Retentive, that is.
I know my blog has been kind on light on content lately, especially after all the post-Encounter drama about alcohol and all that stuff.

Work is getting crazy-busy again, and looks to stay that way for a long while. We're in the startup phases of a major campaign to change the face of the school in a big way and there are a lot of projects related to that that I'm having to manage. With all of the stuff that I have to do, I've been looking for a good system for a long time to help manage and make sense of all the information and tasks that I have on my plate. I keep trying out different apps, looking for the perfect one, but none of them ever seem to fit what I'm looking for.

So after months and months of seeing people referring to GTD, I decided that it's not just some Internet fad that's here today, gone tomorrow, and that maybe there might be some value into looking into it. So I decided to dive in.

GTD= Getting Things Done, a system for managing, work, life, whatever that was put together by David Allen. It's kind of weirded Jamie out because I've been in a major organizational mood lately. I don't get that bug often, but I think it's a result of following the principles of GTD. You get where you can't stand having things be unprocessed. Plus, (and I know you're thinking this sounds crazy) you actually get a rush from getting it all organized. You can kind of boil it down to this: get all of the information you have in your brain into a trusted system for managing it. Put EVERY project and task down in this system. EVERYTHING. But you have to use a system you trust. If you think of something that you need to do more than once, you're wasting your time. Only use 1 notepad for taking notes. Even if you're not ready to move on something that comes across your desk, have a system for filing it that reminds you about it later on. All of the open tasks and projects we have in our heads are taking up our psychic RAM. Getting all of this out of your head helps you focus on the task at hand. For all of your projects, figure out the NEXT action required to move that task towards completion. Tasks like "Lose 20 Pounds" on a to-do list are pointless and destined for failure. The next action is what's important, run Tuesday, join the gym, etc.
I have several greeting cards that have turned up over the last year that I either forgot to send, or bought ahead of time and then couldn't find them when I needed them. Now that I've found them, how do I go about remembering that I have them? GTD has an answer for that, the tickler file.

Someone came into my office a couple of days ago asking about the calendar for the upcoming school year. I got some of the information about that a month or so ago, but I'm not starting on that project until June, so I couldn't put my hands on the information I needed. GTD has a solution for that.

My email inbox had items going all the way back 14 months in there. They'd all be read, but I was holding onto them for some reason. With the way you create folders for actions with GTD, there's a great system for processing email, and there are some great tricks for tagging your mail so that you can pull up all files associated with a project quickly.

There are a whole lot of geeks out there who are devotees of this system and that makes a little bit of sense, the processing and classifying part of it kind of appeals to my geeky side. There's no perfect software application for the system just yet, though you don't need that for every vocation. I just deal with computers so much that I need one. The Omni Group is promising OmniFocus will be out soon and it looks to be the killer app for GTD based on the history and background of the developer they bought out.

Just Google it if you're interested.