A poor excuse

Yep I still have not succesfully started using GTD. 6 months into placement I have not even finished reading the book.

I wish I could stick to my resolutions .

I WILL CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!


ok so that may have been a little too much. anyways I am preparing to take another stab at gtd wish me luck . I am a very bad example of some one trying to organize myself. Some times I wish I could go back to when I was 5 and tell my younger self ." Dude learn to organize yourself now stack you damn lego's properly otherwise you'll regret it when you grow up"
How I wish I was one of those proper kids when I was small , maybe it would have made all the difference

My journey into GTD - Stall

What plans I had of implementing the system during my semester end. My aim was to harness GTD to make my life easier while preparing for my exams. Alas as the saying goes

The best laid plans of mice and men, often go astray

my plans failed to take off in the face of the various activities that came up during the period in question. I did take away a valuable lesson from this; if you are going to get organized, do not try to do it at the end of some work period even if the guru's out there assure you that it is feasible to do so. This reminds me of the words my mum was constantly drilling into me while I was growing up, which were "Never leave anything for the last minute" and "Preparation is success in its early stages".
After this setback I have gone back to the drawing board, I have since decide to use my one year of industrial placement to fully understand and implement GTD. I do not know if anyone will read this , But my plan is to dedicate a day of the week to update each of my blogs and have another day for tweaking their design etc.
If anyone does see this, feed back is welcome

Getting the Tools: GTD prepartion

If you have gone through David Allen's book you must have come across the list of the tools he recommends for implementing his system. which are
• Paper-holding trays (at least three)
• A stack of plain letter-size paper
• A pen/pencil
•Post-its (3X3s)
• Paper clips
• Binder clips
• A stapler and staples
• Scotch tape
• Rubber bands
• An automatic labeler
• File folders
• A calendar
• Wastebasket/recycling bins
these are not terribly expensive to obtain . but some items can be substituted for when you happen to be a college student on a tight budget. Especially for people in SL.
Today and the day before I took time to go hunting for the above items.. and well was shocked at the cost of some of the things. The fact that to reap something valuable you need to invest in it is true, but when there are ways to save while investing why not do that. So heres what I came up with in terms of more cozt effective tools.
If you go to arpico and look at in trays in the stationery section you wont find anything cheaper than 500/= thats per tray by the way so for just one in and out stack you will spend at least 1000/=. Instead . if you wonder around the plastics section you will find a cheaper plastic rack for keeping books with two trays that will cost around Rs 700.00 its not much to look at but hey it gets the job done.
Next I went to check on files. you can find those manila files with name tags and all that for about Rs 12.00 and above at leading books stores. That doesn't sound like much but when your buying 50 plus files(you will need at least that much for David's GTD system) it takes quite a bit out of your pocket. So instead go to any corner book shop and buy normal legal file (The type we use in school ) each file will cost about Rs5.00 or less even(If you go to wholesalers in Negambo ).
If your buying A4 sheets dont go to leading book stores because they charge you about Rs 250 plus for a pack of 500 sheets. I went to negambo too a stationery wholesaler and bought the same 500 sheet pack for Rs 150. Saving about Rs 100.
altogether for just these few items i managed to save about Rs.700 to Rs 900. which is a lot for a student. This skimping as some would call it didn't compromise the effectiveness of the system in any way either. More tips on implementing a cost effective GTD system will follow

A newbies insight

in an earlier post I talked about getting David's book as an ebook. i've gone through it and trust me its great but nothing compares to having the real thing. Because when your setting up your system you would wants quick reference to look up within arms reach. Of course a cheaper solution would be to print the whole thing and as a cash strapped student cheap is a way of life to me :d.. But if you have money to spare use it to get the book
Of course for those college students with cash constraints get the ebook and print out what you think is pertinent, this is of course considered unlawful so be careful and I certainly do not advocate it. After I get my system up and running I will try to use my experience with it to help others implement GTD .. especialy people who belong to my neck of the woods.. I'm still processing the info in the book , but plan to make a start of it on this Wednesday by starting the collecting phase.

GTD: Collection List 1(A grad students List )

I did it ... I sat down in the library for about an hour without any one distracting me. It took than less than hour to collect most of the stuff that was buzzing around in my head. When I finished the stressed out feeling that had been plaguing me reduced quite a bit it felt like the first time you come up for air after diving into the water. My list had about 47 points and it will grow to a bit more I think. Now I just need to organize them into some order like the book said.
The interesting fact is that I have tried this procedure before but it didn't work like it did this time, It must have to do with the fact that I tried to collect organise and process everything at the same time. Its astounding how the obvious things in life sometimes escape us. I think David Allen should get a prize for directing so many to the right path.

As a undergrad in his second year I cant begin to say how helpful this system can be , and the best part is that it doesn't take that long because as students we still have a manageable set of responsibilities. I wish I had found this system when I was in my first year ..

The GTD Journey Step1.

I've not yet gone through the whole of David Allen's book yet, But I have come to the part about the first step towards "Getting Things Done" and a stress free life. Which is collecting or collection,
What this step entails basically is collecting all those little reminders that are running around your head and recording then some where physically so that you can process it at a later date. This action is most important when you think about it and completely logical, don't you think that You would feel more confident knowing that you have written down at least most of the important tasks you must complete somewhere so that you can go through them easily to organize them, this may seem obvious to most too do, but how many out there actually do this regularly.
The difference is that in the GTD system the collection process is completed before moving on too organizing it this makes it easier on your mind since everything is not happening at once.
Will update you with my progress after completing the collection process

David Allen : Getting Things Done.. The book

I spent a fruitful few hours going through GTD materials and made some interesting finds, among them I found a copy of David Allen's Book "Getting Things Done The Art of Stress free Productivity" , I set aside some time and plan to go through it since this is where it all started from this book sprang this whole system of managing yourself. People talk about things that change the world. I think this book could be one of those things.. I've only read the first chapter and found it very enlightening. This was not my only find, I also found a few blogs that were interesting that I added to my google reader( A list of which I will put up soon , )
The amount of people writing about this system is amazing. It inspires Confidence In the "Getting Things Done (GTD)" system. It sets it apart from all the other self management techniques out there. I plan to implement the GTD system during this week and work my way in to making it a habit and a way of life for me. wish me luck