Some recent GTD how-tos, tips, and tricks

I often see questions about details in implementing Getting Things Done from a number of sources, including calls and emails from clients and readers, and participants of on-line forums. Here's a collection of some recent answers, which I hope you find useful. (You might also enjoy this list of my GTD-related posts, especially Some common GTD questions, with answers.)

• Indexing filing systems
  
• When to remove something from Someday/Maybe
  
• Keeping file folder tabs aligned
  
• Move email-based subscriptions to RSS
  
• How to know you're a GTD master

Indexing filing systems

When teaching clients about filing, I sometimes get asked about more complex approaches, including indexing file drawer contents. This is done by creating a master list (on paper, kept at the front of the drawer, or as a file on your PC) that groups files by topic or keyword, and specifies where to find them. Some people find this kind of system helpful (there are some home-grown solutions at Database to my alpha system - is it needed? and commercial programs like Paper Tiger), but generally I've found a simple A-Z system with no index works great for most people. It's simple, inexpensive, and filing and retrieving is fast.

This is a bit controversial, but I believe that indexing slows down both sides: filing something requires entering it into the system, and retrieving requires a separate look-up step. And anything that slows down filing leads to stacking folders, or creating a "to file" pile, which is more work. Also, if the indexing is a pain, it's easy to get out of sync with the actual files.

Adherents claim it's faster (e.g., Index Your Reference System), but I'd suggest starting simply with the A-Z, then trying something more complex if needed. I've not had a problem finding files, and I have about 100 at hand, and another 200 in a second drawer.

Related: Five secret filing hacks from the masters.


When to remove something from Someday/Maybe

Recall that we use the Someday/Maybe folder [1] as a holding place for things that are on our minds, but which we're not currently ready to act on. However, when do you move them out of there? I suggest breaking it down like this:

• Do I still think I'll want to act on it someday? If not, toss it.
  
• If I remove it from my life, will it still be on my mind? If so, keep it.
  
• Am I ready to act on it now (have resources/time/energy become available)? If so, create an action and a related Projects entry (if more than one step to complete).
  
• Otherwise, keep it for the next review.

Remember, this folder needs to be reviewed regularly. Otherwise it might become a Black hole, and will stop helping to offload tracking from your mind.


Keeping file folder tabs aligned

Another filing question, this one is about whether to try aligning file tabs. Some people prefer keeping them aligned - all on the left, for example - so that they aren't randomly mixed within the drawer. (See File Folder Tabs - Which Side? for a typical query.)

My advice is not to worry about it. The tabs will naturally be a mixture, and it's usually not a problem. Once in a while I'll have a few on the same side, making it a bit difficult to see the one that's behind, but generally it doesn't bother most people. I recommend using 1/3 cut standard Manila folders [2], and not getting hung up on the tab locations. They'll vary depending on random factors, but they're alpha so you'll find them OK.


Move email-based subscriptions to RSS

When I'm working one-on-one with a client, we spend a good chunk of our two days together processing and organizing email [3]. As you'd expect, people tend to have a large backlog of messages in their inbox (thousands, in some cases), and once we're done they're pretty motivated to regularly empty it in the future. In addition to becoming efficient at dispatching each message, it's helpful to also reduce your email volume.

I have a number of suggestions I share with clients, but here's a favorite: Move email-based subscriptions (e.g., newsletters) from your inbox to an RSS feed reader that supports creating anonymous emails, such as Bloglines [4]. Briefly, here's how it works: For each email-based subscription you'll create a custom email address (it's one click in Bloglines), then change your subscription (or unsubscribe and re-subscribe) to the new address. This leaves your inbox for the more urgent incoming "stuff," and allows you to catch up on your news and such as feeds via your feed reader. Each subscription shows up as its own feed - very handy!

Here's Bloglines' entry on this feature: From Why does Bloglines Offer Email Accounts?:

Bloglines free email accounts allow people to receive email newsletter subscriptions within their MyBloglines page. This helps to reduce traffic through your primary email inbox and helps to contain the spam menace. A Bloglines email account gives you a trump card when a newsletter breaks the rules of opt-in marketing. When you unsubscribe from a Bloglines email subscription, the email address disappears. You never have to worry about trying to find the unsubscribe instructions for an unwanted mailing list.

Read more about RSS at HOW TO: Getting Started with RSS. Related: Afraid to click? How to efficiently process your RSS feeds.


How to know you're a GTD master

For those of us who've been practicing GTD for a while, a useful question is "How do I know when I've mastered it?" (see for example the discussion I have mastered GTD when...). I usually say two things. First I suggest checking out my guide: GTD Workflow Assessment/Tips Checklist. If you can check off all items, you are definitely a master!

Second, I emphasize that, like any significant change (in this case, the art of self-management), becoming a master takes time. As George Leonard writes in his great little book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment:

The master of any game is generally a master of practice.

Leonard writes about the universal process of mastering any subject, including the inevitable plateaus, backslides, and frustration. But I've found a practice like GTD can be a tremendous enabler for being living better - being happier, more fulfilled, and ultimately making changes that are congruent with your purpose (whatever it might be - even if you don't know it!)


References

• [1] I recommend clients use a paper folder instead of a list, because many potential items show up as paper - classes to attend, purchases to make, etc. So instead of a plain list, I recommend using a folder - this allows you to easily drop those items directly into it without much work. For "one-liners" you can also keep list(s) within the folders.
  
• [2] For a complete listing of useful supplies, see my Listmania list: Basic Processing Tools for Personal Productivity/Workflow
  
• [3] I tell people I help move them from email checkers to email workers.
  
• [4] Although Google Reader is very cool, it does not yet support email-based feeds. This is a deal-breaker for me, so I usually recommend Bloglines.
  

Does having fewer projects make us more productive?

I was reading the classic article "Beware the Busy Manager" by Bruch and Ghoshal (Harvard Business Review, Feb 1, 2002 [1]), which shares some surprising results from research into what makes effective managers. I strongly recommend reading the entire article, but for this post I'll focus on an interesting tidbit I found about the number of projects successful managers had. In talking about the two key dimensions (focus and energy - there's a nice summary here) they found that:

Because they have a clear understanding of what they want to accomplish, they carefully weigh their options before selecting a course of action. Moreover, because they commit to only one or two key projects, they can devote their full attention to the projects they believe in.

It was this last point that surprised me. In the modern personal productivity work I teach, a project can run the gamut from a small two-step one ("install office shelving") to very large ones ("apply for the NSF grant"), with most clients having between 20 and 100 of them. Clearly not all of them are "key." But what's the "right" number to manage?

Here's another bit of information: In the article Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don't Read This in Traffic, a recent study found that:

For the [executives studied], the optimum workload was four to six projects, taking two to five months each.

The point being that a relatively small number of key projects - with less multitasking [2] - was better.

Finally, in the Time/Design training I took (see Some thoughts from attending Time/Design's trainer certification), the focus for action is at a maximum of 60 days out, a horizon that seems natural to me. The thinking is that anything farther than that should go on your Someday/Maybe list.

Here's how I put it on a recent forum:

I'm coming to believe that having too many projects is itself overwhelming. [...] Implications for GTD? Well, first we have many more projects, due to the fine-granularity definition of "project." Also, we track all projects from work and life. Combined with the 60 day idea, this leads me to wonder if it would be reasonable to "cap" the list around 20 or 30? Just playing here!

Of course the number varies, depending on the person. For example, I tend to be on the lower end, as otherwise I become overwhelmed, but I know others whose tolerances for more activity are much higher. However, I suspect we might be more productive having fewer projects, with only a few key ("big") ones.

How about you? How many projects are you comfortable with, and how many are "key" ones? Do you adjust according to your energy or mood? How?


References

• [1] Available via subscription or pay-per-article at Amazon. The original is here.
  
• [2] In his book CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap! Strategies for Handling Your Fast-Paced Life, ADD expert Dr. Edward Hallowell calls ineffective multitasking frazzing. He says most of us fraz, and it's a trap. However some people (esp. those with ADD) can do better work when provided with some extraneous sensory input (e.g., music).
  

Reflections on Alexander Technique and personal productivity

When I talk about the surprising life improvements that resulted from clearing my head of the mundane (see GTD), I mention reduced lower back pain. Some of you have asked about that, so I wanted to respond today and talk specifically about the Alexander Technique (AKA AT - Wikipedia article here), which has helped so much.

I bring this up because 1) the technique is itself helpful, 2) there are some interesting parallels with the personal productivity work I teach, and 3) my AT teacher (Missy Vineyard) has just published a terrific book on the subject that I recommend highly: How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve Self-Mastery. (The other back pain book that helped a lot was Back Sense; web site here.)

Very briefly, AT is a method to identify and replace old (and often hidden) habitual ways we use our bodies with more efficient (and less painful) ones. It's based on some insights and self-experiments performed by F. M. Alexander around the turn of the century. Especially interesting is the story of Alexander's attempts to solve a singing limitation. He first tried an approach that engineers would recognize: He noticed he moved his head a certain way every time he started to sing, a way that held back his voice. Importantly, he couldn't directly stop himself from doing it! It was a habit at the black box level of mind-body functioning that he had no insight into nor control over.

Fast-forward years ahead, and the result is a method taught one-on-one by an AT instructor that helps inhibit old patters of thinking and movement, and direct the body to more efficient ones. It's really neat.


So what's the productivity connection? Tons of things - I'll mention a few. First, both AT and personal productivity techniques like GTD or Chris Crouch's "Getting Organized" system (see my review here) involve learning significantly improved ways of self-management that aren't taught by default, but I believe are required for us to work and live more smoothly. The result is we're forced to learn ad hoc or outdated methods that don't serve us well (tightening unnecessary back muscles, or using fixed A/B/C priorities, say). Interestingly, what initially helped me was a shift in perspective that enabled the big improvement: looking at back pain as stemming from improper usage (standing, sitting, walking), not structure.

Additionally, neither are silver bullets - they involve changing old habits and adopting new behaviors, which is hard. (You might enjoy last week's post Reader question: Getting personal productivity changes to stick?, esp. the reader comments.) It's analogous to making big self-management changes via new habits, rather than gadgets or tools. The latter are tempting, and seem easy - "Just buy this cool tool and you'll work better!" - or "Just get this surgery and your pain will go away!" However, I've found the deeper, more principled changes - like any form of mastery - require thinking, practice, and time (sometimes a hard sell in today's cultural climate).

Let me finish with a few more observations.

• Backsliding: As George Leonard writes in Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, "backsliding is a universal experience. Every one of us resists significant change, whether for the better or the worse. Our body, brain and behaviour have a built-in tendency to stay the same, within rather narrow limits, and to snap back when changed." So we have to have enough discipline and motivation to get back on the wagon. For personal productivity we get back to the basics: Collect everything back into a few fixed points, do a mind sweep, review our projects, and get our system current.
  
• Static vs. dynamic: In his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Daniel Pink writes a static view only tells you some things; a dynamic one gives you a bigger picture of interrelated parts working together. For productivity, you can't just look at someone's desk and figure out where the problems are. Instead, you've got to look at a person using her desk.
  
• Experiential AT and personal productivity systems both let you experience a more organized state, which helps by:
  • showing it's possible to work better
    
  • motivating you to get back into it (backsliding)
    
  • getting external help (seeing the need)
  In AT, we get experiences like standing up and feeling lighter, an insight of how things can be different. With my productivity work, clients experience a clear mind, and a sense of knowing everything they've committed to.
  
• Brain as a tool Both approaches look at the brain as a tool, and ask: How to use it properly? There are two common methods of operation: 1) Adding tension, which tries to force relaxing and working better (the only approach people typically know), and 2) a whole new approach: inhibition + direction (doing less via new thinking). For productivity, the analogs are trying to work harder/longer/faster/etc vs. re-thinking how we work.
  
• Reset button: I wonder: Does every system need a reset button? Sometimes we have to reboot our computers when they get wrapped around the axle. In AT, there are some exercises to take us out of the typical gravity orientation - e.g., laying prone. In productivity, doing a weekly review comes to mind.

Resources

• Alexander Technique Center of New England - My teacher's school.
  
• Some overviews: ATI - About the Alexander Technique and Alexander Technique: The Insider's Guide.
  
• A nice post on productivity and Martial Arts: The connection between GTD and Tai Chi.
  

Reader question: Getting personal productivity changes to stick?

(Note: I came down with a cold a few days ago, so please forgive this post's rambling nature.)

As I grow my personal productivity consultancy (via workshops and one-on-one services) I've had to get my head around an issue I'm sure all teachers face - answering the question "When have I done enough?" In my work it manifests because I'm teaching a coherent and integrated approach to workflow, not simply a bag of tips and tricks [1]. Trouble is, it's not a silver bullet, and significant changes around how we self-manage are hard to make (many of our habits go back very far).

Currently I use the model for change that worked for me, the revolutionary approach espoused by many books, including Getting Things Done. In this "one big push" process you collect everything in your workspaces (mental as well as physical) that's not "stuff," process it into your action management system, and end up with no backlogs. It's both exhausting and invigorating, very satisfying, and (here's the problem) doesn't work for everyone.

For this (admittedly simple) analysis, I'll group people trying to adopt such a method into two groups: Those who fail due to lack of commitment or other systemic problems outside my control, and those who fail because making a big change is hard. As a teacher, I mourn the former group but have to draw the line at teaching them the best I can, ensuring they understand the system, and supporting them until it sticks. But at some point, I have to say my job is done, independent of whether they've adopted it or not. This is difficult, because I want everyone to succeed. But I've come to realize it's healthy to acknowledge externally-imposed limits.

For the second group, I'd like to develop a way to get them into a new set of more productive behaviors and maintain them over the long term. Do you have any suggestions? The only clue I currently have is from One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, which advises using very small steps to (ultimately) make big progress. The author argues that, due to how our brains work, big steps don't usually work. (Note: Does this mean most people writing about GTD are in the minority?)

Using these ideas, I can envision a more gradual approach in which users systematically adopt pieces of the method over time, habitualizing each one before moving forward. A good starting point might be my GTD Workflow Assessment/Tips Checklist. I see two problems, though. First, everyone has different needs, so would a fixed program ("this week we'll work on the filing system") work well? (I address this in my two day "intensives" by customizing on the fly as the client and I work together.)

Second, I think systems like Allen's [2] take time for people to get their heads around, even if the individual elements aren't complex. This leads me to wonder whether a spiral approach is best (see Creating Passionate Users: Spiral learning for example). I guess the latter would still apply to a more gradual evolutionary approach, though.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.


"Small Steps" References

• Kaizen: Practice your personal Kaizen
  
• Kaizen and Idea Management Systems
  
• No Satisfaction at Toyota
  
• Kaizen for personal development

References

• [1] See my article The ultimate productivity tip for an example of why I think isolated tips don't lead to big changes.
  
• [2] For example, Getting Organized: Learning How to Focus, Organize and Prioritize (review here), The Instant Productivity Toolkit (review here), and Take Back Your Life! Using Microsoft Outlook to Get Organized and Stay Organized.
  

My Productivity501 contribution is up, FYI

I had the privilege of being invited to participate in Mark Shead's group email interview on Biggest Time Wasters. It's up over at Productivity501, and there are some great answers from such luminaries as Brendon Connelly, Alvin Soon, Laura Stack, Brett Kelly, Rosa Say, and Frank Meeuwsen. Thanks Mark!