Gmail Guide: Getting to Know Gmail This series is intended to help you master the important and useful features of Google’s Gmail and its simple but smart interface. By the end of these lessons, we’ll take you from a rookie to a power user. Gmail is one of the most popular webmail services out there. Gmail was one of the first web-based email products to offer a gigabyte of initial storage, trumping many of the other popular webmail services at the time, who typically offered 2 to 4 megabytes. Google also broke with tradition by offering an interface that organizes messages into threads, and while you can still break these threads into individual messages (we’ll talk about this later), it immediately made for a much cleaner inbox. Also, Gmail tread new ground by completely doing away with old school folders. Why Should You Use Gmail? Let’s talk a bit more about Gmail’s best features and why, if you’re not already using Gmail, you might consider starting. Gmail Provides Plenty of Storage Excellent Spam Filtering
Getting Things Done: Introduction Last Updated Jun 2, 2011 2:38 PM EDT This column is part one of a seven part series on Getting Things Done® (GTD®) -- the time and productivity management system by David Allen. Getting Things Done: Introduction Before I say what I'm about to say, let it be known that (A) I've never been called an exaggerator, (B) I'm not known to over-promise, and (C), I read about a book or two a week. There are three books that have had the greatest influence in my life. I've been kind of a productivity/efficiency nut for some time, so I went into this book with great expectations -- especially after reading all the hype about it. Fast forward to about a year ago. I find that when there's too much stuff coming my way I freeze. That was me a year ago -- lots of incredible projects, ideas, and opportunities, but helpless and unable to determine where I was and what I needed to do to advance them. Poor me, but of course there's a happy ending . . . Ugh! "Are you coming down with me to play poker?" 2. 3.
How to Get Started with Getting Things Done Last Updated Sep 11, 2008 2:34 PM EDT David Allen's Getting Things Done time-management system is based on some pretty esoteric concepts ("knowledge work," "distributed cognition," the "ready state" of martial arts, and so on), but in actual practice it's cheap and very much do-it-yourself. His bestselling book, Getting Things Done, lays out the method comprehensively, but his fans are so legion that you can actually piece together the elements of his program just by browsing the blogosphere. Clear the Decks GOAL: Record all your commitments to free up mental energy and start accomplishing things. GTD is a totalizing system, so don't expect to just ease yourself in. When all your physical rubble is more or less in one place, it's time for a "mind-sweep": the processing of writing down everything in every aspect of your life that you want to get done-now, next year, or sometime before you die. The Nitty Gritty Trigger List Empty Your Inbox Goal: Break tasks down into actionable steps.