SansPoint

I’ve been trying to, slowly, implement the methodology of Getting Things Done, to help me with my academic life. It’s been an uphill climb, and I’m still not used to breaking down projects into granular components that can be simply “done” without multiple steps^[1]. The one big element of GTD that I have put to use is capturing every single thing that grabs my attention.

This is the antidote, I think, to an aspect of my procrastination and laziness that’s plagued me for years. I put an awful lot of trust in my brain to keep track of everything that must be done, whether it’s what I have to read for next class, what I need to buy at the grocery store, or when my appointment with someone is scheduled for. I still remember getting a planner-type thing for keeping track of homework assignments when I started sixth grade at J. R. Masterman school, and letting it get battered and beaten in my bookbag rather than open it.

I don’t use a planner, currently. I have a Moleskine Pocket Lined Reporter notebook that I write down every little thing into^[2]. I keep this notebook on my person at all times so I can write stuff down no matter where or when it comes to me. These scribblings are then processed each day or two, and I put assignments into Remember The Milk, and other hard landscape^[3] items into iCal.

All of this is then synced to my iPod for on-the-go reference, and kept available when I’m online and need to see what remains to be done. I try to keep about a week ahead for academic stuff, though I do fall behind a bit sometimes. Large assignments, such as papers, become GTD projects and are split into Next Actions, which I then perform based on context and order. There’s a bit more to the system than that, but it will have to get its own post. You can see an attempt to figure out actions for an English paper I have due on the 23rd in the picture.

I find that by writing stuff down and keeping it in an easily referenced system, I don’t have to worry about my brain suddenly neglecting to tell me about the ten page term paper due at 10 AM tomorrow, this is just an example.)). The tricky bit is to make sure I keep track of everything. My actions are a bit de-contextualized at the moment, but as I slowly put things into place, I’ll get a better feel as to what I can do, and when.

1. Basically, what canonical GTD says to do is figure out all the little steps of the “project”, make a list of them (separated by context), and do each step, rather than the whole big mess at once. It makes sense, really. ↩
2. I actually don’t like this notebook, as it’s hard to write on the top page, and has no bookmark ribbon. I still use it as it cost too much to simply throw away. ↩
3. Stuff that is either scheduled for, or has to be done by a certain day ↩