“Getting Things Done”… again

If you are not familiar with “Getting Things Done” or “GTD” then click here for a little background.

I first bought “Getting Things Done” by David Allen in early 2007.  I read through about half of it and then skimmed the rest – got frustrated/overwhelmed and put it down.  Really… a 43 folder system for organizing my crazy hectic life?  I don’t need 43 more of anything – unless it’s hours of vacation time.  Wait, who really uses paper anymore?  Don’t we live in the digital age with computers, PDAs and mobile phones with email?  A series of lessons learned and a 5 minute conversation brought me back to the book.

It was early 2007 and I was nortoriously unorganized.  I would agree to small, simple, to-dos from my manager and then… forget.  It frustrated the hell out of my managers and became something that would hold me back in my career if not rectified.  I was in search for the perfect tool, yes… THAT is what I needed.  If I could just find the right tool then I will be organized and all of my problems will magically disappear and I will be organized.  So I turned to Microsoft OneNote.  What a great tool!  It was perfect – note pages, tabs, colors, free form highlighting, print to pdf – it was all there.  No.  No it wasn’t.  I found that I was glued to my PC which is just a source of distractions – meeting reminders, emails arriving, other open windows of work – all grabbing for my attention.