There is a lot you can read about Getting Things Done that's primarily focused on you. How you deal with your email at work and home, how you deal with your stuff etc. Most all software is focused on yourself.
But what about GTD for your family? I've found that one of the most difficult aspects of implementing GTD isn't focused on how you deal with the fire hose at work, but how you deal with the fire hose at home, when you are sharing tasks with some one else (in my case my wife). In this case, my wife knows nothing about GTD and isn't willing to read the book, so in a way, my job is twice as hard.
It gets further complicated when you are raising a small child. It's then that the tasks and appointments that you have together require an extra level of focus. Today's software tools do a poor job of seamless integrating shared artifacts and responsibilities.
I haven't blogged about Productivity or GTD in a while because, frankly, I'm still figuring it out. It's been 4 years ago today that I started the process of learning about, understanding, and implementing GTD.
I've learned a lot in that time, and I've slowly altered behaviors that I continue to refine and improve. I've tried dozens of software programs and tools and find that I'm still not there yet, but I've gotten pretty far down the path of achieving "Mind like water".
Over the next few months I'm planning to write a series of topics focused not on how to implement GTD to get your inbox to zero (cause that's what a lot of the focus is on), but how to achieve a zen like state if you, like me, have a spouse and possibly a child.
Some of the tools are the same for yourself and some one else, but some require a bit more "help". I'll still occasionally write about learning's I've had about GTD at work (most specifically, the mechanism Scott Hanselman uses, called Inbox - CC, or what I call "Inbox - Hold"). Something that I learned while on parental leave.
But I've got a bunch of things that I plan to focus on like how to:
- coordinate appointments
- coordinate tasks
- organize and get rid of paper files
- cut down on your analog junk mail
- manage and share digital photos
- manage a bunch of computers and make sure they are backed up
- store and share passwords, bank account information, insurance policies, etc
and other topics I think of.
I also hope this serves as a way to force me to regularly post to this blog, something I've struggled to do in the past 12 months since our daughter was born.
Anyway, thanks David Allen, for writing your book and starting me down this path.