Has anyone successfully implemented and is currently using the GTD methodology?

I am stuck on finding a "Trusted System". I keep looking at different software packages and paper ways to do GTD but I keep finding cracks or holes in them all.

One of the most import things in the GTD methodology is having a system you can TRUST!



Has anyone found a trusted system?

Is currently using, yes -- whether I call it "successful" depends on the mood I'm in. I don't recall where I saw it, perhaps here, but someone mentioned that for ADD the goal shouldn't be perfect organization, but "well-enough organized". That mantra has helped me get away from perfectionism.

I have all sorts of personalized tweaks on the system, which is part of my advice right there: experiment, figure out what works for you, realizing it'll never be fully "there". But the cornerstone of my Trusted System is a little book like a paper planner, but with custom-designed sheets I print out on the laser printer. One of my favorite adjustments is sheets of lined paper with a little tagging-column on the left:

I can dump notes on these sheets as in a GTD-Inbox, then scan them through that flowchart technique. If they're short I do them right away and check them off on the left. But if they need categorization, rather than recopying into a project file or whatever, I give them tagging symbols for context (at work, at home, errand, needs computer access, etc.) as well as priority and all sorts of other stuff. It seems like a little thing, but for me, having the jot-notes Inbox unified with the To-Do list ended up being a major improvement.

HTH

P.S.
These were an inspiration in setting up my system...
http://www.pocketmod.com/
http://www.diyplanner.com/
http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda/

I've looked at it...might be fun setting up then I'll get bored. Alot of those systems have you limit your to-do' to 3 per day. At that rate I'll never get anything done. Then there is the intergration with corporate e-mail.

I've settled on a 8 1/2 X 11 spiral bound notebook (highest quality at Staples) to keep all my notes in. Anything I need to do or follow-up on I place an asterisk next to it in the left margin.

I also use a smaller notebook to jot things in that are not work related. Life goes on even during the days when I am at work so keeping notes helps.

Added to that an 8 1/2 X 11 pad of lined paper for my To Do's. The real ones. I just cross off when done. Next day I start a new page and move all the previous days unfinished to the new page.

I am also using a pretty nifty program called Evernote. I'm using the free version, but thinking of upgrading to the pay version soon. It is a PC based notepad with plenty of logic allowing you to categorize, cut and paste automatically from your Web browser and Outlook. Very customizable. Go to www.evernote.com (http://www.evernote.com)

Let's talk more about this.

NJTrout

I'll second Evernote. I made a move to try and do GTD, found Evernote met most of my needs in this regard, got obsessive about it for a while and now just use it regularly for weekly and daily plans.

It's a great tool.

I wish I opened Evernote more often. I'm struggling with finding a system that is works for me. I loose thoughts and ideas as fast as they enter my mind. By the time I realize I should write something down, find the pen and paper I have know idea what I was thinking. I have a digital recorder, but never have anything to say into it. I really need a totally integrated system. I might try Dragon Naturally Speaking though I have to save up for it. But then I need the computer always around....ugh!

NNTrout

I'll second Evernote. I made a move to try and do GTD, found Evernote met most of my needs in this regard, got obsessive about it for a while and now just use it regularly for weekly and daily plans.

It's a great tool.

I'm using the Mac application iGTD, and plan on transfering to Omnifocus. Basically, it's a bunch of small tasks, ordered by projects and subprojects. Tasks are also categorized by context. So I can work on a project, such as 'write a project proposal', which consists of, for example 10 tasks, including 'ask my boss about the goals of the project' and 'research topic X' and 'wait for input to be provided by colleague Y". All individual tasks are categorised by context as well. A context could be 'on the phone', or 'boss' (everything that I need to discuss with my boss") or "shop" (everything I need to buy at a shop). When I want to work on a project, I look at the actions that need be taken (the tasks), and work on the first one. When I'm going to the shop, I just look at the 'shop' context to find every item that I need to buy. When I'm going to talk with my boss, I can get a list of all things I need to discuss with him (for all projects that have tasks with the 'boss' context), etc.
I keep my email inbox empty. I deal with mail right a way, I delete it, or I archive it; if an action remains to be done, I place a task in iGTD.
When I'm on the road without my laptop and I think of something I should do, I record a voice memo or write it down. Every morning, I collect all those things and place them in my iGTD inbox as well.
If something needs to be done at a specific time or date, I place it in my calendar (iCal), and set up a reminder.

I have trouble really using it effectively; I am a chronic procrastinator and never have time for the weekly review. But it helps anyway.

cool info guys. Is it worth doing the gtd course or buying the book?

A bit of a warning about Dragon Natually speaking. I long for the day that a computer and I can talk as an effective work-around to the confusion that keyboards and multiple/different programs evoke. We ain't there yet technologically and Dragon is probably the best. The training alone can tax the concentration and patience of an incredibly focused person and by the time you work on the Dragon speech to text corrections, those essential trains of thought are history. For me, when memory goes down, so too does finding the proper command in a program and Dragon definitely doesn't go through those well-- speech to text is its forte.

I'VE GONE PAPERLESS-- yes paperless with the use of a scanner and Microsoft OneNote. After realizing that paper filing was just out of reach in terms of organizing and remembering my system, OneNote has largely solved the problem. No paper hanging around to irritate me and it works seamlessly with every Office program. It also syncs to Microsoft Mobile hand held devices. This is not an add for Microsoft-- I love my ipod and everything I hear about macs. I'm just saying that OneNote, because of its seemless integration, is the best thing around that I've found to get rid of the clutter.

I wish I opened Evernote more often. I'm struggling with finding a system that is works for me. I loose thoughts and ideas as fast as they enter my mind. By the time I realize I should write something down, find the pen and paper I have know idea what I was thinking. I have a digital recorder, but never have anything to say into it. I really need a totally integrated system. I might try Dragon Naturally Speaking though I have to save up for it. But then I need the computer always around....ugh!

NNTrout

I have been using GTD and am still working on my trusted system.

I really think this trusted system (i.e. one place to put all ur stuff and one place to go look for what you need to) is such an IMPORTANT thing for us ADD'ers. Making lists is something I've always heard is good for ADD'ers. Well, I came upon this long before I knew I had ADD. Problem is, I would create lists for everything and have lists on sticky notes, scrap paper, full 8.5x11 paper, and notebooks. Then these would get lost on my desk, in my back pocket, in various piles of papers, etc. etc. So this didn't work too well :D. That's why I think the one, trusted system is key.

Anyway, my current system is:
Tasks, appointments, contacts are kept in Outlook on my PC (there are great resources on the web on how to set this up for GTD).
I also have a Treo that I sync with the above. I can enter any of this information there and it will all stay in sync. I've been a long time user of PDA's so this is really key to me. And it's nice to have your phone and pda in one device.
For those thoughts, idea, to-do's that come up when I can't easily get them into the above I record a voice note to myself on my Treo. This message is then automatically sent to my email account. (this is an inexpensive application called Note2Self - www.webis.net (http://www.webis.net)). BTW, could also use Jott (www.jott.com (http://www.jott.com)) for this.
I am a heavy and enthusiastic user of EverNote. I put all notes, thoughts, web research, anything that would end up on scrap pieces of paper, etc. This makes it very easy to search and find this info. BTW, EverNote now has beta versions for Windows Mobile as well as a Web version. So this product is going to be getting even better soon.
Carry a Moleskine notebook with me to take any notes, thoughts, etc.
I also have a couple of filing cabinets that I try to maintain.This has worked OK for me, but I do have some difficulties with it now and then. I'm still in the process of getting it to work for me. I only found out I had ADD recently and have been on meds for just over a month, so I'm hoping that will help.

Here are the current issues I'm having:
Making sure to do the weekly review. It's great to have all this information in these various places, but unless you do the weekly review (an important part of GTD), then things can get "lost". For me, if I don't see things I tend to forget about them. So, if I put a task into this system, unless I keep doing the weekly review, I'll forget about it :(.
Prioritizing tasks. GTD doesn't include (and from what I understand, doesn't think you should include) priorities in your to-do list. The problem I'm having is that I've captured so many to-do's that when I look over my lists, I'm not sure where to start. Part of the problem on this is that I'm not doing the weekly review as much as I should. But, even with that, I still think I will need to include some sort of prioritization.
I've tried to keep my email in-box empty (http://www.43folders.com/izero), but up to now, have been unsuccessful with it. I think this is very important so that things don't end up slipping though the cracks.Anyway, that's it for now. I was only planning on writing a quick post and then coming back to it later. But I got a little carried away :).

For those not familiar with GTD, everything I typed above may seem "over the top" or very difficult. But, it's actually not. And once you have it set up, it makes many things easier.

I wish I opened Evernote more often. I'm struggling with finding a system that is works for me.

I have EverNote open automatically every time I start Windows (in Windows 2000 and XP just put a link to Evernote in your Startup folder).

I loose thoughts and ideas as fast as they enter my mind. By the time I realize I should write something down, find the pen and paper I have know idea what I was thinking.

Check out a post I made above about how I capture these thoughts in my Treo. If you don't have a Treo, or similar, a very nice solution I've used before is Jott (www.jott.com). Jott is a free service. When you sign up they give your own toll free number. When you call it, you can leave a message to yourself and they will automatically send it to your email, text message, etc. What I did was to put my Jott toll free number as a quick dial on my cell phone. Then if I had an idea, I would just press 9 on my phone, it would automatically call Jott, I'd record my message, and then it would be waiting for me in my email next time I accessed it.

BTW, Jott has many, many other cool features.

I'VE GONE PAPERLESS-- yes paperless with the use of a scanner and Microsoft OneNote. After realizing that paper filing was just out of reach in terms of organizing and remembering my system, OneNote has largely solved the problem. No paper hanging around to irritate me and it works seamlessly with every Office program. It also syncs to Microsoft Mobile hand held devices. This is not an add for Microsoft-- I love my ipod and everything I hear about macs. I'm just saying that OneNote, because of its seemless integration, is the best thing around that I've found to get rid of the clutter.

Once you scan the papers into OneNote, can you then search the text of those notes? Or do you have to follow up and put keywords, titles, categories, etc. to be able to find it?

I'm a heavy user of EverNote, but haven't used OneNote. EverNote (the paid version) has a feature where it actually will look through the scanned pages, attempt to recognize your words, and indexes those words so can search on them. I'm just starting to do this myself. It's not perfect - it doesn't recognize all my scribbles. But it is surprisingly good.