GETTING THINGS DONE IN ONENOTE. River Run March 1, 2018. David Allen's 'Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity' was first published in 2001, and updated in 2015, and has remained a best-selling business 'basic' for all of that time. Applications, products and whole communities of users have sprung up around it, making Getting Things Done (GTD) one of the most popular organizational. Read on How to Get Things Done with OneNote and discover your way to productivity and efficiency. Dominic Wolff, a seasoned author and business owner, found success in his business career improvising David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) with Microsoft's OneNote. With the two systems combined, Wolff assures that you'll get your.
After nine months working remotely full time, I found myself drowning in paper. Handwritten notes, lists — so many lists — references, and sticky notes accumulated around me faster than time and mental capacity could process. But with a cluttered desk comes a cluttered mind. The added volume of email, meetings and chat messages weighed me down even more. I had lost the ability to be proactive or think past the most urgent task in front of me. Stressed and anxious, I was afraid I would drop one of the dozens of balls I struggled to keep in the air. I knew I was working harder than I should to achieve less than my workload demanded. Burned out and overwhelmed, I desperately needed a system to help me organize my work. My life raft came in the form of David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity, and Microsoft OneNote.
Distributed Cognition
Lucky for me, I write shit down. I know better than to rely on my memory for ideas, reminders, and action items. Because of this, I've been building an external mind to capture and store information. This process of getting things out of your head and into objective, reviewable formats is referred to as 'distributed cognition.' By capturing thoughts externally, you free up space in your mind for other ideas. Store thoughts in your mind and you're likely to forget them or limit the flow of other ideas, ultimately limiting your productivity and creativity.
For example, you've surely needed to memorize a long number for a few moments. You repeat it in your head over and over, solely focused on this one thing. One distracting thought and boom, gone. Need to go to the grocery store? Try memorizing the five things you need and most likely there won't be room for the thought that you're also low on eggs. But go with an external list and your mind has the freedom to wander.
Getting Things Done Onenote Example Notebooks
Thanks to my habit of writing everything down, I had already built a sort of external mind. Unfortunately, my external mind was a disorganized shit show of handwritten notes, lists — so many lists — references, and sticky notes. That's where David Allen's book, and Microsoft's OneNote, came in and saved me.
Capturing Open Loops
Getting Things Done is an organization and productivity system. The book delves into painstaking detail at times and probably could have been shorter, but with thirty-five years of experience as a management consultant and executive coach, Allen knows his stuff. I took what I wanted from the book and left what I didn't.
The first tactic I implemented that immediately paid dividends when it came to my productivity and reducing my stress was capturing my 'open loops.'. Slack activity. Allen defines open loops as 'anything pulling at your attention that doesn't belong where it is, the way it is.' Open loops are the thoughts that leap out at you at seemingly random times when you're least likely to be able to act on them. Everything from planning a vacation, emailing an agenda in advance of tomorrow's meeting, or picking up milk.
Not capturing these thoughts, to-dos, actions, etc. is like going to bed without an alarm clock. You spring up in the middle of the night afraid you overslept and have little peace of mind. That is precisely what was happening to me, but with work thoughts.
Serif affinity designer 1.9.1. So I set to capture every 'open loop' from my mind, scrap of paper or lingering list with Allen's instruction. The more I captured, the more open loops sprang to mind (a benefit of distributed cognition) and the more confident I felt that tasks wouldn't fall through the cracks. Already, I felt more in control of what I needed and wanted to do.
I created another document to capture meeting notes after experiencing the benefit of keeping notes electronically. I could keep everything together (in a searchable format) rather than shuffling through notebooks to find that note containing what that guy said in that meeting two (or was it three) weeks ago.
Do you know about OneNote?
I can't be the only person who didn't know about Microsoft OneNote. I only 'discovered' OneNote late last year and it's changed my life. In case you're uninitiated like I was, it's a digital note taking app where you can create digital notebooks and add sections to the notebooks, then pages to the sections. So long, Word docs! I keep everything in OneNote. I have a work account where I keep a master work notebook and a personal account where I have notebooks on everything from this website to ideas for my Youtube channel, Big Appetite. Small Kitchen., ideas, goals, etc. It also syncs to all my devices so I can access my notebooks anytime, anywhere as long as I can access my Microsoft account.
Next Actions
Once I formed the habit of capturing open loops and started using OneNote, the quality of my life improved. I'm serious. Despite being an organized, high-performing person, I was wasting a lot of time struggling to get organized, and causing myself a lot of unnecessary stress.
David Allen goes into great detail regarding what to do with open loops once they're all captured; specifically, how to determine your next actions. According to Allen, the next action is the most immediate physical, visible activity required to move a task or project toward closure. It cannot depend on any other action. For example, if you have an open loop to talk with your child's teacher, then the next action is most likely to email them and ask to meet.
This way of thinking about immediate next actions has helped me to move so much forward. Often my tasks and projects (personal and professional) are large and feel overwhelming. I sometimes don't know where to begin. Getting in the habit of identifying immediate next actions has increased my productivity and decreased that sense of dread, and therefore procrastination (which we all know compounds stress and anxiety).
Staying Organized
Gtd Onenote Setup
At the end of any given day I may still find myself with pages of handwritten notes and dozens of unread emails. Staying organized requires proactivity. I take the time to transcribe notes into OneNote and am vigilant about the cleanliness of my inbox. Otherwsie, I can end up right back where I was — disorganized and stressed.
Now, having captured my open loops and updated my master next actions list, I am able to shut down my computer at the end of the day with peace of mind. No more waking in the middle of the night in a panic. No more starting my day with anxiety because I have no idea where to begin. It is a beautiful thing and one more lesson I learned to help me achieve a simpler, happier, more peaceful life.
Getting Things Done Onenote
You may also like:
Getting Things Done Mit Outlook Und Onenote
Now that you have a better idea of how to use OneNote, it's time to lay the foundation of the Getting Things Done system. In the method that I'll be explaining here, you'll be creating a number of notebooks that contain different types of information. However, you could choose to do it differently. For example, I've seen people who have a single notebook called 'GTD' that contains a number of different sections that hold these things, or even a single section with a lot of different pages. It's totally up to you. I find it easier to keep them in different notebooks so I don't get distracted when I'm trying to work. Of course, you can always try one way and see if it works, and switch to another if it doesn't. Anyway, let's get started!
First, we're going to rename the notebook you created above. Instead of 'Work,' call it 'Inbox.' Delete the sections that are currently in that notebook (just right-click on the section tabs), and add a new section called 'Stuff.' This is where we're going to be doing a lot of work in the near future.
After that, create notebooks called 'Projects,' 'Actions,' 'Reference,' and 'Someday / Maybe.' (Again, this is just my preferred setup; feel free to use one that suits your needs). In the Actions notebook, create a section called Next Actions and another one called Waiting For. If you look back at the areas that we defined in chapter 1, you'll see that you now have notebooks or sections for all of them! (There will be a lot more in the near future, but this is a good place to start.) Learn more on Amazon.com/How-Get-Things-Done-OneNote-ebook/dp/B00M1K0AXY
Gtd Onenote Templates
Lucky for me, I write shit down. I know better than to rely on my memory for ideas, reminders, and action items. Because of this, I've been building an external mind to capture and store information. This process of getting things out of your head and into objective, reviewable formats is referred to as 'distributed cognition.' By capturing thoughts externally, you free up space in your mind for other ideas. Store thoughts in your mind and you're likely to forget them or limit the flow of other ideas, ultimately limiting your productivity and creativity.
For example, you've surely needed to memorize a long number for a few moments. You repeat it in your head over and over, solely focused on this one thing. One distracting thought and boom, gone. Need to go to the grocery store? Try memorizing the five things you need and most likely there won't be room for the thought that you're also low on eggs. But go with an external list and your mind has the freedom to wander.
Getting Things Done Onenote Example Notebooks
Thanks to my habit of writing everything down, I had already built a sort of external mind. Unfortunately, my external mind was a disorganized shit show of handwritten notes, lists — so many lists — references, and sticky notes. That's where David Allen's book, and Microsoft's OneNote, came in and saved me.
Capturing Open Loops
Getting Things Done is an organization and productivity system. The book delves into painstaking detail at times and probably could have been shorter, but with thirty-five years of experience as a management consultant and executive coach, Allen knows his stuff. I took what I wanted from the book and left what I didn't.
The first tactic I implemented that immediately paid dividends when it came to my productivity and reducing my stress was capturing my 'open loops.'. Slack activity. Allen defines open loops as 'anything pulling at your attention that doesn't belong where it is, the way it is.' Open loops are the thoughts that leap out at you at seemingly random times when you're least likely to be able to act on them. Everything from planning a vacation, emailing an agenda in advance of tomorrow's meeting, or picking up milk.
Not capturing these thoughts, to-dos, actions, etc. is like going to bed without an alarm clock. You spring up in the middle of the night afraid you overslept and have little peace of mind. That is precisely what was happening to me, but with work thoughts.
Serif affinity designer 1.9.1. So I set to capture every 'open loop' from my mind, scrap of paper or lingering list with Allen's instruction. The more I captured, the more open loops sprang to mind (a benefit of distributed cognition) and the more confident I felt that tasks wouldn't fall through the cracks. Already, I felt more in control of what I needed and wanted to do.
I created another document to capture meeting notes after experiencing the benefit of keeping notes electronically. I could keep everything together (in a searchable format) rather than shuffling through notebooks to find that note containing what that guy said in that meeting two (or was it three) weeks ago.
Do you know about OneNote?
I can't be the only person who didn't know about Microsoft OneNote. I only 'discovered' OneNote late last year and it's changed my life. In case you're uninitiated like I was, it's a digital note taking app where you can create digital notebooks and add sections to the notebooks, then pages to the sections. So long, Word docs! I keep everything in OneNote. I have a work account where I keep a master work notebook and a personal account where I have notebooks on everything from this website to ideas for my Youtube channel, Big Appetite. Small Kitchen., ideas, goals, etc. It also syncs to all my devices so I can access my notebooks anytime, anywhere as long as I can access my Microsoft account.
Next Actions
Once I formed the habit of capturing open loops and started using OneNote, the quality of my life improved. I'm serious. Despite being an organized, high-performing person, I was wasting a lot of time struggling to get organized, and causing myself a lot of unnecessary stress.
David Allen goes into great detail regarding what to do with open loops once they're all captured; specifically, how to determine your next actions. According to Allen, the next action is the most immediate physical, visible activity required to move a task or project toward closure. It cannot depend on any other action. For example, if you have an open loop to talk with your child's teacher, then the next action is most likely to email them and ask to meet.
This way of thinking about immediate next actions has helped me to move so much forward. Often my tasks and projects (personal and professional) are large and feel overwhelming. I sometimes don't know where to begin. Getting in the habit of identifying immediate next actions has increased my productivity and decreased that sense of dread, and therefore procrastination (which we all know compounds stress and anxiety).
Staying Organized
Gtd Onenote Setup
At the end of any given day I may still find myself with pages of handwritten notes and dozens of unread emails. Staying organized requires proactivity. I take the time to transcribe notes into OneNote and am vigilant about the cleanliness of my inbox. Otherwsie, I can end up right back where I was — disorganized and stressed.
Now, having captured my open loops and updated my master next actions list, I am able to shut down my computer at the end of the day with peace of mind. No more waking in the middle of the night in a panic. No more starting my day with anxiety because I have no idea where to begin. It is a beautiful thing and one more lesson I learned to help me achieve a simpler, happier, more peaceful life.
Getting Things Done Onenote
You may also like:
Getting Things Done Mit Outlook Und Onenote
Now that you have a better idea of how to use OneNote, it's time to lay the foundation of the Getting Things Done system. In the method that I'll be explaining here, you'll be creating a number of notebooks that contain different types of information. However, you could choose to do it differently. For example, I've seen people who have a single notebook called 'GTD' that contains a number of different sections that hold these things, or even a single section with a lot of different pages. It's totally up to you. I find it easier to keep them in different notebooks so I don't get distracted when I'm trying to work. Of course, you can always try one way and see if it works, and switch to another if it doesn't. Anyway, let's get started!
First, we're going to rename the notebook you created above. Instead of 'Work,' call it 'Inbox.' Delete the sections that are currently in that notebook (just right-click on the section tabs), and add a new section called 'Stuff.' This is where we're going to be doing a lot of work in the near future.
After that, create notebooks called 'Projects,' 'Actions,' 'Reference,' and 'Someday / Maybe.' (Again, this is just my preferred setup; feel free to use one that suits your needs). In the Actions notebook, create a section called Next Actions and another one called Waiting For. If you look back at the areas that we defined in chapter 1, you'll see that you now have notebooks or sections for all of them! (There will be a lot more in the near future, but this is a good place to start.) Learn more on Amazon.com/How-Get-Things-Done-OneNote-ebook/dp/B00M1K0AXY
Gtd Onenote Templates
The next thing to do is to differentiate between the different contexts in your life. In the original GTD system, things for your home and work lives were kept separate by being labeled differently—these labels are called 'contexts.' And in other software systems, I often recommend using them. However, because of how OneNote is set up, it can actually be easier to keep all of your items together. However, if you'd like to separate them, you should create different sections in your notebooks. For example, in your Actions notebook, you can create 'Next Actions Work,' 'Next Actions Home,' 'Waiting For Work,' and 'Waiting For Home.' In Someday / Maybe, you can have home and work sections. You can do this in your reference file, too. One of the lamentable facts about modern life is that our work and home lives are becoming much more integrated—however, you might feel like keeping items separate will contribute to your sense of control. If it does, go for it! More on ProductiveNow
