Jeffrey C. Long

I am a ““Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” (David Allen)” hacker. GTD is a complete system for managing productivity. As a hacker, I have implemented little pieces of it one at a time, rather then try to implement the whole system all at once. I first discovered the book through the website 43folders.com

Thought I’d share a few things that are working really well for me.

The first is buckets and notecards. A bucket is a consistent place where things go. An inbox is a bucket. A file folder is a bucket. The basket on my dresser where my pocketpc and ipod go is a bucket. Through an article on the HipsterPDA, I discovered the usefulness of 3X5 notecards. I generate a fair number of ideas and plans in a given day, and have been struggling with a system for managing them. An example: I have an elders meeting at the church this Sunday that has a fair number of agenda items. Thoughts have hit me throughout the week. Combining the 3X5 cards with a bucket, I created a file folder labeled “elder meeting.” Now everytime something hits me about the elder meeting, I just scribble a note on a separate 3X5 card and throw it in the file folder. Then when Tuesday comes I will go through the cards and develop an agenda and plan. Very helpful system.

Finally, a few articles on scheduling. Really helpful. How I learned to stop worrying and love my schedule and How I schedule actions and tasks

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