No relife by taking it down...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
From time to time it happens, that I am taking down something that I have or want to remember. Some hours or days later I am stumbling about the thing in my mind asking myself if it is in my system or not. I simply can not remember if I already took it down or not. The search on my palm takes time and put´s additional stress on me.

Is this problem just with me? What is your behavior to avoid that? Any hints are welcome.
 
It happens to me sometimes too. I just go ahead and capture it. It's faster than seeing if it's there already. I'll at least catch any duplicates during the weekly review. At worst, I get to mark TWO items off my next actions list! :D
 
Re: No relife by taking it down...

I simply can not remember if I already took it down or not. The search on my palm takes time and puts additional stress on me.

Is this problem just with me? What is your behavior to avoid that? Any hints are welcome.
Click to expand...

Hello...I'll jump in here, and just "re-acknowledge" the power of the weekly review.

http://jason.davidco.com/blogs/jasonwomack.nsf/dx/a-systematic-approach-to-cleaning-up

I know I would not trust my system, and I would "extra-think" it often, if I wasn't in there every 5-10 days.

I've heard David say something like:

As soon as you have to think about the system you use, it's not working. Instead, think within the system.

If you'd like, here are some great articles on the "weekly review."

http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Meg_Gott/article30.html

http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Anne_Gennett/article20.html

http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Ana_Maria_Gonz%E1lez/article14.html
 
I, too, find that I sometimes capture things twice. But doing a regular weekly review lets me check off the duplicate items and move on.
 
From time to time it happens, that I am taking down something that I have or want to remember. Some hours or days later I am stumbling about the thing in my mind asking myself if it is in my system or not. I simply can not remember if I already took it down or not. The search on my palm takes time and put´s additional stress on me.

Sounds like you're collecting but not processing. When you take something down, decide what to do with it. Ask if it's actionable and act on it if the action's under two minutes; otherwise, delegate it, schedule it, or save it as a "someday/maybe" item.

Suppose you're watching a talk show and a new and interesting book is being mentioned (say GTD). Instead of saying to yourself "I need to remember that title," write down the title and turn it into a next action: "Look up reader reviews of GTD on Amazon". You might be writing down the subjects without predicates (e.g. "GTD" vs. "Order GTD from Amazon), so that your items aren't embedded in a meaningful context that would help you remember them.

Any method of notetaking on your Palm that regularly requires you to use the search function needs to be rethought. On my Treo 600 I use a program called "2day" which functions like the "Today" screen on Pocket PCs and Outlook. Whenever I come across something I want to rembember I hit the Datebook button, which launches 2day, and add that something as a next action. You may just want to have a single Memo where you jot down your NAs instead of making one Memo per item. Or you can use an outlining project planner like Progect, a free/open source Palm app that synchs with its desktop counterpart.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top