Get organized, stay organized (GTD and a PDA)

[Francesco]

Originally Posted by sUnShInE

I stopped reading today in part II where he starts telling you how to organize workspace. I knew that I didn't have time to do it right, though I was encouraged by the fact that my workspace (at work at least) was 90% of the way there.

Oddly, I paid no attention whatsoever to GTD's recommendations regarding workspace (in the traditional sense of the word). And I hate the idea of a tickler file. For me, the system had to be as portable as possible. Portable meaning it had to be contained in a laptop and a PDA. I hardly store any paper. I scan as many documents as possible. Thank God, I hardly deal with originals. I applied Allen's filing techniques to the folders in my computers.
My desk is a mess, while I keep my computer's desktop as clean as possible. That sums it up.
Every person has to find his/her own balance point (where GTD helps, instead of being a burden), and tweak it all the way.

[laurencalvin]

That was really insightful Francesco. I for one uses iPod touch and I also use evernote. GTD has helped me in so many ways, but truth be told, I found it so complexed in the beginning. I didn't know how to make it work for me. Until, my friend directed me to this website called http://www.WeeklyReviewExpert.com.

This site really taught me so much on taking accountability and I really felt the concern in helping me. I found the GTD concept difficult having thought at once that it won't for me, but then then the site made me work out the confusion. So for anyone who'sin the same dilemma surrounding the subject of GTD, the website would really be worth checking out.

Hope this helps.

[jmaloney]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

Look forward to hearing more from you about GTD! I use something GTD-like also. And I was very excited myself when I read Allen's book. The weekly review is a good idea, but a tough one for me to get done. Maybe when I simplify things a bit more I'll be able to do that. I really appreciate the idea of putting everything in a trusted place (PDA for me) so you have access to it easily and don't have to keep track in your head. Really reduces stress.

Some of it is a bit too complicated for my needs... e.g. contexts like "@home" or "@work" or "@online" is something that I just can't keep track of properly which made it useless for my purposes.

You might want to look into Zen to Done, which is Leo Babauta's "minimalist" take on GTD. He put it together specifically to address what he felt was too complicated about GTD and to simplify it to the basic elements.