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adiakritos

Staying Organized

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by
adiakritos
, Jan 17th, 2012 at 03:55 PM (665 Views)
I got some incredibly awesome ideas from David Allens book "Getting Things Done".

After about a year of applying what he talks about in his book here's what I've found to be most effective for me day-to-day.

His system of organization starts with this concept of capturing documents and list items he calls "buckets".

I have a 'bucket' in my backpocket everywhere in the form of a tiny spiral notebook. Its the same retangular shape of a legal pad except it's got tiny white notebook paper with blue lines.

I keep a number of different lists on about 3 different pages.

I have a list of things to do for school, a list of things to do for my online site, and a page I keep notes on like student access numbers or phone numbers or w/e.

This has lasted the test of time for me so if you find it useful I'll be happy you learned of it.

I've yet to organize my desk space the way David suggests although I've got that on my list of things to do.

Happy organizing!
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  1. Primzi's Avatar
    The next action list from GTD is amazing for productivity. I also like the concept of a tickler file, you will never forget anything if you use it every day.
  2. adiakritos's Avatar
    hmm I forgot what that was. thanks, I'll look into it.
  3. Primzi's Avatar
    A tickler file is very similar to a calendar in a way. Basically, you should have 31 file folders labeled 1, 2, 3,...,31 for each day in a month, + 12 file folders labeled January, February... for each month in a year. this means 43 folders altogether.

    The system is pretty simple: you put the folders in a file basket (i use something like this: http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/326...ument_tray.jpg ), ordered: Dec, Nov, Oct,...,Jan, 31, 30, 29,...,1.

    In front (on the most right side), you should have a folder with a number of the current day (for example, if it's 5th of July, your first number should be 5, after that is a 6, etc.).

    Each day, after you wake up, you should open the current folder for the day and review the sheets of paper in it. After you've done the things/written them to the next action lists, you should put the folder in the back, behind all other folders.

    You should use the tickler sistem for the things that you know you have to do on a certain day but you want to get them out of your mind for the moment. So basically, if you need to call John on 10th of September, you will put a sheet of paper in the file folder:

    a) If it's not September, put it in the folder labeled "September".
    b) If it is September, put it in the folder labeled "10".

    Once the month is over, take the folder for the next month, review the sheets in it, decide when you are going to do that stuff and put them in corresponding numbered folders/throw them away if you are not going to do them.

    It might sound a bit complicated at first, but once you get used to it, it is really really useful, as long as you open the folder each day. If you don't, the system collapses .

    I hope I helped at least a little bit .

    Primoz
  4. laptopstand786's Avatar
    good posts
  5. adiakritos's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Primzi
    A tickler file is very similar to a calendar in a way. Basically, you should have 31 file folders labeled 1, 2, 3,...,31 for each day in a month, + 12 file folders labeled January, February... for each month in a year. this means 43 folders altogether.
    Yea thanks for explaining it! I don't remember ever really understanding it when I read it from the book but this made is crystal clear. Thanks
  6. justin4750's Avatar
    I'm a douche