Use Digital Productivity Tools to Get Things Done

3/30/2018

I started freelancing as a way to maintain my skills and earn a little extra money while I stayed home with my kids. I've been successful enough that I've kept doing it for 12 years. Along the way, however, I've had some periods of high stress, sometimes juggling too many different clients and projects along with my family responsibilities. I found that I couldn't operate in crisis response mode. That motivated me to seek out a better way of managing my work.

I read David Allen's Getting Things Done in about 2006. I didn't implement it all at first. In fact, as a perfectionist, I mostly dropped it when I didn't have the perfect system. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I kept coming back to it when I felt overwhelmed by all I had to do. Though I tried different apps and approaches, it took some time before the system I use today evolved into what it is. It is by no means perfect still. But I've let go of the perfectionism enough to see the benefits I get in using this workflow to manage my tasks, complete projects, and work toward my goals. Today, I'd like to share an overview of how the tools I use fit into that workflow. The benefits are lowered stress, increased productivity, and greater creativity.

The Five Phases of GTD

The Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology has been extremely popular over the past decade. The methodology is simple, but like some of my favorite tools, the implementation has room for lots of flexibility. Here's a super broad overview of GTD.

The first phase is to collect all of the reminders of what you need to do in one place.

The second phase is to process those items to figure out what exactly is the next action.

Then you can organize the reminders to help you take the right action at the right time.

Phase four is to review your reminders and your overall system on a regular basis.

Finally, take action on those reminders to get things done.

Collect Phase

I've written before about the problem of having too many inboxes. But I'd like to explain what my task collection process looks like in practice.

Nozbe is my trusted system for everything I need to do, and my number one answer for where to include a reminder of something I need or want to do. As GTD seeps into how you do things, you'll understand that you can think of something, immediately store it in your trusted system, and not have to think about it again until you are focused on the other phases of the workflow.

When I get emails that represent a task, I forward the message to my special Nozbe email address that adds the item to my to-do list.

I have a physical inbox - usually for forms to sign or store or bills to pay - and I schedule regular time to process it. When I do, some of the items in the box also get added to Nozbe because they are tasks that need to be done and I only want my list of tasks that need to be done in one place.

I have a reminder to check my voicemail every day, because I rarely get important messages that way, but I handle it the same way if an item in that inbox represents something I need to do.

Evernote is my final important inbox. I use Evernote for storing resource information, brainstorming and draft writing, and managing the big picture of my projects and weekly schedule that Nozbe and my Calendar can't quite do alone. But if something in Evernote represents a task, I add a reminder, and its integration with Nozbe makes that note show up in my Nozbe inbox.

Process Phase

The lightbulb moment for me in using GTD was in realizing this separation: capturing the thought that I needed to do something, figuring out what to do, and actually doing the task are all separate steps that do not have to happen at the same time. In fact, it's more efficient to not do them at the same time, unless the task would take 2-5 minutes or less to do.

When I process my Nozbe inbox, I think about what actually needs to be done. What project is the task related to? How long do I think it will take to complete? Is it really the next task, or a multi-task project for which something else really needs to happen first? This separation of clarification in this step, from the capturing process in the previous step, was key to reducing much of the stress that I felt about what I needed to do on a day-to-day basis. I could capture a thought without having to figure out what it meant, and I could later figure it out what it meant without having to rely on my memory that something needed to be done.

When you clarify (process), you are attempting to make it as easy as possible for your future self (or a person to whom you delegate the task) to understand what exactly needs to be done. Answer the question "what is the exact action that this reminder represents?" Give it an action verb and move on to the next item.

Organize Phase

I generally do my task organizing at the same time as I'm processing my inbox. The importance of the organizing phase is to get the reminder into the right context for when and where you will do the task, or act appropriately for items that are not truly actionable.

There are eight possibilities when organizing the "stuff" that comes your way:

Trash - Let it go if it's not something you need or want to actually do.

Someday/maybe - if you've come up with a good idea, but it needs to incubate a while, you'll need a place (you regularly review) to hold on to that idea. While I do have a Someday/Maybe project to store these tasks in Nozbe, I also have Evernote notebooks for specific someday/maybe ideas where I can continue to collect thoughts and brainstorm. I may or may not ever act, but I have a safe place for those ideas to take root.

Reference - if the inbox item represents something that you want to keep, but doesn't represent a task you need to do, then store the item. I love Evernote for storing many types of things. I do still also have a physical file cabinet for items that I haven't digitized.

Project plans - if the task is part of a bigger project, I add it to the task list for that project in Nozbe. I spend time on managing projects that includes figuring out what the very next action is to move a project forward. In Nozbe, starring an item from the project list gets that item on my Priority (or next actions) list (see number 8).

Do it - as I mentioned, if the task is quick enough that it won't throw off your organizing workflow, go ahead and do it and get on with your life.

Delegate it - If the task needs to be done, but not by you, you'll need to have some method of delegation and follow up with that person. My task manager, Nozbe, allows you to invite team members to your Nozbe projects and then have an option to delegate the task to that person.

Defer/Calendar - If the task should be done at a certain time, add it to your calendar. My calendar of choice is Google Calendar, which integrates with Nozbe so that I can see how the hard landscape of my day fits with other items that need to be done.

Defer/Next Actions - Most all of my actions that are not done, delegated, or added to the calendar get put on project lists. But the Next Action list (which is called Priority in Nozbe) represents the tasks that I need to do as soon as possible. While I'm organizing, I can also add context to the task, such as if it's an errand or phone call. These contexts help me identify tasks that are better suited for some times of day or circumstances better than others.

Review

You'll want to review your calendar and next actions list as often as needed to get tasks done. When I have a very long next actions list, I like that in Nozbe, I can filter this list in different ways to help me focus.

I review project plans in two different ways. When I'm working on a project, I may plan out the next several tasks that need to be done. I may even turn the project into a template if it's something I'll do again. But I also need to do an overall review of my projects so that I remember what projects I have in order to reach my goals and so that nothing falls through the cracks.

It's also important to review someday/maybe and reference information occasionally.

The reviews are the part of this system that I still have the most trouble implementing. It's hard when I'm busy to set aside time - and of course, the longer I wait, the longer it takes to get through everything. But I also know that when I neglect my reviews, the uncomfortable sense of unease creeps back into my life, generating the stress of not knowing exactly if I've forgotten anything.

Engage

This part of the process is when you take action. If you regularly work through the first four steps of this process, then you'll know with 100% confidence that the things on your next actions list are the things that you need to do to make solid progress toward achieving your goals. And if you've done a good job of clarifying and organizing the reminders, you can use your mental energy on creating and solving problems instead of figuring out what to do.

Start Small

Don't be overwhelmed by this process. You can add it to your life a little at a time, as it makes sense to you. I highly recommend giving Nozbe a try if you don't currently have a task management system that's working for you. I highly recommend giving Evernote a try if you want easily searchable storage for resources and drafts. Both tools are very flexible, so experiment with different ways of using them that make sense to you.

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