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I recently read "Getting Things Done"[0] and began incorporating what I learned into my simple second brain. And the results are kind of ridiculously good for m

by mabbo 5y ago

I recently read "Getting Things Done"[0] and began incorporating what I learned into my simple second brain. And the results are kind of ridiculously good for me. I built my whole system on a Google Sheet, but I'm experimenting with building myself an App instead- something I would never have been able to accomplish or even been willing to start if I didn't have this second brain helping me. The lessons I've learned from this: 1. Being pro-active on things instead of reactive makes everything easier. Each action takes less work because there's no worry or guilt associated with it. Just a small amount of planning to make myself pro-active is a worthy investment. 2. Putting things I need to remember into a system and then forgetting about them, trusting that my system has it under control, removes a huge cognitive load from me. I have more energy to use elsewhere. 3. Building a system that evolves to fit my needs, being flexible with myself, rather than trying to jam myself into someone else's system has made it work at all. That's why Google Sheets is awesome as a prototype tool for this. [0]https://gettingthingsdone.com/ https://gettingthingsdone.com/

lioeters 5y ago
> I'm experimenting with building myself an App instead This approach has worked great for me. I have a local web app that's grown (and rewritten) over several years, which renders a folder of Markdown files into a view with navigation, interconnected links, dynamic components (like calendar or calculator), syntax highlight for code snippets.. I love being able to write notes in natural language as well as code, and extend it with any feature I want. Edit: Also I have some shell commands that open, add, or search notes from the terminal.
mcbishop 5y ago
> Building a system that evolves to fit my needs, being flexible with myself, rather than trying to jam myself into someone else's system... I've concluded that this is a necessary journey for me. It's a slow process, trying to learn how I best think and associate.
PaulStatezny 5y ago
5 or 6 years ago, I got big into Getting Things Done. I definitely gained real-life wisdom, but eventually I stopped because following David Allen's methodology was taking multiple hours a day. Do you find that it's taking a ton of time for you? Or maybe you're doing a loose interpretation of the system?
- jmnicolas 5y ago
  > David Allen's methodology was taking multiple hours a day. But was it hours of "administrative" tasks maintaining the GTD thing or was it hours of doing something productive?
- mabbo 5y ago
  Another person replied with the key question: multiple hours of organization and maintaining the system, or multiple hours of getting things done? I'm definitely not following Allen's methodology exactly. I'm doing what works for me. I'm automating a lot of the bullshit, and ignoring Allen's entire half-chapter devoted to why paper is the only option (there is no paper in my system at all). I also don't have any references to sort or organize- everything is in my google drive, which has a powerful search feature. That may come back to bite me, but it hasn't yet. I do find I am spending a couple hours a day just doing stuff that I would have procrastinated on otherwise.
theshrike79 5y ago
> 2. Putting things I need to remember into a system and then forgetting about them, trusting that my system has it under control, removes a huge cognitive load from me. I have more energy to use elsewhere. This is the key for me. My brain gets jumbled if I try to juggle too many things at once. I write stuff I need to do down in a single place, or move my "I will _definitely_ read this later" bookmarks to Pinboard and promptly forget them. When I need something new to do or read, I know where to find it.
silexia 5y ago
I have used Google docs for this for 12 years to build a business with 200 full-time people and it has worked fantastic. I have probably a hundred separate documents describing policies and processes in depth. It is easily searchable for not just myself but many people.
ta988 5y ago
Most organizations systems are ridiculously good in the beginning because we still have enough memory to know where things are and low information content that allows an easy organization. Any information organization system can only be judged after a few years of use in my experience.

by mabbo 5y ago

lioeters 5y ago

> I'm experimenting with building myself an App instead This approach has worked great for me. I have a local web app that's grown (and rewritten) over several years, which renders a folder of Markdown files into a view with navigation, interconnected links, dynamic components (like calendar or calculator), syntax highlight for code snippets.. I love being able to write notes in natural language as well as code, and extend it with any feature I want. Edit: Also I have some shell commands that open, add, or search notes from the terminal.

mcbishop 5y ago

> Building a system that evolves to fit my needs, being flexible with myself, rather than trying to jam myself into someone else's system... I've concluded that this is a necessary journey for me. It's a slow process, trying to learn how I best think and associate.

PaulStatezny 5y ago

5 or 6 years ago, I got big into Getting Things Done. I definitely gained real-life wisdom, but eventually I stopped because following David Allen's methodology was taking multiple hours a day. Do you find that it's taking a ton of time for you? Or maybe you're doing a loose interpretation of the system?

jmnicolas 5y ago
> David Allen's methodology was taking multiple hours a day. But was it hours of "administrative" tasks maintaining the GTD thing or was it hours of doing something productive?
mabbo 5y ago
Another person replied with the key question: multiple hours of organization and maintaining the system, or multiple hours of getting things done? I'm definitely not following Allen's methodology exactly. I'm doing what works for me. I'm automating a lot of the bullshit, and ignoring Allen's entire half-chapter devoted to why paper is the only option (there is no paper in my system at all). I also don't have any references to sort or organize- everything is in my google drive, which has a powerful search feature. That may come back to bite me, but it hasn't yet. I do find I am spending a couple hours a day just doing stuff that I would have procrastinated on otherwise.

theshrike79 5y ago

> 2. Putting things I need to remember into a system and then forgetting about them, trusting that my system has it under control, removes a huge cognitive load from me. I have more energy to use elsewhere. This is the key for me. My brain gets jumbled if I try to juggle too many things at once. I write stuff I need to do down in a single place, or move my "I will _definitely_ read this later" bookmarks to Pinboard and promptly forget them. When I need something new to do or read, I know where to find it.

silexia 5y ago

I have used Google docs for this for 12 years to build a business with 200 full-time people and it has worked fantastic. I have probably a hundred separate documents describing policies and processes in depth. It is easily searchable for not just myself but many people.

ta988 5y ago

Most organizations systems are ridiculously good in the beginning because we still have enough memory to know where things are and low information content that allows an easy organization. Any information organization system can only be judged after a few years of use in my experience.