Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.
Daily log?
mdl | Mar 29 2007
I've been thinking of introducing a daily log into my GTD system but am not sure exactly how to go about it. Why do I want a log? Isn't the beauty of GTD the ability to get stuff off your mind and out the door? There are four reasons I'm interested in a log: 1) I want to assess my work habits/productivity during the weekly review. The action lists don't give me much clue about the order in which I do things or the amount of time it takes to get each thing done. The log would also help me become more aware of why I procrastinate on certain tasks. (Also useful for billing and tax purposes when I do freelance work.) 2) Research tracking. I want to be able to review my academic work to understand how I've gotten to where I'm at--to revisit dead ends, to understand my reading/research habits, etc. 3) Spending & health. To monitor my bad habits. 4) To have a "diary" of sorts. I might consider expanding the log to include brief notes about conversations, activities, observations, etc. This all seems appealing, but I'm also wondering whether it's too much work on top of collecting, processing, and acting. It introduces another level of stuff to be aware of and record. Also, I'm not sure whether to have a single log (simpler - single point of entry) or whether to divide this into multiple logs (spending, health, work, research). Finally, I've gotten myself all confused at how a log relates to collection. In some ways, collecting is a log of thoughts. It's the input side of GTD--stuff that comes into my life that needs attention. But I would also like a running log of the "output" side of GTD--stuff that I do. It would be ideal to keep these two logs distinct. But separating them also introduces a whole new level of complexity into my system. (Right now, I'm all paper, using a hipster PDA.) Any one have any success implementing a log? I'd be interested to hear any advice and/or suggestions. I'd prefer a paper-based solution, as I do much of my work away from the computer. 10 Comments
POSTED IN:
 I LOVE my daily logSubmitted by mmr on March 29, 2007 - 2:21pm.
My daily log is my lifesaver -- it's just a bound notebook with numbered pages that's fairly inexpensive in the local supply store. Everything I do goes in there -- phone calls (and the outcomes of those phone calls), particularly important emails related to some aspect of a project get referenced, brainstorming results, order numbers, changes made to some database or another. It is categorically invaluable. Some of the stuff in there I never have to use again, and some of it I really really do. For the past 7 years I've worked with a series of folks with poor memories and varying stages of disorganization, and it really has helped to be able to pull out my notebook and say "yes, that was mailed off on X date, and I informed you of that fact on Y," or "on Z you requested that I follow up with ____." I use it also as "bookmarks", so that when I'm running analyses, I know exactly where I left off! Being paper, the search capabilities are a bit limited!, but for things I think I'll need to track, I'll highlight and/or write a tag in the margin, so flipping through I'm able to find things pretty rapidly. I started doing this pre-GTD, but it has dovetailed nicely into my implementation. I pull it out at the weekly review (and frequently at my mini daily-review first thing in the morning), and am able to update project lists, NAs, and project support material, etc., as needed. Sometimes it does feel like overhead, but it has more than paid for itself. And it's wacky some of the stuff that I'm later asked to confirm -- items that I'd never have expected to have to track, so I'm really glad later to have written it down! Plus it's a great motivational tool for those days when I'm not feeling particularly productive! » POSTED IN:
|
|
| EXPLORE 43Folders | THE GOOD STUFF |
