Fragmentation

Read this.

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I could have written that post. When I read Hawk's Pile of Index Cards web site I got very inspired and ran out to buy myself a whole bunch of 3x5 cards and a box to hold them in. I bought little carriers for them and a Circa Hipster PDA. I was writing on index cards all the time, in the car, on the couch, in the bathroom. There were stacks of them everywhere. I had my whole GTD system on there too.

Then one day I got sick of shuffling through the cards and made a to do list on a regular notepad. I got so much done that day! Somehow seeing everything in one place really helped, so I gave up the index cards and moved to a notebook and online documents that are searchable.

But I still love index cards and I wish I could find a good way to use them. They make me think of about fragmentation, and tearing things down into pieces and rearrange them into new configurations.

Like....
- blogging
- Twitter and microblogging
- GTD's "widgets" and breaking projects down into smaller tasks
- mind mapping/sweeping
- MP3s and the demise of albums
- wikis
- RSS feeds
- YouTube
- Wikipedia
- Circa

All these things have helped open my mind to the power of fragmentation and collection. My tendency is to create systems and bring information together (like I'm doing in this post). The idea of tearing it apart intrigues me.

The world is breaking down into smaller, more flexible pieces, without gatekeepers to tell you how they should be arranged. That's a good thing.

ZuluPad

If you've ever considered using a personal wiki to track your GTD to-dos and notes, but abandoned the idea because the software was too cumbersome, you might give ZuluPad a try. I've been using it recently to hold all my various lists and notes and it's really impressive. Go for the Pro version, available for a $15 donation, which allows you to print, add images, and synchronize your wiki online so that you can use it on multiple computers.

My main ZuluPad document is growing by leaps and bounds. I'm using it for all my GTD lists and notes, and I'm loving it so far. Making links to other pages within the wiki or on the Web is practically effortless, and I easily got my pages to print on Circa Junior paper. There's a handy datestamp feature, and it's easy to navigate between all your pages. The online synch has worked perfectly so far.

The program gets a little slow on larger documents, but not too slow to be particularly annoying. The only things I find myself missing so far are traditional word processing functions like bullet points, customizable headers, and a spell check.

Developer Thomas Gersic seems engaged with an adoring ZuluPad fanbase on his Web site, so hopefully some of those options will appear in a later release. Even without them, ZuluPad is one of the most useful and well-written programs I've found online - simple, elegant, useful.

Ready for Anything: The Verdict

Well, it's a strange book. Basically, it's a collection of insights that Allen came up with writing his email newsletter. They're gathered into sections, but they don't necessarily relate to each other very well. He also veers off into new-agey stuff too much. Finally, I'm still not convinced that this whole idea that "the brain has limited RAM" is even true. Let's ask Stephen Pinker what he thinks, then maybe I'll get on board. This idea permeates the book, and the point is made over and over. Can't GTD just be a good way to organize stuff? Why does it have to be the meaning of life too?

Ready for Anything - Part Four

This section is called Relax and Get In Motion, or, How to Be Where the Action Is. Below are the segments and my notes.

40. You're the only one playing your game.
The nature of today's knowledge work requires skills that are not yet widely recognized, such as defining one's actions, making decisions, and dealing with an overwhelming amount of "incoming stuff." "I contend that a competitive edge, personal and organizational, is maintained by one's ability to deal with surprise."

41. Too controlled is out of control.
Don't get caught up in the minutiae your organizational system and become an "organizing groupie." You still need to work and think. "[I]t's really about capturing, catalyzing, and executing creative thinking, not about 'getting organized.'"

42. The better you get, the better you'd better get.
As you start to make better decisions and maintain control over your work, your attention will move on to bigger issues. You will always have to engage with the world, at more and more challenging levels. No ABC priority list can change that fact.

43. Trusting your action choice requires multilevel self-management.
"[P]ristine organization of your details does not ensure truly productive activity." There is no simple answer to the question of what is the best thing for you to be doing at any moment. You have to trust your intuition. You exist on many levels, and you need to pay attention to all of them.

44. Your power is proportional to your ability to relax.
"Find out what's stressing you, and deal with it--now--if you want to be truly effective on all levels at once." The freer and more relaxed you are, the more productive you are.

45. Surprises, expected, are no surprise.
"Denial of the reality of constant change produces resistance and frustration." You have to prepare for the worst and think about how you would deal with it if you had to.

46. The longer your horizon, the smoother your moves.
Sometimes the habits that you have developed outlive their usefulness, and you need to make a change. Sometimes we have to give up our comfortable ways of doing things and take risks in order to regain our energy and enthusiasm.

47. You speed up by slowing down.
"You must constantly let go, relax, and refocus." By taking a break, you re-energize yourself and allow yourself to see things differently. You sometimes have to force yourself to do so.

48. You don't have time to do any project.
"...you actually can't do a project--you can only do action steps." Be honest with yourself about which projects are "long term" and which are "someday maybe." It's a subtle and tempting difference that often leads to procrastination.

49. Small things, done consistently, create major impact.
This is true for both positive and negative behaviors.

50. You have to do something to know something.
The people who need GTD the most are the least likely to use it. To work on productivity, you have to believe that you are in control of your life and you have to want to go somewhere different than where you are. Not everyone feels that way.

51. It's easier to move when you're in motion.
"If you're positively engaged, with any part of your life, it is easier to deal with change and to get anything else done." GTD makes you feel better because you're taking control of your life.

52. The biggest successes come from the most failures.
Just keep trying, and don't let setbacks derail you. Everything you try gets you a little closer to where you want to be, either because it's the right thing to be doing, or because it teaches you about the wrong way to go.

Quote for the day

From Freddy and Fredericka, by Mark Helprin:

Something happens to the body at fifty that at twenty you can't imagine, at thirty you don't suspect, and of which at forty you have just a hint, but cross that bridge when you come to it. You'll be a different man then. You'll forgive yourself. The chase will be over and you'll have learnt to love the world for what it is and to see yourself for what you are. It happens to everyone, even to kings.

Ready for Anything - Part Three

This section is called Create Structures That Work, or, It's Hard to Stay on Track Without Rails. It talks about the importance of underlying structure and discipline. Here are the titles of each segment and my notes.

27. Stability on one level opens creativity on another.
People rebel against "getting organized" because they haven't really figured out what they want. They associate the organization with giving them more undesirable things to do. When you're doing something you love, the "organizing" part is fun. Alternately, getting organized can help you learn to love what you do because it focuses you on what's best and most important.

28. Form and function must match for maximum productivity.
You need to know what the right tool is. To do so, you need to know what you're trying to do. You have to be both a visionary and a doer, but you have to be able to balance the two roles and understand which one is your strength, and which one might need some help. Your system has to support both roles.

29. Your system has to be better than your mind for your mind to let go.
If your mind doesn't believe that you're really following your system, it won't let you rest.

"Doing proactive knowledge work (thinking, deciding, and sorting) and setting up a well-organized personal-management system to handle the results is like hiring a fabulous executive assistant for yourself--it releases you to do the really important things you want to focus on. But if that system is not kept current, it's like having your key support staff quit without notice or replacement."

30. Response ability improves viability.
Unprocessed stuff reduces your awareness of your environment and your ability to react. But it also serves as a buffer and a layer of protection against the world. When a disorganized person cleans up, he feels vulnerable, and has to learn to live in a new world the way a reformed addict does. The unprocessed stuff allowed him to avoid dealing with real questions about his work and life.

31. Your system is only as good as its weakest link.
"A system relieves no pressure unless it truly handles its job 100 percent...Real systems must be solid enough to hold up in the toughest reality--when we least feel like maintaining them."

In an organization, the low-performer drags everyone else down. In an effective organization, they can deal with higher-level problems because they've taken care of the basics. If you know that someone is actually going to read the email you sent and do something about it, you'll be more careful about what you say. If you make careful decisions and think carefully about your work, you avoid problems later on.

32. The effectiveness of your system is inversely proportional to your awareness of it.
If you have to think about your system, you're wasting energy that could be better used elsewhere. The best systems run smoothly in the background and can handle a big increase in volume. For example, if you don't learn how to use keyboard shortcuts, or you filing system is too complicated and overstuffed, things will back up and take more time than they have to.

33. Function follows form.
A good system will not only help you be productive, it will help you engage with the things you care about the most. To do so, you have to get your whole life, including your friends and family, your staff, and all your interests and goals, into your personal-management system. "[F]irst-degree black belt is only the beginning!"

34. You can't win a game you haven't defined.
You have to know what your goals are. Some people have lots of actions, but don't know what their projects are. Some people have lots of projects, but don't know what their actions are.

35. Whenever two or more are responsible for something, usually nobody is.
Someone's got to be in charge! If different team members with different skills and concerns are competing, someone has to be able to make decisions about who does what. The same metaphor applies to different parts of ourselves. You need to think about what the creative part of you can do, as opposed to the disciplined number-cruncher part, for example, and create a plan that makes good use of each of your talents.

36. Prime your principles instead of policing your policies.
If you are clear about your principles and values, you will act in accordance with them. The same goes for your team, and for people who work for you. If you communicate your standards at the beginning of their relationship with you, you can avoid inappropriate behavior that might occur because of a lack of clarity.

37. Use your mind to think about your work, instead of thinking of it.
If your system isn't reliable, your mind will focus on things it's not good at, like trying to remember tasks. You need to create habits of action that you will be able to perform without thinking about it. "Form. You can't do, without it. Until you do, without it."

38. You are thinking more valuably than you may think.
"Give yourself the freedom to capture all kinds of thoughts that you can later reassess." Feel free to write down everything that comes to mind, regardless of whether you initially think it's important. Brainstorm and let it all hang out. You'll be amazed at how creative you are. Use paper and computers, or whatever tool works for you. Just get it out of your head so that you can think about it and process it into actions.

39. The necessity to plan and organize is inversely proportional to your perceived resources.
Scarcity creates a need to plan and clarify direction. "What we truly most need to do is often what we most feel like avoiding." For example, when we're super busy, we don't feel like we have time to stop and get organized. Allen argues that evolving and getting beyond this tendency toward self-defeating behavior is what will allow us to do meaningful work. GTD helps us to transcend.

My Killer GTD Setup

I've been tagged! I feel like a real live blogger now.

gtdfrk, of the Getting Things Done blog has invited me to tell you all about my "Killer GTD Setup." And since I love talking about this stuff, here we go...

Over the years I've tried a zillion different systems. Though I'll admit I do enjoy switching around and setting up new systems just for the fun of it, the truth is that with each change I learn something new, and my setup gets a little bit better.

Here are the three main things I've learned about myself and GTD:

• I need to use paper.
  
• As much as I love index cards, having to shuffle through them all the time doesn't work for me. I need a list.
  
• It's got to be simple.

As you may have seen in previous posts, I've been reading David Allen's Ready for Anythinglately, and these quotes really struck me:

A system relieves no pressure unless it truly handles its job 100 percent...Real systems must be solid enough to hold up in the toughest reality--when we least feel like maintaining them.

and

The effectiveness of your system is inversely proportional to your awareness of it.

These insights, and much experimentation, have led me to my current masterpiece. Are you ready for such a mind-blowing revelation? You're sure? Ok, here goes.

Write things down in a notebook.

Phew! That was rough. Take a moment to digest. Re-read and make sure you understand. I'll wait.

Seriously, this is my current scheme: I have a Levenger Circa notebook with two sections. The front of the notebook is filled with blank paper, which I use to write notes throughout the day. I usually keep a few days worth of notes in here, before moving them out. I start each day on a new page, and date each page. That way it's easy to move notes into an archive.

The back section of the notebook, behind a divider called "Reference," is where I keep my lists. I have projects lists, next actions lists, and someday/maybe/waiting for/reminder lists for both work and home. I also keep reference lists in this section, like stuff that I've bought that I'm waiting to be delivered, and restaurants I might want to go to.

I also have a pocket to hold loose stuff.

That's basically it. I have in-boxes at home and work. Here's my home desk:

I keep my files nice and neat:

I use my Circa punch and label maker frequently:

I keep all my contacts in Gmail, and use Gmail for all my email accounts. I make generous use of Gmail's archive feature to process my in box to zero. I keep my calendar on Google Calendar. I keep personal documents in Google Documents. I use Google Reader for all my blog reading.

I take lots of notes, and I always have my notebook nearby. I use my Circa notebook for everything, including meetings. I process my notebook when it's convenient, going through my notes to look for new projects and action items and adding them to the appropriate list.

Here are some key insights that I've had during my experiment with GTD:

• You have to write everything down. The knowledge that you have captured the information, even if you're not going to do anything with it, is absolutely necessary. Knowing that the information is out of your head gives you the confidence and comfort to let it go.
• You have to trust that you will review your notes. If you write it down and never process it, you won't trust your system.
• You have to be realistic, and have what David Allen calls "clean edges." Your next actions list is sacred. Do not put anything on there that you don't really have to do. The next actions list is not the place for "could dos," "might dos" or "someday maybes." It has to be stuff you're really going to do.
  

That's about it. My system is simple, realistic and robust. And it works!

Oh yes, and I hereby tag Brett Kelly, at the Cranking Widgets Blog, because I think that's the best blog name of all time.