Organize
Allen describes a suggested set of lists that you can use to keep track of items awaiting attention: Next actions – For every item requiring attention, decide what the next action must be taken to carry it out. For example, if the item is, “Write project report ‘, the next action might be” Write to Fred for meeting minutes “or” Call Mary to ask the requirements of the report’ or something like that. Although there may be many steps and actions required to complete a milestone, there’s always something that needs done first and should be kept in the list of next actions. Preferably, these are organized by the context in which they can be done “in the office ‘,’ phone ‘, or’ shop ‘. Projects – all unfinished (which Allen called open loop ‘open loop’) in your life or work which requires more of an action to achieve becomes a ‘project’.These actions shall be reviewed periodically to ensure that every project has a next action associated with it and can be carried out. Pending – when you have someone representing an action or are you waiting for an external event before continuing work on a project must be tracked in the system and checked periodically to see if an appropriate action or is there a reminder that needs to be sent. Someday / Maybe – this is stuff you want to do but is not currently possible. Examples might be “learn Chinese” or “take a vacation for diving ‘. A calendar is important for keeping track of appointments and commitments, however, Allen specifically recommends that the calendar be reserved for what he calls the “barren landscape” (hard landscape): things that should be done by a deadline specific, or meetings and appointments which are fixed in a particular time.The elements of the list ‘Pending’ should be reserved for the next actions list. A final key organizing component of GTD is the filing system. Getting Things Done argues that a system must be easy, simple and fun. It may even be a piece of paper if needed for reference, you should have a dedicated file for this and nothing else. Allen’s suggestion is to keep a single alphabetically ordered filing system for fast and easy as possible the fact of storing and searching the information you need. Users of the email service from Google, Gmail, you can use tags to create lists and projects as explained in the article by Bryan Murdaugh “Getting Things Done with Gmail”. This keeps many of the concepts of GTD but launched via email.For Gmail users who use Firefox browser, the extension will serve as extension GTDInbox GTD to Gmail interface in an easy, useful and convenient.
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