I have almost reached the mind like water status!! : )

B

Boxy07

0
Hi all,

I have recently set up x3 Getting Things Done offices (one at work, one at my girlfriend’s house and one at my house) and although it is very early days I already feel that I am almost at the stage of mind like water status!! I believe that in a month or two hopefully this stage will be fully realised!! :D

I first started at my office by setting up a brief manila folder system based on the GTD workflow map principle (unfortunately I didn’t get to fully set up the office until later as the office had asbestos removed from the ceiling!!) : (

Thereafter, at my house I went through EVERY piece of paper and subjected it to the principles of GTD - I can already see a noticeable difference!! :D (I still have a little bit to get through and thereafter I will be completely free of the paper burden at my house - it already feels good to finally make some headway into the mess though!! :)

I have also as of Sunday, March 3rd, 2013 set up a GTD manila folder system at my girlfriend’s house as this allows me to process any papers that pop up at her house also!! : )

And lastly, I have also (as of yesterday) received the official Getting Things Done action files from America for my briefcase. I have set these up in there and processed all paper accordingly - there is now no loose bits of paper floating around in my briefcase - which is a first!! : )

It was good to go for a walk two days ago and not have any 'nagging' issues popping up in my head as they were in a trusted system (my new GTD system)! (I did have a GTD notebook in my pocket and had no need to write down anything as it was already processes!!). It was also a very good feeling to have one of my co-workers ring me up and ask for a certain piece of paper and within 5 minutes they had found it on my desk (this would not have been possible with my previous system of stacks of paper)!! : )

As I said earlier hopefully in another month or two I will be complete with my GTD system and will be current and have a "mind like water"!! I will keep you all updated on my status in another month or so!! : )

Kind regards,

Jarrod,
Victoria,
Australia
 
Congratulations!

The first few months, I would stop several times on the way to or from work to write things down. Now I don't seem to need to write things down so much at times like that; I've already gotten them written down when they come up. So I can relax.
 
Well done, you!

Once you've got the set-up you like and your backlog is processed it's really about maintenance, being aware of what's continuing to work and what's not, and building in the habits to keep it going. But it sounds like you've got high motivation in that department!

The other thing to keep in your back pocket is "It's OK if I get a little behind with all of this, because I know just what to do to 'get back to zero'!"

Good luck, have fun, and share more with us on the Forums!
 
Thanks for the words of encouragement!! : )

Thanks for the words of encouragement people it is much appreciated!! : )

Also CJ, you are right in stating that "Once you've got the set-up you like and your backlog is processed it's really about maintenance, being aware of what's continuing to work and what's not, and building in the habits to keep it going."

I have really achieved both of these things i.e. I have got the set-up that I like - that I do continually tweak to make sure that it is not overly complex. That is one problem that is easy to get into by overcomplicating the GTD system as there are innumerable numbers of ways to set up a GTD system with all of the apps and ideas out there!!

Also, in regards to your other quote of: "It's OK if I get a little behind with all of this, because I know just what to do to 'get back to zero'!". It is easy to miss the weekly review which has happened on two occasions now due to upcoming issues that were completely outside of my control. I have however, managed to catch up on these - half way at least and will continue to chip away at this!!

Another thing that I do notice when I do undertake my weekly review is the amount of walk-ins and phone-calls that pop up during the course of the review but yeah I do take a diplomatic but forceful approach to these. On occasion I do 'stop the clock' while I deal with the 5 minute interruption (i.e. telling them that I am far too busy to deal with their issue at the moment etc) and then start it again once I have dealt with 'getting rid of the interruption'!!

Also cwoodgold, it is a good feeling once you have started the GTD program to not have to worry about the 'nagging thoughts' in your head saying that you 'must act on this' and 'you must act on that once you get back to the office’etc. For the first time EVER I am able to take a walk without having any nagging and persistent thoughts interrupting me!! The GTD program is well worth its weight in gold however, I do wish to re-iterate, as I stated earlier, to not get into the mistake of overcomplicating the GTD system - which is very easy to do!!

Once again, thanks for the words of encouragement and for your responses!! : )

Kind regards,

Jarrod,
Victoria, Australia
 
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