Drowning in things to do

The heart of a good 'Getting Things Done' process is to have a Single trusted system where you capture your tasks.

I guess I'm Doing It Wrong :-(. Here's all the places where I distribute my todo list...

  • In my current moleskine (pronounce it with me -- Moh-leh-skeen-ah) on pages 9, 12, 31, 57 etc.
  • in my phone
  • in outlook (at work)
  • in my code using //TODO: tags (scattered over numerous projects)
  • in my code using NotImplementedExceptions.
  • in timesnapper's hosted fogbugz account
  • in 'nextaction' on my work pc
  • in 'nextaction' on my home pc
  • in 'nextaction' on my laptop
  • in my gmail account (emails labelled 'todo')
  • in my gmail account (emails marked with a star)
  • in my gmail account (any emails from me)
  • in my other moleskine, beside the bed

Still, I think i'm pretty good because I do actually tend to 'get things done'. But also because i resist keeping lists in all these other places:

  • in iGoogle
  • in sharepoint (at work)
  • in my gmail account (using the Gmail Tasks plugin)
  • on pieces of paper on my cubicle wall
  • in my other notebooks
  • in timesnapper using flags/tasks/notes
  • in yet another todo.txt file
  • on sticky notes randomly decorating places I inhabit
  • in twitter
  • in tada list
  • in that surprisingly popular codeproject todo list
  • in remember the milk
  • in a tiddly wiki
  • in the iphone i don't have
  • in the PDA i don't have
  • in chandler
  • at trimpath 'next action' web site
  • on my blog
  • using tattoos (memento style)
  • in google calendar

There's no shortage of places to keep your things to do.

I don't worry about having too many systems. A bigger fear is failing to capture a problem as it arises.

You frequently get just one chance to capture an idea, so I capture it anywhere I can.

 

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(By the way, I read every comment and often respond.)

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