Progress on Getting Things Done

I got started processing all my boxes of stuff yesterday. When I got tired, I decided to stop, and take Monday off as well. I spent most of Monday processing old documents (and some current), and so far I managed to empty my inbox and one of the three boxes. Only two more boxes, and the box of gadgets remaing :-D

So far I have almost filled the top drawers of my two filing cabinets, and there are two drawers remaining. I'm also tossing a lot of stuff, so there should be enough room for everything.

Once I'm through all the stuff, the trick is to keep the system running by tracking all my projects, and next actions on a daily basis. So far so good. Instead of having various papers to remind me about some future action pile up on my desk, I have entered a reminders in Google Calendar. I use Google Docs for my lists. Except for my inbox, my desk remains neat and functional, and I feel really great about my progress so far.

I also went to IKEA yesterday and bought a uplight floor lamp for my office. The change in lighting makes the colors look different.

Getting Things Done

I'm Getting Things Done (GTD). GTD is a technique for collecting, processing, and organizing all your stuff. So far I have collected most of my stuff, and is trying to get to the process part. Since the processing and organizing is what is different from what I usually do, I'm a little anxious to jump into it before I really understand what GTD is about. However, some of the GTD tricks has already helped me getting more organized; I bought the office supplies, and furniture David Allen recommends. I also bought a printer, and hooked up my old scanner so I now have a very functional home office; there's even a program for my Mac that makes it very easy to make copies.

If you study the Picasa web album you will see that I have a lot of stuff to get through: a regular paper tray (inbox), three banker's boxes, and a case of various gadgets.

The two things that so far has been most valuable to keep my desk neat are my new trash bin, and my new automatic labeler. It is amazing how much trash I had collected on my desk because I didn't have a trash bin near my desk. The labeler is amazing, combined with David's advice on using file folders for all things, makes it so much fun to file away stuff.