As we approach the end of 2008 it is a great time to think about doing a year end review and to begin setting goals for 2009. I’m not usually a fan of the typical New Year’s resolution but the transition into a new year is a logical time to make changes and start something new.
A common goal for a lot of folks is to get organized and be more productive, and for many this means committing to an organizational framework like David Allen’s Getting Things Done. I’ve been thinking about throwing my hat into the GTD ring but it seems like an overwhelming task.
So I was pleased to see our fine mobile friends at jkOnTheRun alerting us that the premier issue of Productive Magazine is available as a free downloadable PDF. This new publication is full of useful information about the GTD system and should be a good resource for the newbie or a seasoned veteran.
My first action item of the day - Done!
Do you GTD? Will Productive Magazine help you Get Things Done?
Are you one of those people who, despite the best intentions, just can’t seem to make a to-do list work? Don’t despair: you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are alternatives. Laura Fitton, of Pistachio Consulting, has been experimenting with a different way to keep herself on track. Rather than concentrate on the myriad little tasks of the week, she’s started envisioning the results. I caught up with her recently for a chat about this technique.
WWD: What’s wrong with traditional to-do lists?
LF: My compliance with traditional to-do lists is patchy. Sometimes great, sometimes awful. It’s at its worst when the to-do list is too tactical, largely because projects and environments shift, and you can’t always predict in advance what the right mix of actions, efforts, conversations and relationships is. Breaking tasks down into manageable pieces is important too, but there’s a balance because the piece that seems important Monday might be irrelevant by Wednesday.
I’ve also noticed that deferring tasks to a to-do list can be its own form of procrastination.
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Like Mike, I’ve been using the alpha releases of OmniFocus for a while now and I was thisclose to taking advantage of their pre-sale deal to buy the application for $40. But wait. CulturedCode has thrown their hat into the ring with Things. Yet another stand-alone and pretty GTD app for Mac OS X? Maybe.
A preview version is trickling out to newsletter subscribers. For those who can’t wait, the developers are promoting a screencast of the application’s main features. Looks promising. Much of the same functionality as OmniFocus, including a quick entry window for doing a brain dump of tasks to process later. But Things doesn’t force a project/context/task structure the way OmniFocus and other GTD-focused apps do.
So now I’ll wait to get my preview invite before deciding which application I’ll end up paying for. As with email, I’ve found that I prefer using a stand-alone application for task management instead of a browser-based one.
Are you already overloaded on to-do apps or are you giving these newbies a try?
