digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: there is no single right GTD tool; choose a hybrid or other system based on your job, situation, and the kind of items you track, and start using something rather than waiting for the perfect setup. GTD coach Janet describes her own hybrid system of electronic calendars and email, a paper planner for next actions, and a separate paper capture notepad, refined over 15 years.
Key Points
- Judge a system by how well you are tracking your commitments; if you keep constantly thinking about the system itself, it may not suit you.
- Her system changed over time: electronic when she had many complex projects needing next actions linked to them, paper at other times, and now a hybrid.
- Her calendars from personal and professional email accounts both show on her phone, so one view covers work, travel, and home.
- Most of her work arrives by email, so she manages it with archive and reference folders plus action folders, and treats email as the working system for that work.
- She uses a paper planner for next actions because it works offline while traveling and is simple to review.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Start with any tool and use it for a while to test it. Set up electronic calendars for each email account and sync them to your phone so all appointments appear in one view. Keep email archive folders at the bottom of the folder list by putting the letter Z before their names. Keep action folders and a reading review folder near the top. Create a temporary project folder near the top for short, fast-moving projects, and move it to reference when finished. Use a disc (notched) planner with tabbed lined pages for next-action lists, and check items off as completed. Carry a separate tear-off notepad for capture, then clarify those notes into next actions later. For errands, either take the page with you and reinsert it afterward, or photograph the list on your phone.
- Her email reference folders include about 15 years of training and development material.
- The disc planner pages come out and pop back in easily, which she finds convenient.
- She warns that if you are too focused on the tool rather than your actions, you should readjust.
Bottom Line
A GTD system should fit your work, travel, and habits, and you refine it by actually using it and noticing whether it reduces mental load.
