Getting Things Done

Before reading this book I did think that I was organised. I keep lists of things, I have labelled folders and file boxes. I thought that in my work and personally that I was pretty together, I just never seemed to get all that much done.

I bought the book because I heard people recommend it. That's not people that I know personally just people that I stalk. You know blogs and podcasts, that kind of thing. But I did think, "What can this guy teach me?" That would be quite a lot.

I don't want to try and list all the practices that are in the book. But I will describe what I've done whilst reading it.

Every room, except the bathroom, now has a Post-It notepad and a Pilot pen, so that if I think of something that I need to look up or do I can make a note and put it in my In-Box. My In-Box is just a stack of pads on my desk. The frustration that I had in the past was trying to remember the great idea I had last night or the other day. Everything I think of I now note down.

The main thing that I've done is bought OmniFocus for the Mac. I'll no doubt do a separate blog post for that because I'm still delving into how it all works. Not that it's difficult to use by any means, but now it does contain all my projects, lists and next action items.

The book is a really easy read. I think there was just one section that I did get a little confused trying to figure out what items went on what list and with which context. A note to re-read it again in 6 months time has already been added to OmniFocus.