Tag: GTD

GTD: Google Keep + Google Calendar

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After capturing all my raw thoughts by boogie board or memory palace / mind palace (see earlier post on “The GTD Capture Tools: Memory Palace, Boogie Board”) , the next step in the GTD system (“Getting Things Done” by David Allen) is to clarify the stuff into meaningful categories. 

Here comes Google Keep and Google Calendar. (Evernote should be better but too bad my office blocks the software!! urgh).

Google Calendar – time-sensitive items ONLY! 

  • any time-specific action (e.g. time to renew my monthly MTR pass)
  • any time-specific appointment (e.g. meetings, lunches, dinners, seminars)
  • any anniversaries or holidays

Google Keep – everything else! 

Once I have written down a raw thought, I would then transform it into (1) actionable step + (2) label them accordingly in Google Keep. It could be personal, work-related, basically anything that you think you should bear in mind.

Actionable step should be specific and easy to understand, e.g. “To discuss with my boss on xyz deal”,  “to put these coins into my piggy bank”, “to read these FB saved links by today.”, “to dye my hair”.

For my tailor-made labels, they are:

  • To Contact – these are “Next Action”. Need to execute.
  • To Do  – these are “Next Action”. Need to execute.
  • Pending – these are the stuff I am waiting for other replies. Can only action when someone else responded / completed it for me. I can check the list regularly and follow up when ineeded.
  • Someday / later – not urgent but good to remind myself from time to time. say, Visit Guangzhou K11.
  • Reference – some links and notes. They are NOT actions.
  • !QUICK – anything can be done in 5 seconds but I couldn’t do it now (e.g. to shred a paper in my handbag once arrived office..)
  • !TODAY – it is like an urgent category, must look into these by today.
  • errands 
  • General – some general reminders in daily life, say Read HKET every day.
  • #MT – some MT related tasks.
  • #Wedding – this is project specific.
  • #Boss – this is for my boss -related tasks.

The GTD Capture Tools: Memory Palace, Boogie Board

The very first step of “Getting Things Done” (GTD by David Allen) is to capture what has our attention and get the stuff all out of our mind (externalisation of my RAM).

To make sure we can keep a habit of keeping nothing in our mind, we need to have a trusted system / collection tools in place.

I have minimised the number of my collection zone into a few only, and I make sure I empty them regularly. They are my boogie board (電子板) and my mind palace / memory palace. They have become part of my lifestyle in order to capture any valuable thoughts at anytime! I become less overwhelmed and anxious when I can always offload my ideas to a safe place.

I like my boogie board because it is erasable with a click. It is light to carry. And I could always take a photo if I need to record them.

I have given up using any kind of post-it note / notebooks. I make sure that I only have one single “taking note” tool in my life so I won’t be wasting time searching for my notes.

I also use memory / mind palace (see post on “Moonwalking with Einstein”) when I have no way to jot down my thoughts physically E.g. during shower!! It works quite well. After the shower, I will immediately write them down / simply do it (if less than 2 minutes).

After boggie board and mind palace, I will then migrate them to Evernote or Google Keep as actionable steps (Step 2 of GTD – Clarify) (e.g. to call Herman to schedule meeting with wedding deco company) with appropriate tagging or labels. (#to contact, #wedding, #pending, #someday/later, #reference)

Ridiculous enough, my company has recently blocked Evernote, so I have switched to Google Keep. I like Evernote more because it shows the exact number of actions in each category. I have a better grasp of the volume I am dealing with in each category of life.