Kolz Blog

By definition, a tool is

is a piece of equipment that most commonly provides a mechanical advantage in accomplishing a physical task. [1]

As I was looking through my latest pr0n mag (or as it is better known, the Levenger Last Minute Shopping 2006 mag), I was drooling over a number of items contained within. On every page I was thinking of how could I incorporate item X into my current system; thinking that the Circa Starter Kit is so reasonably priced…how could I NOT get it! We all have our own tools for GTD. Currently, my main tool is a Moleskine Softcover 2007 LARGE Weekly Planner+Notebook (as seen in the header picture above). I really like it a lot, but I am not using it the way that intended to last September when I bought it. I had planned on using it as my hard landscape [calendar] and the planning pages on the right side would hold my weekly NAs that I wanted to accomplish that week. Well, most of the planning pages between September 1 and today are pretty blank. Another tool that I have is Evernote 1.5. It is a pretty nifty notetaking program and I wanted to use it as Project/Reference Support Material holder. Again, most of the program is empty. I do have some project set up in it, as well as some reference lists, and conference materials that I want to trigger me to look into at a later date. I would love to be able to incorporate Mindjet’s MindManager into my stable. I see that other’s have successfully done it and never looked back. I have never used mindmapping before, so I read up on it a little, and thought that it looked like an interesting approach to thinking. Now being in IT, there is not a lot of use for creative expression and free thinking that is MindManager’s strong suit. I even printed out the manual to learn how to effectively use the program, but have yet to read it. Now, with Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 on the horizon there are great improvements on the basic tools that come with a computer that will make GTD a lot simpler for Windows users. The Outlook team specifically looked at GTD when they were designing the new refinements to To Do’s in Outlook 2007. And the new built in Calendar in Vista will be able to be published to an iCal compliant calendar, like Google Calendar. Oh, and by the way, did I mention that I am getting a MacBook Pro when Leopard ships next year. What then? kGTD, Midnight Inbox, or the upcoming OmniFocus!?!?! Then I glance over next to the monitor that I am looking at to right this out and see my very first GTD tool: an HP iPAQ hx4700 with Pocket Informant preloaded on it. I paid over $600 for that PDA and accessories, and you know what it does now….sits on my desk as a glorified calendar and slide show of pictures of my kids. I really loved that PDA and when I left my last job in Jan 2006, I left the joys of Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. Now that I am the boss and Exchange will be making a appearance sometime in FY 2007, I may revisit the use of my PDA and Outlook. But that does not help me now. I think that we get wrapped up in the Tools of GTD, and not the methodology of GTD. Between now and the end of the year, I am going back to basics. I am going to listen to the GTD Fast compilation and let what David Allen is talking about really sink in to my bones. Then I will follow that up with another read of Getting Things Done. Every time that I have read GTD the book, I have come away with some tidbit that makes the whole thing make more sense to me. If what David Allen states is true (about 5:25 minutes into the podcast), and that it takes 2 years for GTD to really sink in, than I am about 3 1/2 months from a HUGE breakthrough. And I want to be ready for it when it happens. - Michael [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tools