System book

I've got an Apica notebook that I've been using to track thoughts on my GTD process. It's been in use for a couple of years. Mostly it's a list of going from program A to B to C and back again, followed with a post or two about how I should just DO stuff instead. The problem is that if I don't read it, I don't do it. And the other problem is that over time, I stop looking at any program on my Palm. And I think that it doesn't matter for awhile because I really don't have anything that I need to track or do. I'll finally sit down and draw up a list of projects. Then I'll start trying to work on those actions.

The truth is that there isn't anything wrong with my system and that any of them would work. The reason for switching to a new system is to trigger that work on new projects. Somehow, that doesn't happen when I try to stick to a single system. For example, I've been using Note Studio for awhile. I like the program. I can sync it with my laptop and it's great for reference work. I've got a nice basic system set up and entered a few things. I deleted off some of the completed projects and some that went bye-bye with the house. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to upgrade Pocket Quicken and go with that for awhile. I think my biggest issue GTD-wise is that I've got good organizational skills that never get a workout. If I had a ton of stuff to work on and track, I'd just do it. But the switching back and forth makes it feel like there's more that I really need to do.

For now, I'm going to try and use Note Studio. And I think I'll put that extra time into doing a little writing.

GTD craziness

I took a look at Thinking Rock software. It's interesting stuff. I like the way that it forces you to follow the correct GTD flow. It's not for me as I'll never get used to a computer only tool. I do think that you can learn something from looking at tools like this. I just don't necessarily think you should always try to use them!

The odd thing for me is that I'm using NoteStudio again. I don't have a lot of things to track on a daily basis but I really need to organize a bunch of reference stuff. 4k memos just don't cut it. And I do enjoy being able to at least use an italic font. I'm still trying to decide if I need to make any changes to Volker's templates. But I think I will keep this system and stop dinking around with using memo based systems. I'd like to do go that route but it just doesn't seem to work for me. And I just don't have a lot of time to spending tweaking things. Life is just too busy.

Slump

I'm in a bit of a GTD slump. I've got things set up in Life Balance. There's really not a lot I have to do but it's there. I'm resisting the urge, so far, to go back to the basics. This isn't about software after all. When I had the basic setup, I wasn't really looking at that either. Normally, I'd re-read the book at this point and it would trigger all those things that aren't in my system. But the book is still packed away. I'm working in WinXP for now. It's a good version for Windows and I'm really learning how to support it. I have Ubuntu installed but haven't been using it much. It's nice to be able to have a lot of programs to choose from, without the limits you run into with OSX and Linux.

What I really should do is some mind mapping and try to plan some goals out for the future. Do I put this on my list as a next action or a someday/maybe? ;)