Evening before "to prepare" list

Inspired by the 10'O Clock rule I made myself an "evening before to prepare" checklist:

• Check upcoming events for the next day in iCal
  
• Transfer files from and to USB stick
• Pack bag for work (USB stick, read/review stuff, wallet, ...)
• Write a note about what still needs to be done in the morning
• (trash, dishwasher, ...)
• Prepare and if necessary iron clothes for the next day 
• Prepare the table for breakfast
• Plug the iPhone into the charger
• Set the alarm

I don't  do it exactly at a specific time in the evening, but try to always take some time during the evening to prepare for the next day.

GTD "morning arrival at work" checklist (Update)

I'm assembling some GTD related worklists for my daily and long term work-flows and perspectives.

This is my "morning arrival at work" checklist:

• Make yourself tea and get something to drink (water)
• Start all programs (use Script to start all applications)
• Check calendar for upcoming events (today & tomorrow)
• Check OmniFocus for due tasks
• Check and collect/process/organize "Inboxes"
• Check and collect/process/organize emails
• Check and collect/process/organize physical in-basket
• Check and collect/process/organize @Inbox folder on Mac
• Check and collect/process/organize @Inbox/@Office folder on USB-Stick
  
• Check and collect/process/organize @Inbox folder on Safari Bookmarks
  
• Start "doing"(highest priority in context depending on time/energy available)

• At the end of the day check upcoming events in calendar

UPDATE 29.07.08: added handling of Safari Bookmarks in the @Inbox folder, related to my post about Safari Bookmark taming with GTD

UPDATE 05.08.08: added handling of @Inbox/@Office folder on USB Stick

How GTD helps me to tame my bookmarks

Bookmarks have the habit of growing ruthlessly over time. Using GTD to tame my bookmarks results in having different folders reflecting the different states of a "task" or project (which would correspond to a link or a collection of links). Bookmarks are either collected in the "@Inbox" folder if I'm short on time or then are directly processed and put to the appropriate folder as described below:

• @Inbox: When I'm short on time, then new bookmarks land in the "@Inbox" folder, which does not contain any sub-folders. Like with the physical Inbox basket or the email Inbox, I every now and then (best at least once daily) go through the "@Inbox" folder and process the bookmarks in it. If the content can dealt with within 2 minutes I do the appropriate action, then discard or archive the link (see below for folder "Archive"). If it takes more than 2 minutes to deal with the "task, the links will be renamed to reflect the action or topic, then it will be processed GTD like (action, defer, read/review, etc.) and is put inside the appropriate folder as described further below.
• @Action: Links belonging to a project are put inside the @Action folder in a sub-folder with the project's name (1-level hierarchy only). When the project is over, the sub-folder is moved to the @Archive folder (see below) or just deleted if it is not worth keeping. The @Action folder has two fix sub-folders:
• @Blog: Things I read and want to blog about land in this folder.
• @Download: Links to files or other things I want to download at a later time are stored here.
• @Defer: When I collect information about things I might plan to do in the future (for product evaluations for  something I like to buy, travel info about a possible holiday place to visit, etc.) it will be put here inside a sub-folder with the project's name (1-level hierarchy only). In the GTD way, these projects in the future either, become active (moved to @Action), or are archived (moved to Archive), or are just discarded.
• @Read/Review: One-time reading material that I want to read when I have time (e.g. using my iPhone during train travel or in-line waiting) is put into the @Read/Review folder. Material belonging to the same topic is put in an appropriate sub-folder (1-level hierarchy only). After I read the related pages I wither archive them (move to Archive) or discard them.
• Archive: Bookmarks that I want to keep for future reference are saved in the "Archive" folder. If multiple links belong to a project or topic, a sub-folder with the project or topic name is created to host the collection of links. As before, the folder hierarchy is flat (only one sub-folder level allowed), I do not put folders in sub-folders inside the Archive.

To find specific bookmarks later on, I use the search feature of Safari's Bookmarks window, which allows me quickly to find the link I'm looking for. This though makes it mandatory to give the sub-folders (project names) as well as the bookmarks some intelligent names, which makes it easy to find the link or project folder for a certain topic in the future.

GTD Workflow Tips

When looking for some GTD related workflow lists I found the GTD Workflow Assessment/Tips Checklist by Matthew Cornell.

Basically he gives a more details to the basic GTD tasks for Collecting, Processing, Organizing, Reviewing and Doing in form of self-proclamations (check the list to see what I mean by that).

It help me at least to look at my GTD based workflow from a new angle, looking at some details that I was not aware before.

Inbox Zero by Merlin Man

I watched the "Inbox Zero" Google Tech Talk from Merlin Mann. Yes, he's the guy from the famous 43folders blog, which also has its own Inbox Zero series. In order to watch the video off-line, you can use SafariStand (cmd-click on the video to save it locally) download the FLV video in Safari and WimpyPlayer to play it. These are the main things I got out of the video (besides refreshing the basic 5 steps for handling email: "Delete / Delegate / Respond/ Defer / Do"):

• always carry a stack of index cards or a small notebook with me to catch tasks (e.g. buy toilet paper) whenever they come into your mind
• whenever you start to fiddle with taxonomy go and do three tasks
• use MailTemplate to improve answering similar emails
• process things (Inbox, Email, etc.) by latest first
• try to become a ninja at processing (learn to make quick decisions on what to do with stuff in your Inboxes)
• only archive emails/things that you might need in the future, else delete/trash it

Of course there is much more mentioned in the video (watch it yourself, it's really worth the time), but these are just the few things that stuck in my head after having watched it.

GTD best practices

These are some of my GTD best practices I found important for myself so far:

• Get priority thinking off your mind!
• Get some Someday/Maybe projects (including dreams, goals) to give you a better feeling that your lists have it all
• The calendar is only for rock solid tasks that will occur at that time (not plans / tasks that you would like to do = not prioritizing)
• Make some / more checklists and mind maps when evaluating possible projects or tasks, these will then go into the Inbox and be processed accordingly (incubate, trash, new projects / tasks?)
• Put a date on all notes, lists, checklists, mind maps, memos, etc.
• Have projects that have really good and well defined next actions
• Try not to have too many single actions on Miscellaneous lists but instead ask yourself: "are these really single and independent actions, or would they actually be better off in a small projects, even only having 2-3 actions overall?"
• Put all manuals that are too big to fit into the filing system (e.g. software manuals) to one place in a bookshelf or drawer, order them also from A-Z
• Put non-file-able stuff that lays around into boxes, label them and store them in your cellar or pavement
• Always add phone number to "phone call" related tasks
• Every email that is a delegation, request or where you wait for an answer should be CC'd to yourself and then processed accordingly (add to projects / lists) and then put in the @Waiting folder in your email
• Read the GTD best practices as often as necessary, until they are incorporated into your daily GTD mindset

GTD workflow diagrams

I found some good GTD workflow diagrams for:

• Collecting, Processing & Organizing
• Daily Review and Actions
• Weekly Review and Actions

via zenhabits