GotDone time (3rd paragraph for the inpatient)

I’ve fully adopted the Emergent Task Planner from David Seah. My only quadrille with it is that it’s designed for lazy Americans that work from 9 to 5, us slaves that work from 9 to 6 have this big blank box right at 5pm clamping scheduling at that time slot. But I can live with that, since after 3pm I just simulate work anyway, it’s no biggie. The latest version has a way to attribute tasks into those boxes two boxes (lunch and 5pm), but the witty comment’s on the task lister put me off. (I really don’t consider doing 4 tasks a day something to brag about) but that’s really because the way we see schedules is personal and of course this possibly fit’s David’s life perfectly. no irony there, just different line’s of work, or different system as to breaking a big task down.
So ETP has change my life for the better and kudos for the author for the vision to pull it off.

I’ve been procrastinating like a moron. I’m out of character and I feel cranky about it. There’s a lot of stuff that’s got to change, I especially feel that moving to a roomier house will make me more productive. being crowded and having too much unwanted stimuli around me breaks my concentration by it’s very roots. So a private study is a must have for me right now.
Now I should clear out that what some people might consider procrastination is not that at all for me. My concept of procrastination is really leaving my brain unengaged, just rolling around at drift in drone fashion. I can have a million things to do and projects to finish, but I decide it’s time to get some work done on that extension I’ve been working for thunderbird. I might not be doing what I should be doing, but I’m developing something and learning java at the same time, so to me that clearly does not count as “procrastination”. Parked brain: yes! Consuming brain: no.
(by the way, the extension is dead-on-the-water since I can’t really find a reason to work on a platform I’m not using)

So I created a new google calendar called “GotDone”, it is inventively named as it will list all the things I got done/learned during my “non-commitment” time – I really don’t differentiate a business meeting from a music concert, both are things I must attend (either because I’m obligated or because I already own tickets) so it all goes into the same calendar or tagged with the same color – so now I have a new color (a nice faded orange) that keeps track of how I used my non-commitment time. not only a clear way to flag useless time but also something to make me feel even worst.

(by the way, who thinks google will eventually start charging for little things that we are hooked on like sms notifications and such?)

(GTSD) Getting Things Sorta’ Done

Getting a system to get fully organized is a monstuous job in itself.

I’m a half-way GTD implementer, and things aren’t quite clicking yet. Ends up GTD like anything else isn’t a one-size fits all deal like we all wish it was. Every one of us has his/her’s mental intricacies that end up rendering the system not as fool-proof as somewhat promised by the hype. There are a gazillion sites out there about it and some of them are true pearls, productivity and knowledge working seems to be a new and emerging art form.

Gina Trapani has a wonderful shell script that let’s you create action lists based on txt files from the command line with very nice perks. There are .sh and .py versions available and some parsers to create nifty reports based on the txt files.

Pedro Melo created an add-on to Gina’s script that makes the tab key work like it does in the shell, so finding stuff on the files via the shell script is dead-on easy.

…a bit of zen meeting tao.

Txt is clearly the way to go, I’m far too platform independent as an individual to accept anything else. But it’s not enough. At least it doesn’t feel like it’s enough.

I envision a DevonThink sort of system, where I can have this huge e-inbox, with pdf’s, docs, pictures, e-mails, whatever.
Life is 97% electronic with me. I don’t deal well with paper and avoid it at all costs. (there is a devonthink template out here for gtd, but I feel it only addresses the 43 folder aspect of it)

I’m categorizing for the main areas that constitute my life. Unlike strict GTD with all of those @home, @computer, @errands that really wouldn’t do it for me. (Let alone people who meta tag with @computer:email, @computer:research). So I’ve got a few items like @home, @work, @music, everything inside that fall into projects or quick actions.

Right now I end up writing stuff, but it’s all meshed up in a few big-ass lists, which feels like a bubble waiting to burst into organizational chaos. I’m not big on prioritizing, but if I have feel the need to do so I’m also aware that these running list will not the be most practical thing on earth to quickly glance at what’s what.

I could consider using outlook as the main data repository, but I viscerally hate outlook with a vengeance. If it was up to me I’d telnet the server directly to read my mail, if that would keep me from using that ghastly piece of bloat-ware. Man I miss pico.
Much of GTD is about filling, I’ve got that covered with file system folders. It just works if there isn’t much physical items for an inbox.

Anyway you can gather from all this that this isn’t much of an GTD implementation, it’s much more of a “borrowing of concepts” that end up in a big pile of nothing. But this is never the less a journey into getting things done, and sorting things out fast.

I got one thing down: most of the stuff I’m pounded via email, im or whatever has a clear and automatic priority/context scenario and until those two factors merge they are @hold. That provides me at least with the peace of mind to deal with current and pressing issues and gives me time to eventually get to whatever just fell on my lap.