My Evolving GTD System: Part 3

July 11th 2007   GTD   6 comments

It’s been a while since I talked about the productivity system I use so I thought I would bring everyone up to date as a lot has changed and I learnt a few things about developing a system that really fits your needs. You can read my previous posts on the topic here and here.

The problem I have always had with any system I have used for being productive, was that it never seemed to stick. Often after only a few weeks, lethargy would set in and the system would fall apart. I would then default to scribbling to-do lists in a notepad.

So I decided to sit down and really work out what I wanted from my system and why previous approaches had not worked out for me. The issue that stood out for me with my other systems where I used folders or a Moleskine was that they were very neat (and in the case of the Moleskine, expensive) packages, so I was loath to scribble anything down on them.

The second issue I had was that I ideally wanted to be able to see all my projects, next actions, goals, roles and responsibilities in a simple way, and using as few sheets as possible. Most of my previous approaches usually had one project or goal per page. That was not practical for looking at the big picture.

With these points in mind I created a single sheet template largely inspired by the chart from the 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People book (if you have not read it, then I highly suggest you do). I can see the entire state of play for my life on one sheet and because I print a new one out every week I can be as scruffy as I want with it as it will ultimately get binned. It also means I can tweak it every week and really edit it to my individual needs.

A prime example of this is the section were you can put time specific next actions. When I originally did the chart this section was a lot larger but I found it rarely got used so I made it smaller and gave the extra space to the basic next actions section.

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this subject. Check out the current version of my chart and let me know what you think. Do you have a similar approach? It’s interesting that my systems are slowly drifting away from the typical GTD approach into my own model. Have any of you noticed this as you developed your system?

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Reader discussion

Hi there, interesting post of yours. You really simplified things here with the one page template. Could you elaborate on how you are actually using this. The column headings are a little cryptic (”one off”) as well as is the little numbers on the side. But great idea.

Yes, I will go into exact details of each section in another post next week but here is a short explanation of things. The numbers are hourly periods (for instance, 10AM to 2PM). I used to have a row for each hour but because I hardly needed it I collated things down a bit to save space.

As for the “one off” and “ongoing” columns, read this post I did on roles and responsibilities for a little understanding on that area. My thinking on the whole concept of roles has evolved since that post but it might explain some things.

My two cents having briefly read parts 1 and 2 and now 3.
Having everything on one page is a great goal for maintaining perspective, and rewriting every week kind of makes you want to only write down stuff you are going to complete because the incomplete stuff needs to be manually rewritten.
However for me, the next actions I could possibly do wind up being numerous which I do keep on a sheet organized by context and so numerous that rewriting them weekly doesn’t seem productive. Choosing what to do each day is a new possibility with your one page system. Sometimes I feel that I’m working too hard though when my whole week is planned out.
I use a Circa binding based system with 3×5 paper and a self-imposed limit of 1 or at most 2 3×5 pages of next actions per context (work, home, phone, errands, waiting-for). Items don’t get added too often and when they’re complete, they get marked done and lingering items only rewritten to a new page when i run out of space on the page and need to compact to a single page.
Yes, the shortfall of my system is a feel for how busy the week and each day is going to be, although most of the busyness is on the single “work” context page for me.
I shall try your one-page approach.

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