The advantages of having two systems

[gtdstudente]

Thankyou DTJ, that is a good point not to feel bad about 'sharpening the saw!' I could time it better admittedly, when I work seven days a week in January! I have had yet another change of direction today out of the blue. I have always had resistance to digital notes apps and most to do list apps but have ploughed on, thinking that it is a matter of finding the right tool/s after solving the one system or work and personal decision.

Then today, I asked a different question, usually I would ask:
Should I use a combined system or work and personal system?
Should I use paper, digital or hybrid?
And finally, which tools and apps?

Instead today I asked:
What works?
What has no resistance?
For me that is paper, email, PC documents/Onedrive/Dropbox, spreadsheets (for work, finances and tracking habits etc), todoist (for collection, calendar and on the move lists) and Microsoft To Do (For some reason this works for me for work tasks, seems simple, reliable and keeps completed tasks).

I have got rid of everything else... Digital notes apps and the endless to do lists that I have looked at over the years.

Early days obviously but I have a system in mind - Just need to learn how to GTD on paper for personal stuff!

"What works?
What has no resistance?"

H U G E !

 

[dtj]

That's an interesting viewpoint thanks DTJ. Perhaps my brain was not interested in anything it perceives as complicated at this stage as I am not organised at the ground floor/tactical level. So when I have this lower level in a good place, with simple apps and paper, I can experiment from a solid base with what has given me resistance before, and see if it works for me. And yes crossing out/ticking stuff off on paper is something I missed with going digital only!

To be clear, the analog gets fed by the digital. And by the transient “Pickup milk and bread” type stuff. The 3x5 cards are filled from the ample menu of digital tasks. I try to keep it unidirectional. Analog to digital only happens with brainstorming, or if a transient task becomes a longer term thing.

I actually had a wide black marker to make my bug list look like a redacted intelligence report.

 

[Baz]

I switched back to a single list manager (MS To Do) a few weeks ago. I have felt the urge to go back to two separate list managers but not to the extent that I have acted on it.

It's not perfect but I feel good about it and can see myself sticking with it long term like I dis before an extended period of leave from work.