Two months on

I have been using GTD now for over two months and it is worth making a few observations. Having lists for all my tasks is really useful and I am likely to continue to use this system for quite a while. It is quite mentally liberating to have my to-dos outside my head. The contextual names (i.e @Work) are really effective, even if most times I have to scan three or four. I am still persisting with a low-tech approach, with my lists being a set of index cards with a bulldog clip.

The tickler file I struggle with a little. I can see its value and I will add things to it, but remembering to check it every morning is tough, especially when I am on holidays. Also, it doesn't help that the nature of my work means that I already have two other calendars to check. That said, missing appointments is my biggest concern and I blame a lack of a unified calendar system - my phone software can't sync with Lotus Notes at all and has some difficulty with outlook. Also, there seems to be no online, standards based calendar solutions out there; it would be good to simply forward all my Notes and Outlook invites to say my Yahoo address and have everything captured there.

On a more subtle note, the temptation to write down tasks which cannot be completed never goes away. What this means is that the lists can be more like Inboxes, for example: "fix shoes". Now, I am not a shoe repairer so I cannot complete this task. The correct task should have been something like "Take work shoes to Bob's shoe repair". This goes back to processing an Inbox item, doing the thinking up front and then devising concrete actions from there.

My inbox is quite small for things other than email, so I often just process them straight to the lists without a holding area. This does get me into trouble when I am away from my lists and an Inbox item arrives. I would ideally like to use my phone's voice recordings for this but they don't work satisfactorily. Also, I scan my Projects list erratically, I do not have a scheduled time to do this, but it is still helpful nonetheless.