7Breaths

You've got your GTD system up & running - collecting, processing, organising and reviewing. All that's left is to actually start doing something. This unfortunately is the place many people get to then begin to tail off. It's no good having your lists of projects and next actions arranged by context if you don't begin to start doing them. Infact after the initial collecting and processing people can get overwhelmed by all the things they feel they must do - those project and next action lists can seem daunting. GTD tells us what needs to be done, but won't do it for us.
In the next series of posts I will explore areas where I have struggled to start producing - and the ideas / processes I employed to start working effectively and productively through my projects and next actions.

This will be my final post on GTD with OneNote.

For the full series follow the links

1. GTD with OneNote: Set up
2. GTD with OneNote: Collection
3. GTD with OneNote: Processing
4. GTD with OneNote: Organise
5. GTD with OneNote: Screen shots
6. GTD with OneNote: Deferred Items
7. GTD with OneNote: Email and Outlook

So far I have described by GTD with OneNote set up on my main computer. In this post I will explain what I do when away from home to keep on top of GTD.

I have various tools I use when away from base. These are:

1. Ultra Portable laptop
2. Windows Mobile 5 Phone
3. A paper notebook
4. A hipster PDA



What I take with me and what I use all depend on where I am going and what I am planning to do. In this post I'll just describe my electronic set up.

Ultra portable:

For any real work I take the ultra portable laptop - I keep copies of all my OneNote notebooks on this and sync over wireless with my main computer before leaving home. I then have access to the full range of my GTD set up and any other OneNote notes I may need.

Windows Mobile Phone:

I always have my phone with me. If I'm popping out to run errands or just socialise I will quickly create a summary page of my @Out contexts and drag this to sync with my OneNote Mobile on my phone (a more lo-fi way of doing this would be just to print out the summary page and take it with you).
I keep my schedule in outlook and this too is synced with my mobile.
I can take notes into OneNote Mobile - this also allows me to take photographs and make voice recordings so I always have a collection device with me.

[Edit 21/6/07 - I have upgraded to Outlook 2007, I'm currently intergrating this into my system so stay tuned for developments]

In my previous post I touched on how I use Outlook to complement my OneNote GTD setup. In this short post I will explain how I deal with emails that generate a next action.
When I get an email that requires an action I flag it for follow up in Outlook. I use the ability to set up virtual search folders in Outlook 2003 to keep my flagged emails grouped by client or porject. I then use the send to OneNote function to send a copy of the email to OneNote. I have set the default target location for these emails to my Today section rather than my unfiled notes section. This will then open up a copy of the email in OneNote - from where i can tag it to be processed. I can the process this as I would any other item I collected that day - usually tagging it as a project and adding any next actions to the OneNote item.
Once any actions are completed and the project finished I can switch back to Outlook and find the item quickly, flag it as done and file it away.

Sometimes when processing you come across something that needs to be deferred until a later date as it is not currently actionable. When this happens I use the ability of OneNote 2007 to integrate with Outlook. By flagging the item with CTRL+SHIFT+K I can create an Outlook to do item. I then set the date of this to do to the date it becomes actionable, in effect I use the Outlook to do list as a "tickler" file rather than a to do list - as all my next actions are contained in OneNote. When a item becomes active in Outlook I can then click on the link to be taken to the original in OneNote which I can then process and act on as previously described.

I will be writing more about the integration of OneNote and Outlook in the coming days.

Here are some screen shots of the the process so far:

1. An entry in my daily journal - flagged to process later


2. On processing the entry i decide it is a multi-step Project - so i create a linked page for this







3. Clicking the hyperlink takes me to that project - I have flagged the title of the page as a project and i enter a next action and flag this by context



4. I am now able to list my next actions by Context:





Or List by Project, by grouping tagged items by title

This is the 4th part of my GTD with OneNote series - see Parts 1 set up, 2 Collect, 3 Process.


By this stage I have all my actionable items tagged, either by context or as a project. Each project is hyperlinked from the Today page so I then work through this page to review each one in turn.

Each Project has its own page in OneNote and it's here I can brainstorm and plan how I will achieve the successful completion of the project. Once the steps I need to take have been clarified I can tag the next action needed with the appropriate context. This helps keep all next actions linked to a project and also allows me to be sure that all projects have a next action. I can then repeat this for each new project I have a hyperlink for on the Today page.

At the end of the day once organising is finished I move the Today page to the Current Month Section in OneNote.

I can now use the power of OneNote's tags to check on all my next actions and projects.
By grouping by tag name I can see a list of next actions by context and a list of current projects.
By grouping by Title I have a list of all my Projects with their next actions listed within each project, again a nice way of linking NAs to Projects.

This is the 3rd part of my GTD with OneNote series - see Parts One and Two

I try and process my stuff on a regular basis - at a minimum once a day.

I use the ability to show tagged notes to find everything I have tagged to be processed.
I click on each item to be taken to it. I make a decision about what this item is and what needs to be done with it.
First -is it an action item or reference? If its reference I file it away in the appropriate Notebook in OneNote.
Next if its an action item I decide if is it a Project or a single next action. If it’s a next action I tag it with the context it needs to be done in and move on. If it’s a project I will select it and create a linked page to the item. I will then use the hyperlink I have just made to jump to the page and tag it as a project, before navigating back to the processing page.
By repeating the process I will have processed the days inputs and be ready for the next stage which is Organising.

This is the second post on my GTD with OneNote system. Part One on initial set up is here.

One of the main principles of GTD is to get things out of your head. By putting everything into a trusted system you free up "psychic RAM" and achieve a "mind like water" state. The places where you put these thoughts / ideas / to do items are referred to a collection buckets. In my system OneNote is my digital collection bucket. I collect all my thoughts in my TODAY section.

First thing in the morning I open the TODAY section and create a page with the days date as the title. I then quickly brainstorm any thoughts I have at the beginning of the day. I flag them with CTRL+1 to mark them for processing later.

As things come up during the day I just reopen my TODAY section by hitting CTRL+SHIFT+0 and enter these ideas too onto the days page and flag these too for processing later.

Using this method I can also keep a record of my day by using the time stamp Alt+SHIFT+t to record what I was doing and thinking at a particular time.

Anything I clip from the web or print to OneNote also gets sent to the today section and I can quickly flag this for processing too.

As the day goes by I will have collected thoughts and ideas, things to do, reference information etc. All these items will be tagged to Process. I will also have a record of my day ready to review and journal later.

When time permits I then move onto the next stage of the GTD process which is Processing all my stuff.

To implement GTD with OneNote I first set up a new notebook as below:



Create a new OneNote notebook.


Set up a section in this notebook called TODAY and make a desktop shortcut to this section - see David Rasmussen's Blog on how to do this.
Now use Tools->Options->send to Onenote to set the default section for sending webnotes and printouts to to the TODAY section you have just set up.
Now use Tools->Options->save to set the default section for unfiled notes to the TODAY section.
Set up a Section in OneNote for the current month.
Set up a Section in OneNote as a monthly archive.
Set up a Section in OneNote for Active Projects..
Set up a Section in OneNote for Archived Projects.
Set up a Section in OneNote for support files.
Set up Tags with Status and Contexts - here are the ones I use..


Finally use View-> Tags Toolbar to make these contexts visible in a toolbar




So the notebook is set up - next post will be on stage 1 of the GTD process - collect

There are so many tools out there to implement GTD and often the temptation is to keep on switching from one to another looking for that perfect GTD setup. In the end it can become just another form of procrastination. Much better to pick one tool, stick with it and start to get things done in earnest.
I have decided to use OneNote 2007 as my computerised GTD tool. In the coming series of posts I will explain my set up and implementation of the GTD methodology using OneNote. I am not claiming that OneNote is the best GTD tool, just that it works for me and I would rather spend time productively working rather than experimenting with new software every week or so.