Help! I'm confusing myself!

[Content Guardian]

Hello all,

I'm really hoping someone, please please, someone can help me!

I have been interested in GTD for many years, but have never 100% dedicated myself to it; only really using selective parts of it. I think this is probably what's caused me to get frustrated every now and then with the systems I had developed (using part of GTD), when really I should have stuck to ONE way of working - the whole GTD way.

Anyway, I'm now in a position where I want to dedicate myself to the GTD process, but cannot decide what to use to help me. I'm lucky to have a lot of gadgets and notepads (well, perhaps not lucky, more like blown my money over the years!), and I really want to use ALL of them, but at the same time, I don't want to over-complicate things.

I know it ultimately has to come down to what I am comfortable with, but I'm comfortable with ALL of them.

I would really like to know what YOU would do? What would YOU use from the list? And how you would use it or them? Please help, I'm in a corner at the moment all cuddled up against my big GTD teddy bear!

The equipment I have:

- Palm TX PDA
- Alphasmart Neo
- Treo 750 phone
- Acer Laptop (Win XP)
- Macintosh Powerbook
- Olympus Dictaphone
- Numerous Moleskine notebooks
- Archos 605 Wi-Fi
- Motorola V3 phone
- Sony Ericsson K850i phone
- Ipod Classic
- Numerous USB sticks
- A whole bunch of GTD stuff i.e. labeller, filing cabinet, folders, etc.

Many thanks,
Barry.

 

[mcogilvie]

I really want to use ALL of them, but at the same time, I don't want to over-complicate things.
...
The equipment I have:

- Palm TX PDA
- Alphasmart Neo
- Treo 750 phone
- Acer Laptop (Win XP)
- Macintosh Powerbook
- Olympus Dictaphone
- Numerous Moleskine notebooks
- Archos 605 Wi-Fi
- Motorola V3 phone
- Sony Ericsson K850i phone
- Ipod Classic
- Numerous USB sticks
- A whole bunch of GTD stuff i.e. labeller, filing cabinet, folders, etc.

Hast thou tried paper, my son?
OK, seriously, most of that stuff isn't going to help you. Pick a PDA (Treo or TX) and laptop combination that you are willing to use on an everyday basis, and has software that synchronizes reliably for you.

 

[jimmo]

I think you're right, you are confusing yourself. I am a computer professional. I work on computers. My hobbies are done on computers. I have published a number of things about computers. My personal GTD tool? A paper notebook. It's what works for me. Use as many has you have to, but as few as you can.

 

[darlakbrown]

I think you're making it too complicated. Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. Then add a tool in 3 months if needed.

 

[joaomiguel.pereira]

I understand the Content Guardian's dilemma. I have the same problem around here. I started to implement GTD with google notebook, and guess what? ..it works until the moment I have no internet connection :???:

I need to convince myself that simplicity - as considered by darlakbrown - is the key to successful implement GTD.

I'm also a computer guy, and I have some difficulty to accept the fact that using paper is really the best resource I now have to implement GTD. Sometimes I think: "Hey, I'm a computer guy, I should use no paper". "I master all computer tools, it will look bad if I use paper"...
The point is, I need (as I think you also need) to implement GTD (and anything else) with the simplest tool you can find, master and be 24/7 available to your eyes.
KISS

joão