnector. Very simple concept really. Its a seperate module that allows you to connect all front panel and chasis cables to it which then connects (very easily) to the motherboard.

Genious!

It’s two-thousand-freakin-nine and they just thought to do this? One of the things I hated the most when building was connecting those microscopic little plugs. I can’t believe it took the industry this long to come up with a (simple) solution. How they haven’t standardized the plugs into one universal connector is beyond me. They (whoever ‘they’ may be) are so caught up on making us consumers buy new RAM and new CPUs every 6 months that they miss the simplest details.

Ho hum…
What can you do except bitch about it on your blog?

Yes I know it’s almost the end of Feburary, and the typical excuse is work got the better of me, but to be honest… it did. I actually forgot that this blog existed; it’s been out of my mind for a long time.

Three days ago I got fed up with everything. This has been the worst month for me as far back as I can remember.  I have never had so many things go wrong within such a short time frame in my life. I’m starting to think that there is a higher power out get me for all those bad things I did in 2008. All I can say is…

I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON! PLEASE STOP!

I know that my problems are absolutely nothing compared to what other people must be going through. It makes me feel petty to complain about my problems, when there are people in Africa dying from hunger and people in the Middle East getting killed by bullets.

It’s all relative I suppose. I really can’t relate to those people as I only have my experiences as a benchmark. That, however, doesn’t make me any less sensative to the pain and suffering that exists in the world.

Putting it in that perspective, I suppose that I really don’t have any problems at all, but I digress.

So the point of all this is, I got fed up. I made all these promises to myself when the year changed but they went out the window when they became too difficult. So I’m taking a step back.

My first priority will be my health, mental and physical. That’s why I’m slowly going to bring back Project:Thinner. For those of you who don’t know what Project:Thinner was/is, it was my first failed attempt to get healthy and lose weight. Hopefully, it wont be the monumental failure that it was the first time. That takes care of the physical part, as for the mental… I will focus on balancing work and life.

My second priority will be work. Specifically, how to be more effective and productive doing it. That means coming up with a system that will allow me to be better organized. I know there are dozens of productivity systems out there, the most famous being GTD, but reading all the criticism, it seems tough to implement. My productivity system will probably be a mashup of a bunch of different techniques, that will be more in tune with he way I work. Right now, I have to invest in Moleskins.

Last but not least, pixelPLAY… Something needs to be done and soon! Feburary was a really bad month, our worst yet. If this keeps up, I’m afraid I’ll have to close down. I need someone on the outside to help me create a strategy to get more people in the door and spending more time and money while here. Simple offers don’t seem to cut it anymore. The store needs an overall image change and a better focus on what it is we offer.

As I reread, my tasks feel daunting… like a huge mountain before me. However, I’ll never get over it unless I take the first step to climb it, so… here I go!

5, 4, 2, 1… Ο δήμαρχος της Αθήνας είναι βλάκας. Oh well.

Χρόνια πολλά και καλό 2009!