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Recently, I was challenged by one of my best friends to check out the theory of “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. I had heard of the concept before, but I had never really researched it until a couple of weeks ago. If you are one of those people who has trouble finishing tasks, organizing your thoughts, or forgets tasks throughout the day to complete, then I would seriously consider you research the GTD method. What I liked most about the plan was that there was no set formula for getting things done. The formula varies with each person, but the goal is to create a system for your life that helps you get things done. The most common way to do this is to set up in-boxes for yourself. Create either virtual or actual boxes to place tasks and prioritize them by level of importance, time it will take to get done, or by time sensitivity.
I have been on a kick lately to simplify my life. There are so many new web applications out there to organize you, but all it does is end up complicating your life more than it was before. So, my GTD method involves using iGoogle, the customizable Google homepage.
Step 1: Sign in to your Google Account or Create one at www.igoogle.com
Step 2: Set up a new tab labeled “Organize” or “Get Things Done”.
Step 3: Add three different widgets. Add Google Notebook, Remember the Milk, and Google Calendar.
Step 4: Make igoogle.com your homepage on whatever internet browser you use the most.
Google Notebook allows you to jot notes down and for those FireFox users, you can download the google notebook plug-in that allows you to drag and drop text, photos, and charts into the notebook where it stores it.
Here is the link for the Google Notebook plug-in
Remember The Milk is a cool third-party website that has a Google widget for iGoogle. The free version is adequate enough to help you manage your tasks for the day, week, or month. Google Calendar is just a simple way to for you to keep track of your appointments and other important events such as birthdays and anniversaries.
This method works for me. I wake up in the morning, double-click on Firefox and automatically iGoogle pops up with my tasks for the day, calendar, and a notebook for me to store blogging ideas, quotes, and other information that I don’t want to read right away. Another great thing about iGoogle is that you can put the Google Reader widget in there as well, so you can scan through all of your favorite blog articles and news headlines without leaving your homepage. it’s highly customizable and there are a ton of widgets you can add to the homepage.
Does anyone else use iGoogle the way that I do? Please comment about your method for getting things done. Do you have a method?
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Comments
05.14.08
I use iGoogle for quite a bit. I keep multiple tabs, using a few for RSS feeds of different blogs I read (organized, no less). I also use it for the 3 local craigslist categories I check most often.
05.14.08
oh wow, I didn't know there was a craigslist widget. Thanks for the tip!
05.14.08
I haven't had much luck with Google products other than search, maps, and calendar.
Google Reader came across as very un-Google in how cluttered its interface is. Same with Remember the Milk (the interface for that one made me feel like I needed to read a manual).
What I do for GTD (and highly recommend to others), is something like ClearWiki (http://www.clearwiki.com/). It's free, to-do lists are very simple and easy to manage, and the fact that it's a private wiki lets you store ideas, files, and other kinds of information all in one place. No RSS reader, though (I use the one built into the Opera browser, which is very good but not portable).
05.14.08
I have used iGoogle for a while. I think I might like it because of the 'i' part so it kind of goes along with everything Mac...
I utilize the different tabs you can have. If I'm at work I will check out the news during the day (News feeds on the front page) and get a new Einstein quotes, but if I'm at home I want to see different things. It really helps to organize and become more efficient.
05.15.08
Thank you for the tips. I am very excited to try this out and hopefully it works amazing for me too.
I read GTD by David Allen almost a year ago. I was very inspired to get myself organized after that. I really like the idea of putting everything on the system, so we do not need to remember anything and remain stress-free.
However, I still have not succeeded so far in keeping up with the lists.
Sometimes it is becoming more stressful to maintain the list of TODOs. But I am still trying hard and believe getting organized is most important to be productive.
But, one of the key thing to start is - ALWAYS START A TODO AND APPOINTMENT LIST EVERYDAY. Do it at night for the next day. Plan your errands and activities with time-specific layout. Plan your itineraries well, so that you would not waste the time to go from one end of the world to the other end for only 1 task or errand.
For e.g. of the DAILY TODO (you can write in your organizer each day):
09:00 - Check e-mail
10:00 - Meeting with Ajay at Times Square
14:00 - Pick up laundry (at Times Square also)
Well, surprise does happen and if the tasks cannot be done, bring it forward to the next day.
Just to share with you my post last time ,especially for those who have not read GTD.
My Getting Things Done Post
05.15.08
I read your article with a smile, mainly because you just described everything I did a few months ago :). The only difference is I use a few more google products. On my igoogle page is my gmail, google notebook, google reader, google bookmarks, google documents, and of course remember the milk (if only google would come out with an adequate to-do list).
05.18.08
This is actually a helpful tip. I ran this for few days and I find it to be very useful.
I do agree with Nabil. I added Gmail as emails also acts like our task inbox. I also added Google reader in another tab.
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