All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

Today, I got a bunch of small tasks completed. I’m feeling pretty good about it, too. Other than the GTD book, what’s helped me immensely?

• Keep your task lists in context to where you are. If I’m at work, my @Home tasks aren’t any good to me until I get home, so there’s no point in reminding myself of those. If I’m at home, @Errands, @Computer, and @Call, will be viewable for me [in DateBk5]. With these practices in place, I did 5 small tasks at Kare right away.
• When writing and tracking your tasks, use whatever method that’ll motivate you. I was using index cards for awhile, because I liked ripping the card up after I completed a job. I’m back to using my PDA because I’m trying to decrease the number of buckets I have to check regularly. You can use a few sheets of paper, each containing a list for a specific context, where you cross each one out.
• Get specific. If you see a task and you get hesitant about it, you should try to break it down further (probably because it’s a project). Example: “Get new spark plugs installed into car” could be broken down to a few smaller tasks. “Call mechanic [to ask if it's okay to bring my own spark plugs to have installed], “Buy spark plugs from [insert auto store]“, “Bring car to mechanic”.
• If a task will require a couple of steps to get done, it’s really a project. Identify this, break it down, then organize the best way to do the tasks.
• Use the right tool for the right job. There isn’t any one method that’ll work for everyone. Mess around with this methodology, have fun, and git ‘er dun!

Here’s to another day of productivity!