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Simply GTD with Kelly

David Allen's Getting Things Done

GTD & Google SpreadsheetJuly 14 2008

Easy accessibility to your GTD lists is key. If your brain thinks it will take longer to get something onto a list than to hold on to it in psychic ram, it will have no incentive to let go of it.

For those of you who are fans of Google spreadsheet as a GTD list manager, a quick way to get actions on to your lists is to create a "form" for new entries. What a form will do is give you a few simple fields to capture next actions. What you enter will automatically get filed onto your spreadsheet (setup as GTD lists) in the proper format. No need to even navigate to your spreadsheet.

Here's how to set that up:
1. Once you've created a Google spreadsheet, open up your spreadsheet on your desktop
2. Go to the sheet you are using for next actions (will be easier if all next actions are in one sheet)
3. Click on the Form tab
4. Click on Create a form
5. All of the columns in your current worksheet are captured as a form and will open in a new window
6. Once in your new form, hover over the Categories question, select Edit, and create it as a drop-down list instead creating options for each of your contexts (quick fill on the first letter of the list name will work if you don't use the @ at the beginning.)
7. Change the Next Actions question to the format of Paragraph text for more space to type
8. When you are done making changes, click Save, then Ne

Going Numb to RemindersJune 27 2008

A smoke detector works because you drop everything when it goes off in case of emergency. Your door bell works because you answer the door when it rings knowing it means someone is there. A reminder on your calendar works because it gets you to focus on something timely--or does it?

Feel like you've gone numb to the Reminder windows that pop up on your Calendar? (Hint: answer yes if you find yourself clicking snooze or dismiss most of the time when you see that window.) Don't feel bad. Most programs are built to help you to go numb to those Reminder because they set them on everything that is timed.

I'm not saying don't use reminders--just use them sparingly so that when they go off, they actually mean something.

Outlook is famous for putting reminders on everything by default. To turn them off by default go to Tools>Options>Calendar options and uncheck the reminders box:

When you really do want to be reminded of something timely, just manually check off the Reminders box within the entry:

In Lotus Notes, the same setting is under Tools>Preferences>Calendar & To Do>Alarms:

@BrainToastJune 21 2008

It's 4pm on a Friday. You want to keep cranking through stuff (at least until the boss leaves) but you know you're mentally fried and know you really don't have any business doing important things or talking to important people. That's a perfect time for a context called @BrainToast:

GTD & personality typesJune 7 2008

While GTD may not be for everyone, I think there's something it in for anyone. In fact, it's often fascinating to see the range of people who are attracted to GTD. In any given month I can be doing GTD classes for Baptist camp directors, Wall Street brokers, software engineers, admins and actors. You would also be amazed at how people implement GTD and what they find valuable. I've had incredibly technical people decide to keep their lists on paper. I've had artists love the system because it helps them be more creative and wanted to keep their lists online. I've had power planners have major "Ah-ha" moments from working with the less linear part of their brain doing something like mindmapping, during Natural Planning Model (p.54 of the book).

Someone recently wrote to me and asked:
David has occasionally made reference to Myers Briggs personality types and I wondered if anyone has worked out whether some of the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicators) fit better with GTD than others.

For instance, I'm an ISTJ and GTD comes naturally to me. My wife is an ENFP and it doesn't come at all easy to her. When we did the GTD-Q analysis (A GTDConnect feature) she, not surprisingly came out as a Visionary/Crazy Maker and I came out as a Captain/Commander. We make a great team!!

But I wondered if, in your coaching experiences, you'd ever used MBTI and whether

Those burning GTD questions...May 30 2008

This week I'm going to open up the lines to anyone who would like to ask me a GTD question. I've been working with this methodology for a long time and I'm happy to share strategies for getting clarity on what might be stuck for you.

Anything not quite making sense for you?
Wondering where something gets organized?
Have anything you're just not sure how to process?

This window won't be open for long so fire away while you can!

Update on 5/31: Thanks for the tremendous response. The lines are now closed :) I'll be posting some of my answers (in generic form/no names mentioned) on my blog in the coming weeks. Thanks!