GTD

Getting Things Done

Time management method
Invented by David Allen
Move tasks and projects to external database
Focus on taking action, no recalling

Five Elements

Capture

Collect everything
Inbox

Clarity

Process what it means
Is it actionable
No? Trash or reference
Less than 2 mins, do it!
Delegate or defer

Organise

Where does it belong?
Projects
Contexts

Reflect

Review
Clean up
Update
Clear your mind

Engage

Do!
Next actions list
Confidence

References

Book:Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
[Getting Things Done]

[Zen habits]

[43 Folders]

[Inside OmniFocus]

Perspectives

Inbox - stash all your tasks and to-dos that come to mind for later processing

Projects - where related tasks are grouped together into overarching plans and hierarchies

Contexts - places, people, things and states of mind most relevant to accomplishing your tasks

Forecast - view tasks chronologically and integrate them into your schedule

Flagged - tasks designated with the most important priority or visibility

Review - place to regularly check up on your progress and check the status of projects (At least once a week)

States of the circle

Repeat action - 3 dots
Due soon - yellow circle
Due - red circle
Flag - orange circle
Tick - tick grey
Repeat and due soon - 3 dots and yellow circle
Repeat and flagged - flag and 3 dots

Create action

Create Note

Add note - common + ‘
Type note in the inspector
Click little note icon under the action item
Attach file -> Edit -> Attach File, If you just drag a file into an action item, it will create a link, in order to attach the file, hold down opt to switch to attach mode.

Date and Time

Due - When the project should be done
Defer - When the project is variable

Date Format

2w fri - 2 weeks later on Friday
1m - 1 month
1d - 1 day

Projects

Create project

  • Drag Action Item from Inbox to Project Icon, this action item will become as a project
  • Shift + Command + N

Action Item and project

  • In order to create action item in a project, just hit enter
  • Move action item to a project, simply click a down triangle icon and choose a project, hit Clean Up to clean any action item has already assigned to a project

Type of project

  • Parallel
  • Sequential - First Item is black and others are grey out
  • Single action - List, loosely related to each other

Project Status

  • Active
  • On Hold
  • Completed
  • Drop

Action Groups

Group action items together when the have some relation, such as breakfast and dinner. Select action items and hit Organize -> Group. This group will be considered as sub action, you can change the type as sequential or parallel.

Drag action items to a folder - drag it to the folder and move to right of the folder, it will put these action items into this group.

Creating Folders

Put related projects into group (Opt + Common + G)
Pick a folder and click Focus to only focus on this folder, for example, focus on work when you’re in the office.

Review Perspective

Review at least every week.
Select a project, change the review option in the inspector.
Go to Review tag, hit Mark Reviewed when the project is reviewed and it’s ok.

Forecast View

In the Forecast View, you can drag action to a day of the calendar view to change the due day.

Only view action need to be finished on Saturdays of the month, hold down common and select Saturdays of the month.

Change deffered date, hold down command and drag this action item to the specific date on the calendar.