Getting Things Done with a digital-paper hybrid system! [update]

I found that fooling around on the net was a symptom. a symptom of not knowing what to do at any given moment. I managed to cut down drastically on my net-fooling by developing a very low tech deadline tracker. so low tech that I’m a bit shy to describe it.

except that it works very well, so I’m not ashamed of it at all.

it’s a minimalist calendar template. an A4 Word document. I print one out every month and fill in my deadlines in the relevant days’ boxes as they come. I handwrite my deadlines in, like so:

- write US enrolment form copy 3pm

which means that copysheet is due by 3 pm on the day in which box it appears.

and when I’ve inputted that deadline into my digital list, I mark it by crossing the hyphen, so that it looks like this (but in handwriting – use your imagination):

+ write US enrolment form copy 3pm

so I have a very satisfyingly low tech handwritten list in the form of a monthly calendar (only Mondays to Fridays are represented. I refuse to schedule work on weekends. those are only for emergencies. and true ones, at that) and a dynamic digital list in my Outlook.

yes, I use Windows at work.

us poor copywriters have to deal with Windows while the artists get to play with sexy Macs. haha.

and of course, when I’ve done my work, I cross it out with a deep black satisfying line. it’s much more cathartic than clicking a little checkbox on the screen, which I also do.

+ write US enrolment form copy 3pm

tags: GTD, Getting Things Done, personal productivity, wisdom

See more progress on: Spend less time fooling around on the net and more time actually working