ATPM 13.02 - Next Actions: A Survey of the GTD App Landscape The 2001 publication of David Allen’s Getting Things Done stirred a revolution of organized, productive work environments for thousands. Allen’s system, affectionately known as “GTD” to those in the know, provides a framework for managing tasks, projects, goals, and, indeed, much of one’s life. As the GTD system spread in usage and popularity, dozens of tools and writings arose as a part of the GTD sub-culture. Blogs such as 43Folders and LifeHacker devote a significant amount of attention to implementing the GTD system. Allen’s own company Web site is a haven for GTD users, complete with a members-only resource center (which you can join for a mere $40 per month). The bottom line for GTD is fairly straightforward. Software Proliferation Since 2005, a burgeoning market of software with the ostensible purpose of assisting with the GTD process has hit the Mac, and the computer world in general. For now, I would like to start off by giving a “comprehensive” introduction of GTD tools. Park
Twenty Rules of Thumb for Creativity Twenty Rules of Thumb for Creativity 1. The best way to get great ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away. 2. Create ideas that are fifteen minutes ahead of their time...not light-years ahead. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. If you have some other rules of thumb for creativity, Send them to me e-mail Return to Tools Page here. Thunderbird gets GTD'd... « searching4arcadia A few things came together for me this past weekend, and I thought I’d share a bit. First, was MerlinMann’s discussion of the usefulness (or lack thereof) of e-mail folders. I agree completely with Merlin on this one- and I feel a hint of a running thread here- focus on The Work and not on Organization. After all it is “Getting Things Done” not “Organizing Things Nicely”. Second was a post regarding subject line editing I saw a while back on lifehacker.com that stuck in my grey-matter. Third, and finally, was my frustration with effective e-mail “getting things done”. What I’m about to show you can be done on most platforms I believe, and it’s super silly simple, I think. One of the ways I was able to get my “Inbox to Zero” was to implement an action folder. I remembered reading a long time ago on lifehacker.com about editing subject headers to allow for organizing messages. My first foray into images on here… here’s an example of what I mean: Like this: Like Loading... Permalink
Tackle Any Issue With a List of 100 The List of 100 is a powerful technique you can use to generate ideas, clarify your thoughts, uncover hidden problems or get solutions to any specific questions you’re interested in. The technique is very simple in principle: state your issue or question in the top of a blank sheet of paper and come up with a list of one hundred answers or solutions about it. “100 Ways to Generate Income”, “100 Ways to be More Creative” or “100 Ways to Improve my Relationships” are some examples. “One hundred entries? Isn’t that way too many?” Bear with me: it’s exactly this exaggeration that makes the technique powerful. When starting your list you may believe that there’s no way to get it done. Unlike the related Idea Quota tool — whose primary goal is to acquire the habit of coming up with ideas — the goal of a List of 100 is to take your mind by surprise. Ground Rules There are only two simple principles to keep in mind when making Lists of 100: 1. 2. The Dynamics of Making Lists of 100 1. 2. 3.
25 Firefox Extensions to Make You More Productive Firefox is my weapon of choice when it comes to browsing the web. It’s fast, free, and gives the user the best feature ever: Choice. The beauty of the Firefox extension is that it allows you to add a specific feature or function, fully customizing your browsing experience. For someone wanting to make the most of their online time, this is a huge opportunity. Autocopy – The name pretty much says it all. Photo by *keng Tagged as: firefox, firefox-extensions, Productivity
Where to find inspiration to be inspired I know I left it here somewhere. Excuse me, has anyone seen my award-winning idea? Know the feeling? Sometimes no matter how hard we try, coming up with ideas is the hardest job on earth. Find Inspiration is tricky and will never show its elusive face if you simply sit and wait for it to show up. Be inspired... Source: link In bed You’ll like this one. Source: link Online The brilliant TED Talks videos cover a huge range of discussion topics fronted by credible and fascinating speakers. Source: link In nature Get out of the office and go somewhere. Source: link In play To be creative you need to be feeling playful. Source: link In a bar Now we’re not suggesting you go out and get blind drunk. Source: link On a train People are brilliant. Source: link On paper Grab a pen and notebook and start to write. Source: link On the horizon Get up super early or go to bed very late, your call. Source: link In the car Go for a long drive, make it late at night if you can. Source: link In the bathroom Source: link
How to Declutter an Entire Room in One Go | Zen Habits Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter. My family is moving to another house this coming weekend, and to prepare for the move, we’re going through the entire house and getting rid of stuff we don’t need. The new house has much less storage, which I’ve decided is a blessing: it means we have to cut things down to the essentials. Moving day, btw, is a wonderful time to declutter. So here’s the method we’re using to declutter each room, one room at a time: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Working like this, we were able to do each room in a couple hours. It feels amazing when you’re done. Now sit back and enjoy the simplicity. More decluttering tips if you don’t want to do an entire room at once: Elsewhere: —Read more about simplifying in my book, The Power of Less.
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (9780761169253): Austin Kleon Archive » Tough questions for your things I like to think of myself as a person who is unattached to physical objects. Truth be told, however, this might not necessarily be the case. My lifestyle, being more minimalist than the average Jane’s, means that I make a conscience decision to bring something into my home. Each object exists in my space for a reason, and a chunk of time, planning, and research was dedicated to its acquisition, and there are further evaluations to let it stay. I likely will never resolve this quandary, but I think that the acquisition and evaluation process that I put into every object — and I do mean every object — is a valuable one. I have two set lists of questions that I ask myself about every object in my home. Questions for New Acquisitions: Do I have something like this already that fulfills the same purpose? Questions for Items Already in My Home: Do I have something else like this that fulfills the same purpose?
THE FEAR I hope you don’t think I know what I’m doing. I hope you don’t think I have it all together. My comic essays aren’t about truths I have mastered, but about truths I struggle to embody everyday. I’m currently in a season where I struggle with fear. My publisher has decided to wait and see how well my books sell before they offer me more work. Have you ever felt like the money you have in the bank is like a fuse on a bomb? So let’s talk about fear, everybody. Fear comes from believing your art will make you happy. I wrote an essay about this, I should know better, right? Someday I hope to start a family, but lately I’ve wondered if I’d be able to support a family by drawing comics. Fear also comes from the illusion of control. I’ve begun to draw a lot lately in an attempt to improve my skills. This has lead me to a bad head space where I feel like what I see on the page is an arbitrary indicator of how well I’m doing in life. Do you feel my fear? Announcements:
The Perfect Mess In an interview with Michael McLaughlin published in The New Writer’s Handbook (2007), Eric Abrahamson, co-author of A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder, says Your mess is perfect when it reaches the point at which, if you spent any more or any less time organizing, you would become inefficient. When we see a perfectly clean, organized office, with it’s sleek glass-topped desk and a white MacBook centered perfectly atop the desk’s vast emptiness, we might find it cold, sterile, oppressive even. It’s not a coincidence that the Death Star’s halls are clean, white — and cold! On the flip side, when we see an office with a desk buried under mountains of paperwork, with trash bins overflowing and computer cables snaking haphazardly across the room, we often find it overwhelming, disgusting even — and rarely think well of its owner! The Oppression of Organization Too much organization, especially for creative people, can be stifling. Messiness is also a class issue. The Cluttered Mind