Interesting implementation of GTD using Moleskines

A

awebber

Guest
I met a gentleman in the coffee shop this morning that is also a practitioner of GTD (first clue was the Ready for Anything book on the table), and has an interesting method of implementation for GTD, his is almost all Moleskine compared to my Palm. He uses a large quad-ruled Moleskine notebook for all of his notes, using the Cornell method diary style. He uses a large weekly Moleskine desk planner for his calendar with an address book and phone list taped into the back. He keeps all of his projects and next action lists on 4x6 index cards, color coded by context. As we spoke about it, he noted that he realized that he was spending so much time “tinkering with toys” that he need to simplify and this is how he did it. He also still carries a Palm, but hardly ever uses it and said he will likely take it out of his bag next time he cleans it.

I might have to think about this, it seems like it works well for him.
 
R

Rainer Burmeister

Registered
Keep it simple!

I agree with that gentleman. All that I really need day-to-day is a calendar with addresses and phone numbers, a paper notepad or notebook and a few NA lists in a small binder. The rest of my system can be left at my "base" either at my office or at home.

Rainer
 
M

mochant

Guest
I'm watching a similar experiment

A co-worker is testing a paper system right now. He's picked up a very nice portfolio from FranklinCovey that has side-by-side legal pad holders and a good-sized pocket that he uses as a mobile Inbox. As he captures (or is handed) items that need processing, they go into the pocket until he gets back to his desk.

It's an interesting idea. I'm curious to see if it will stick.

BTW, he still uses his Treo for carrying his lists, calendar, contacts, etc.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
GTD and Moleskine Books

I'm really encouraged by this. I'm a newbie who's just come to GTD fresh. However, I've been a fan of Molskine books for years (they're objects of beauty in their own right). I've always wanted to use Molskine for my day-to-day work, after having used one on a long-term project in my work where it was important to have everthing written down.

I've been worried about implementing GTD at home. In the office, I'm OK, as I use MS Outlook to manage my work Next Actions (every job request comes via e-mail), but I don't have a Wintel machine at home. I've been looking for something portable and lo-tech to take home with me, and it appears it's been sitting under my nose all along.

Thanks for the tips.
Mike.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Cornell Method Diary style

What is the Cornell Method of recording?

Thanks.
 
M

mochant

Guest
Cornell Notes in GoBinder or OneNote

The new version of GoBinder has Cornell templates preinstalled. It's a pretty simple matter to construct them in OneNote as well. It's an interesting discipline and works well with the review component in GTD.
 
D

dragonlor20

Registered
Great story!

I always love the stories where people meet someone in the wild using GTD and they learn that the Palm or electronic system isn't the only way. I use a similar system myself:

GTD Retail

and it has worked well for me for over a year now. My system involves using the thinner, soft cover moleskine notebooks on top of my pocket moleskine. In the smaller book I hand-draw a calendar with three days represented on the left side and Thurs - Sunday on the right side. The reason I hand-draw is because I want blank pages between each calendar week for notes, and I haven't found a calendar yet that is the correct size and fits that formatting structure. I use these note pages to record events that I will want to remember the next year. In the main moleskine notebook, I use tabs to divide my sections into "Computer" "Salesfloor" and "Office" and I divide action items between the headers.
 
M

May

Registered
For me paper is just too limited :)
It's not going to work for tracking thousands of things I have to track (literally). So I'm using a more advanced tool (computer)
 
Vickie

Vickie

Registered
Anonymous;22043 said:
I'm really encouraged by this. I'm a newbie who's just come to GTD fresh. However, I've been a fan of Molskine books for years (they're objects of beauty in their own right). I've always wanted to use Molskine for my day-to-day work, after having used one on a long-term project in my work where it was important to have everthing written down.

I've been worried about implementing GTD at home. In the office, I'm OK, as I use MS Outlook to manage my work Next Actions (every job request comes via e-mail), but I don't have a Wintel machine at home. I've been looking for something portable and lo-tech to take home with me, and it appears it's been sitting under my nose all along.

Thanks for the tips.
Mike.
Click to expand...

I too LOVE LOVE LOVE Moleskines! The key to success for me has been to ensure that any actions I write in there are clearly marked. I use a big "A" wth a circle around it in my notes (Cornell method style) to indicate what my action items are. I also transfer worthy ideas over to Evernote. It's a great capture tool for me but the key to managing the info in there has been to ensure it's part of my weekly review.
 
C

cwoodgold

Registered
Martin Ternouth's system

A great description of a paper-based system is here
(not based on GTD, but with similarities),
in the 2nd email from Martin Ternouth:
http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00008c

I combine Ternouth's system with GTD, as I talk about in my
book review of "Getting Things Done" here:
http://web.ncf.ca/an588/allenternouth.html

I have a tickle file at work and one at home, some systems on
my computer at work, a pocket calendar, a wrist watch that I
can set to beep and display a word to remind me of appointments,
and my main system is a notebook with removable/addable pages
on which I keep my context lists and a few other things.
At work I'm very often writing an action on an individual sheet
of paper; I often erase them when done and re-use the paper.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top