GTD + Journaling

For example, do you use a bullet journal and do you enter tasks there, which seems to me to be contrary to the idea of GTD. I'm also interested in what areas you note, whether they are related to productivity or reflections, maybe some habits to implement or something else? Do you note on an ongoing basis during the day or at a fixed time?
 
Tom_Hagen said:
For example, do you use a bullet journal and do you enter tasks there, which seems to me to be contrary to the idea of GTD. I'm also interested in what areas you note, whether they are related to productivity or reflections, maybe some habits to implement or something else? Do you note on an ongoing basis during the day or at a fixed time?
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@Tom_Hagen

Merry Christmas and thank you very much for your post

Journaling as an additional inbox can 'always' be good, while in GTD principle/practices; all entries become all the more worthy when all entries are completely GTD processed/Clarified/posted for

Trash (T)* or Contextualized (C) as:

Next Actions (NA)
Projects (P)
Someday/Maybe (SM)
Reference (R)
Support (S)
etc. ?

*An easy way for Post-Clarifying Margin Notations on Journaled items . . . while living in the midst of dynamic realities, perhaps good to retain extra-space for any possible change(s) from any additional reviews ?

As you see GTD fit. . . .
 
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Tom_Hagen said:
For example, do you use a bullet journal and do you enter tasks there, which seems to me to be contrary to the idea of GTD. I'm also interested in what areas you note, whether they are related to productivity or reflections, maybe some habits to implement or something else? Do you note on an ongoing basis during the day or at a fixed time
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I usually journal on my desktop first thing in the morning. It involves a reflection on the day before. I journal in a Bible program called Logos, so the daily reflection is also a devotional time for me for that morning's study. (I am a UMCPastor) Sometimes it generates next actions or even projects. Almost like a mini mind sweep. I do not record them in the journal. I use an applet called InstaRemind. It allows me to use a key stroke and then enter whatever directly into Apple reminders. I then review the journal as part of my weekly review process. I also review the daily entries as part of my year end review. It is amazing what you can learn about yourself.
 
Robert5911 said:
[...] It is amazing what you can learn about yourself.
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Thank you for your answer. It's a "funny" coincidence, but today I noted (I'm just starting my adventure with a journal) a certain observation after reading the Holy Scripture (I'm Catholic). Your post inspired me to create a separate section for this type of reflection. From what I've noticed so far, keeping a journal is a very individual matter and probably through trial and error you need to define a format of entries that will best suit the person keeping the journal. I agree with you about the effects, I've noticed that keeping a journal encourages "slowing down" and being more reflective. What I wonder about is the possibility of combining a journal with GTD. On the one hand, GTD focuses on the flexibility of choosing the actions taken based on context, priorities, energy and time, on the other hand, a journal allows for some direction and even planning of tasks for individual days - especially in the case of long-term goals / projects. However, I'm not sure if this doesn't violate the basic principles of GTD. Unless such a plan is treated more as "intentions" of execution rather than a strict schedule.
 
Tom_Hagen said:
Thank you for your answer. It's a "funny" coincidence, but today I noted (I'm just starting my adventure with a journal) a certain observation after reading the Holy Scripture (I'm Catholic). Your post inspired me to create a separate section for this type of reflection. From what I've noticed so far, keeping a journal is a very individual matter and probably through trial and error you need to define a format of entries that will best suit the person keeping the journal. I agree with you about the effects, I've noticed that keeping a journal encourages "slowing down" and being more reflective. What I wonder about is the possibility of combining a journal with GTD. On the one hand, GTD focuses on the flexibility of choosing the actions taken based on context, priorities, energy and time, on the other hand, a journal allows for some direction and even planning of tasks for individual days - especially in the case of long-term goals / projects. However, I'm not sure if this doesn't violate the basic principles of GTD. Unless such a plan is treated more as "intentions" of execution rather than a strict schedule.
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Journaling is an area of focus for me.
 
I journal most every day. I most often do this activity at my desk in my home office.
When I do this, I have a mind sweep capture sheet to put items into my GTD system.

The key benefit of pairing journaling with GTD is the depth of creativity and self examination can be enhanced. My journal is an unrestricted exploration of thoughts and feelings related to my entire life. I discover things that are working that I want to do more of and things that aren't that I want to do less of going forward. GTD is a great tool for digging in and understanding better how to actually accomplish these ends.
Journaling is also a very effective way of discovering what has my attention. I typically capture items that have my attention on the mind sweep capture sheet and later potentially fully resolve that simply by journaling about it as a way to discover how it fits into what I am already doing. Many times, it goes right into something that is active, resolving why it came to my attention. I will now see it when I need to see it because it's in my system appropriately (where it may not have been before or I didn't realize it was in my system properly).

There are times when I will use my journal entry as a project support or action support entry, merely referring to the journal date on the action or project so I can reference as needed. Nothing actionable in my journal entry escapes being added to my GTD system in some way, whether as an inbox entry, next action, project or someday entry.

I treat my journal a lot like the clarify page I use when working with inbox items. It is disposable because everything relevant is in my system appropriately.

Hope this helps,
Clayton

“You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.” — Jimmy Carter
 
schmeggahead said:
I journal most every day. I most often do this activity at my desk in my home office.
When I do this, I have a mind sweep capture sheet to put items into my GTD system.

The key benefit of pairing journaling with GTD is the depth of creativity and self examination can be enhanced. My journal is an unrestricted exploration of thoughts and feelings related to my entire life. I discover things that are working that I want to do more of and things that aren't that I want to do less of going forward. GTD is a great tool for digging in and understanding better how to actually accomplish these ends.
Journaling is also a very effective way of discovering what has my attention. I typically capture items that have my attention on the mind sweep capture sheet and later potentially fully resolve that simply by journaling about it as a way to discover how it fits into what I am already doing. Many times, it goes right into something that is active, resolving why it came to my attention. I will now see it when I need to see it because it's in my system appropriately (where it may not have been before or I didn't realize it was in my system properly).

There are times when I will use my journal entry as a project support or action support entry, merely referring to the journal date on the action or project so I can reference as needed. Nothing actionable in my journal entry escapes being added to my GTD system in some way, whether as an inbox entry, next action, project or someday entry.

I treat my journal a lot like the clarify page I use when working with inbox items. It is disposable because everything relevant is in my system appropriately.

Hope this helps,
Clayton

“You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.” — Jimmy Carter
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@schmeggahead

Thank you for your good post on Journaling thoughts and all of their benefits

On this end, good to know the possible 'thought sources' as best as possible

Extrinsic sources:
Divine

Good Spirits (Always has one's best interest(s))
Evil Spirits (Ultimately Deception, Fraud, Manipulation, etc. with evil intentions)

Good persons (Always has one's best interest(s))
Bad persons (Ultimately Deception, Fraud, Manipulation, etc. with confused / disordered intentions)

All else that comes through the Five Senses to the corporeal Thalamus for intrinsic Deliberative-&-Instinctive distribution; Corporeally-&-Spiritually


'Intrinsic' sources:

Corporeal Cognition faculties:
Amygdala: Appetites (Passions > Aversion from Suffering / Desire for Pleasure > sought through the Emotions)
Hippocampus: Phantasm (Imagination-&-Memory . . . can be a resource for reasoning or a 'tormentor' to the appetites)

Spiritual Cognitive faculties:
Reasoning for good ultimate judgement to appropriately inform the Will for appropriate end Project(s) and their appropriate course of Next Action when most GTD appropriate when appropriately considering all else requiring appropriate consideration

Always self-reminding that unreliable Corporeal Cognition without Spiritual Cognition can have a much higher rate of unintended consequences

Thank you very much

As you see GTD fit. . . .
 
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schmeggahead said:
[...]

Hope this helps,
Clayton

“You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.” — Jimmy Carter
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Thank you very much for your comprehensive statement. I see it exactly the same way. Keeping a journal as a task management tool does not appeal to me - and neither does it to you, but it helps to clarify thoughts, intentions, reflection and helps to have some direction.

I will also add that GTD is like looking into the future, while a journal is a record of the past. Regularly read, it can bring in the form of in-depth reflection based on what has already happened.

Jimmy Carter - Requiescat in pace!
 
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I have a bullet journal, and what you might call a "traditional" journal - my Morning Pages writing. (see The Artist's Way for more on that)

My bullet journal keeps my dailies - usually repeating tasks that aren't worth managing in a full GTD instance - like "wash the dishes" and "change the towels". I have a master list in my GTD system (Excel) to make sure I don't forget them, because yes I will forget if I get chance! I also maintain some trackers in there - what books I've read this year, a note of my overall goals for the year, that sort of thing. I like a hands-on manual system for my day to day as it's portable and flexible - I use a discbound hardback notebook - and I get to use my fountain pens. If I use a phone app or laptop I tend to get distracted and start looking at Instagram and checking my email! I do some Friday weekly planning along with my Review (from "Tranquility by Tuesday" by Laura Vanderkam - "plan on Fridays") and I rough out my tasks / projects for the week ahead. Hard dates get noted in the dailies as I don't use a calendar personally (my work system is all in O365 so I use Outlook / To Do etc.)

Excel provides my overall GTD system, and if I know I'm going to be pushed for time or other issues are likely to distract me, I tend to translate the must do's into my dailies. Otherwise I use my NA list in the "traditional" fashion. I'm probably ADHD and I like writing things down so the small amount of extra writing actually helps cement things in my mind and / or clarify further if needed, it's well worth the overhead to me.

My morning pages journal sometimes spawns tasks, projects and ideas for the someday / maybe, so I try and flag those as I go and add them into the GTD system. On that note, it's year end and time for a GTD Review and Refresh!
 
HelenM said:
I have a bullet journal, and what you might call a "traditional" journal - my Morning Pages writing. (see The Artist's Way for more on that)
[...]

My morning pages journal sometimes spawns tasks, projects and ideas for the someday / maybe, so I try and flag those as I go and add them into the GTD system. On that note, it's year end and time for a GTD Review and Refresh!
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We all have a bit of ADHD these days ;) Thank you so much for such a detailed answer. I'll take advantage of that.
 
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