<p><i>Note:- This entry was original composed between Christmas and New Year 2007, but given the state of my organisation, it has not been completed until today!!!</i></p>
<p>It’s nearly 2008, and I am finally going to start to use the <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GTD&#8221; target=”_blank”>GTD</a> process to organise things in my life.</p>
<p>GTD is a way of processing information and data in yor life, so that you can quickly deal with all the stuff that you need to do. The general principle is to get as much information out of your brain, get it written down/documented somewhere (ideas, projects, tasks etc), then process this information on a regular basis. Then, from a planning session, you can break all the tasks &amp; projects down into small enough chunks of work that you can do the process without really thinking about it. You can also break the tasks down into contexts (e.g. phone, shops or computer) so that when you are able to actually do the tasks and you only have to concentrate on the tasks you can do where you are.</p>
<p>I am also using a peice of software called ‘<a href=”http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/&#8221; target=”_blank”>OmniFocus</a>’  which allows you to record, plan and process all the tasks you need to do. think of the software as a complex todo list manager. I have tried other GTD type software (<a href=”http://www.orionbelt.com/productMac.php&#8221; target=”_blank”>Easy Task Manager</a> &amp; <a href=”http://bargiel.home.pl/iGTD/&#8221; target=”_blank”>iGTD</a>) too. The software is a bit confusing to start with, but when you get your head around it (which I think I’ve nearly done), it does seem to work very well.</p>
<p>On a side note, I did actually purchase <a href=”http://www.davidco.com/”>David Allen</a>’s book on Getting Things Done in July 2007, but I still havn’t got around to reading it yet. <i></i></p>
<p>A good source of GTD and productivity information is the <a href=”http://www.43folders.com&#8221; target=”_blank”>43 Folders</a> website, started by Merlin Mann (who is a relly funny guy is you hear him on the Mac Break Weekly podcasts and Twitter).</p>
<p>I am also now practising the ‘<a href=”http://www.43folders.com/izero&#8221; target=”_blank”>Inbox Zero</a>’ methodology for dealing with and processing emails. So far, it seems to be working for me. I never really have more than a dozen emails in the inbox first thing in the morning. And most of these emails are overnight status reports. I have some Apple Mail rules that process the mail as it comes in which files most of the emails to either read later or delete. What should be left in the inbox should only be the email that I need to process. I have the email being checked every 15 minutes (and I am aiming for 30 minutes soon), which means that I am able to concentrate more on the task(s) that working on at any one time. Only yesterday, I found an Apple Script on the internet which will actually read who the emails are from when the mail is checked. This means I don’t even need to go into email to know who the email is from, and I am not being distracted by popup windows somewhere on my cluttered screen.</p>
<p>For more information, check out the following web sites:-</p>
<ul>
<li><a href=”http://www.davidco.com/&#8221; target=”_blank”>David Allen<br />
</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.43folders.com”>43 Folders</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.43folders.com/izero&#8221; target=”_blank”>Inbox Zero<br />
</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://ww.lifehacker.com&#8221; target=”_blank”>LifeHacker</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/&#8221; target=”_blank”>OmniFocus software</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.orionbelt.com/productMac.php&#8221; target=”_blank”>Easy Task Manager software</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://bargiel.home.pl/iGTD/&#8221; target=”_blank”>iGTD software</a></li>
</ul>