A few days ago, I resurfaced after a long absence.  I mentioned in that post that I have actually changed my GTD system (not once, but twice) since I decided that I liked GTD Tracks for my online GTD application.

I can hear you all from here….”What?!?  You spent so much time evaluating applications before finally settling on one and then you quit it already?!?”.  Yup, I can hear you.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but I just can’t seem to settle down.  I’m not convinced that this is actually a procrastination habit for me.  Granted, I’ve spent much time dicking around with this system or that system, or even figuring how to make an oldy-but-goody like Lotus Agenda work as a GTD system.  So, yes, maybe procrastination figures into it.  But I don’t think it’s the major reason.

Friction

I tend to switch GTD applications when they start irritating me.  I originally moved away from Outlook because I found it bloated and it didn’t do projects very well.  Since then I’ve forgotten how many systems I’ve tried.  Some I do remember.  I loved my text based system, but moved away from that when I got tired of the ugly text-only interface.  I really enjoyed Lotus Agenda, but found the keyboard-only interface restricting after a while (although they really knew how to do pattern recognition from what you typed in).  I tried Vitalist, but got tired of too much information in the main screen.  I gave FusionDesk a good workout, but found that doing a review was just too hard, and there was little activity from the developer.  Finally, I gave GTD Tracks a good go, but finally got annoyed at having my data online.  I was about to head off on a bunch of trips, where Internet access was not going to be guaranteed, so I wanted to keep my next actions with me.  Plus, I have to admit, the latency of a web-based application just about killed me.  I hate waiting; drives me crazy.

I understand intuitively that when I get bored/irritated/annoyed, I start looking elsewhere.  But I never really thought about it.  Until I was listening to a podcast interview with Kelly Forrister (Yes the Kelly Forrister from the David Allen Company).  It’s a podcast interview done by The Sassy Ladies.  It was a good interview, but something Kelly said made a lightbulb go in my head.

She was talking about her own system, and how she occasionally experiences resistance, or friction, with her system.  This is when your trusted system causes you some anxiety, and you start avoiding it.  Obviously, this is the kiss of death when it comes to actually Getting Things Done.  In Kelly’s case, when she starts feeling this resistance, she goes through her system and tightens things up, maybe rewords some next actions, etc.

When I heard this, I thought two things:

1. Wow.  Resistance!  That’s what I’ve got.  I resist using my GTD system because there’s something about it that’s not satisfying me.  That’s why I keep changing it.
2. Darn.  I wish Kelly talked more about her own personal system; I’d like to know if she made major modifications to the process itself, or if it was just a case of “cleaning” the data, so to speak.

Reducing Friction

There have been several topical posts crossing my feed reader lately that can help you tighten up your trusted system and hopefully reduce the resistance you’re feeling:

• Eight Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Goal Setting.  After reading this post, re-examine each and every one of your next actions.  Are they specific enough?  Are you using your Someday/Maybe list appropriately? Are you trying to accomplish too much?
• A Roadmap to Spectacular GTD Failure.  A rather tongue-in-cheek post, suggesting the very best ways of screwing up with GTD.  Some unhealthy behaviours you might be currently exhibiting: pushing the weekly review to a more convenient time, defining open-ended projects, turning your email inbox into your “trusted system”.
• 10 Ways to a Slim and Trim To-Do List: Part 1 and Part 2.  This pair of posts has great ideas for making your to-do list lean and mean, regardless of whether you GTD or not.  Great tips include: do quick and easy tasks *now* instead of writing them down, examine stale tasks, put reminders into your hard landscape instead of your to-do list, and make sure your next actions are *really* next actions.

My Plan

A couple of years ago, I moved away from Outlook for several reasons.  I was kind of bored, even the macros weren’t enough to stimulate me.  I didn’t like having my calendar and my next action list on two separate pages, I was eventually going to have to leave Outlook one day when I got a job, and it didn’t handle projects.  Mostly, it was just me getting itchy feet, so I started on a multi-year odyssey to find the perfect tool.

And where am I now?  Well, back at Outlook actually.  After trying other things and still not being 100% satisfied, and after seeing the new Outlook 2007 interface (oooh, pretty), I decided to just bite the bullet and come back.  First of all, I get uber-easy synchronization with my Palm, which was always a sticking point with other systems.  Printing is nice, dragging things around with the mouse is nice, the new calendar view that shows your hard landscape, and a chosen selection of next actions, is nice. 

I’d like to report that Outlook and I are doing fine right now.  It’s only be a few weeks, but we’re getting along quite nicely.  I forgot how much I liked having everything synced to my Palm!  Wow.  I’ve also been doing a little bit of scripting (no macros this time around - I don’t think I really need them), but a nicer script for entering new next actions (and appointments) from SlickRun.  I’ve even learned a couple of things that make my calendar into a truly wonderful hard landscape.  Of course, more on these topics at a later date.

So, I’ve gone back to an older, but well-trusted, system for my next actions.  I’m currently feeling no resistance.  The next time I start to feel friction with my system, I’m going to explore that feeling - am I itching because I’m bored?  because I’m procrastinating?  because there’s something about the system that doesn’t satisfy me?  or because I need to tighten things up?

SnagIt is one of my favourite programs - it’s on all day, every day, and I use it all the time for screenshots.  You can do many magic things with it, such as:

• copy part of your screen for easy pasting into another program
• add stuff to any screenshot, e.g., callouts, text boxes, shapes, etc.
• do image processing such as fancy borders, blurring, etc.
• save duly-processed image to your computer, bring it into your clipboard for easy pasting, save it to an FTP site, etc.
• capture in weird in wacky ways, e.g., a particular area of your screen (exact coordinates) so you can capture the same area over and over, scrolling windows, menu items, etc.

And this is just scratching the surface!

I just read today that Camtasia is offering a slightly older version of SnagIt for free, along with the ability to upgrade to the current version for half price.  Check out Digital Inspiration’s post on the subject for more instructions:  Download SnagIt for Free - Full Licensed Version | Digital Inspiration

…are greatly exaggerated.

It turns out that some of you are quite worried about me. (They like me, they really like me.) Contrary to popular believe, I am still alive and kicking. I was doing some travelling. Then I was off the grid. Plus I’ve been trying really really hard to work on my PhD research. So, I’ve been avoiding blogging. If I blog too much, I don’t work enough ;)

But shucks, I missed you guys. :)

Here’s some of the stuff that I’ve been up to lately:

• Did a driving trip down to Tennessee and back up again. I have to say, Tennesseans are the nicest people I have ever met. And don’t forget, I’m Canadian, so that’s saying a lot!
• Flew down to Orlando for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Oh my, 1408 participants and I’d say something like 95% of them were female. All talking about computer science, technology, and other geeky things. What a rush!
• While in Orlando, I got the opportunity to take in Walt Disney World. This was a life-long dream for me. Unlike many of the Americans that I met, who seem to think that is normal to visit Disney every couple of years, making the trip from Canada isn’t easy as just hopping into the car for the day. But finally, I got to see it! And all I can say is WOW! I was a big kid for 4 days of my 4-day pass, plus the fancy Backstage Magic Behind-the-Scenes tour. Wow! Wow!
• Then I had another conference, this one in Canada.
• Then, I spent two weeks in a shack in the woods. Don’t ask. Suffice it to say that it was two weeks without running water, indoor plumbing, electricity, tv, or the Internet. I used it as a time to reboot, so to speak, and get over my Internet addiction a bit. I got some really good work done, and am hoping to continue in that trend.

During the past couple of months, I’ve done some good research, but never enough. I’ve also changed my GTD system, twice, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone who reads this blog. I’ll discuss that more later. I’m not (I think/hope) more into the floor of working and am plugging away at next actions on my list, plus the ever present NA, “Do Research”.

I’ve also been keeping up with my feed reading, although I’ve got my total feeds down to about 100. There have been a few interesting things that I’d like to blog about, and I’m hoping to get to them relatively soon.

Anyway, thanks for sticking around, and I’ll chat more at you later.

:)