Getting Things Done?

Are you all familiar with the Getting Things Done® (GTD) productivity plan? It’s a registered trademark so I put the thingie there. What’s it all about, Peppermint? Well … it’s about getting things done, folks. There’s a book (here) and seminars (here) and a whole store full of products (here) that tell the entire tale – but the jist of it is that we all have stuff to do, and this is a method for organizing your things to more productively get them done.  You’ve probably heard of it, maybe even read the book. There are a lot of GTDers out there.

See? Liz has the book. Although whether or not she’s even read it, or implemented it, is a different story altogether.

Note that it’s a METHOD for getting things done, but the “doing of stuff” is all on you. Since the “doing” part is where things tend to fall apart for me, I affectionately refer to it as GND, or “Getting Nothing Done” (no trademark).

A week or two ago, Christine told me that she was going to read the book because she’d seen a blog post on using Evernote as the backbone of your GTD system. (As an aside, it’s not just for Asians – it’s just that I attract a lot of Asian friends – true story.) I decided to give GTD another go because she was so excited about her new Evernote system – and I already used Evernote for other things. Plus most of my things are digital things and my current system has been to haphazardly strew things across the desktop of my computer, let emails pile up in my inbox with no note as to what needs to be done with them, and then my ever faithful “Post-It Note On The Monitor” method that has served me well for so many years. Evernote has a lot of plug-ins across a lot of programs, so by adding “add to Evernote” buttons to my browser, my Google Reader, my email program and an app on my Droid – I can pile things into Evernote like crazy.

I, personally, set up my Evernote system using the One Notebook strategy (via 40Tech) because I already have several Evernote notebooks and didn’t want to clutter up the whole works. I’m not sure which one Christine used – her exact answer was “Mostly the one from that health-something website” .. she’s helpful like that. “You know, the website … with the text. It has colors on it and some writing. That one.”

A Google search for “GTD and Evernote” turns up a plethora of options, so no worries. (She also said “somewhat from this dude,” too.)

So now I have a way to move most of my things to one central location where I can sort my things and prioritize my things, but actually doing my things is something I have to continue to work on. I’m very good at avoiding things in order to do cooler, funner things. Which spurred this conversation between Christine and I online this afternoon:

Peppermint: my evernote system isn’t making me any more productive, but it is keeping me organized for now. I still avoid the stuff, but at least it’s cohesively there if I decide to do it.

Christine: That’s exactly how I feel about it.  It’s not magically going to make me WANT to do some of the stuff. Especially after I read that article about procrastination that I sent you yesterday.

Peppermint: Yea, I’m still GND. But I can GTD if I want. I haven’t even read that article yet.

Christine: It totally made sense to me.

Peppermint: I’m procrastinating on reading the procrastination article. It’s in my GND file. I’ll have to call my system “GAFTD” – Get A Few Things Done. But I like GND better because it’s more accurate, really.

Christine: Mine is “WTOIGND” – Wasting Time On the Internet Get Nothing Done.

Peppermint: Maybe “FTIESODIMGTDIIHNETD” – File Things In Evernote So One Day I Might Get Things Done If I Have Nothing Else To Do

Christine Newman: Or “SOAEC” – Sit On Ass Eating Chocolate

Peppermint: I should post this on my blog. I’m going to clip it to Evernote so one day I might do that.

And that’s just what I did, Internet! So I can officially remove one thing from my GND file. Go me!

On a related note, I was talking to Liz about GND and she said that I’m a “workarexic” – a delusional workaholic who never thinks she works enough (like an anorexic,except applied to work). So there you go! An official diagnosis AND a new word to throw around at cocktail parties (should I ever actually be at a cocktail party).

Have a great weekend everyone! Get things done! You know … if you feel like it.

Or don’t. It’s all up to you!