My email system is also set up using a GTD approach so you won’t see email as a task anywhere on my task list – it is a self-contained system that has the following features:

1. I presently use Windows Mail on my computer to download and process my email. I do have a GMail account, but I have not yet transitioned to processing all my email online. That maybe an areas that I move into during the next year.

2. I do not use my inbox as a filing tray – any email that arrives in my inbox is processed and moved to one of my action folders. I don’t leave post in my physical postbox in the mall – I collect mail each week and process it. So why should I act any differently with my electronic mail? Here are the action folder that I manage:

A. Action – these are email that require action within a day or two.

B. Read – these are emails that contain content that I need to read some time.

C. Someday – these are emails that I might like to follow up on at some time in the future.

D. Waiting For – these are emails that act as reminders about things I am waiting for from others.

E. Projects – these are email linked to projects – each current project has it’s own email folder.

F. Reference – these are email that I may need to refer to sometime in the future (I have categories are mostly based around my roles in life (Husband; Father; Pastor; Mentor; Student; Computer.

3. I get my inbox to zero every day – each day I make sure every email I have received is processed – that does not always mean I reply, although often it does – but I either delete it, file it, mark it to read, or send it to an action folder or a waiting for folder.

4. I have a well structured reference folder system so stuff is filed where I want it and easily accessible. GTD suggests using the search facility more than trying to figure out where to file things but I am still too ordered to go with a free flowing system.

5. I schedule time to process email each day – one slot in the morning and one in the afternoon – I am trying not to keep checking email compulsively throughout the day. Okay, so that is the theory or goal!

6. I reply to every email I receive. One of my pet peeves is people don’t reply to an email they obviously receive. It might just be a short note – but it is a reply! My GTD-style email action management system helps with this commitment because emails are not moved into my Reference section until they have been handled appropriately.

7. I track my social networking (Facebook) and Twitter posting through email. I have them both set to send me email updates about people who choose to follow me on Twitter, posts that are related to me on Facebook, etc.

8. I use a freeware program called Digsby to track my Twitter account (to read who I am following and make tweets) and also to track my various email accounts. It saves me having to check each account online. It sits in the Notifications area of the Taskbar in my Windows computers.

The following are critical to my system but they are not part of the pages I print and keep in my journal:

1. My Home Inbox
I have an inbox a home (and at the office) that is just for stuff that needs to be processed each day and I work really hard to ensure that it does not become a piling system. During my weekly review on a Monday I ensure that my inbox gets to Zero! And boy, it is a good feeling every time!

2. My Filing System
At home, I have my four drawer metal filing cabined with hanging files that I keep up to date. I seldome struggle to find anything as everything has a place from Home to Telephone to Family Members to Tax to Banking (etc). I put items to be filed into my inbox and file them as soon as possible – at least each Monday during my Weekly Review – but usually more often than that. I also schedule two dates a year in my calendar (with reminders) when I work on thinning out the drawers and folders. David Allen suggests that an A-Z approach should be used, but I find my category driven approach works really well.

3. My Capture Device
I keep a really small note book on me all the time – even one next to my bed, one in my bag and one in my car. I jot down anything that pops into my head about anything and that gets transferred to my system each day. This way I am able to maintain a “mind like water” – where my surface is calm and when a rock gets thrown in it gets disturbed but can return to calm quickly. I am no longer worrying about things that I must remember to do – as I know they are in my trusted system and will get dealt with in the right context. This is a CRITICAL part of the GTD system!!!

4. My Journal
I also carry a leather note book around, and I use it to take notes in church, detail a meeting outline that I am leading, record my “daily” devotions (okay, it is a least my goal to do it very day!!!), list things that I need to work on for my website or any other projects. I have a system when I put indicators in the margins to help me know what is a Next Action item, what is a Project, what is a Waiting For item, what is an Agenda item to follow up with someone, what is an Errand items that needs to be purchased or collected on one of my trips, etc.

5. My Car Notebook
I listen to a lot of podcasts in my car as I travel and am often jotting down notes. These go in the A5 notebook and pages are torn out as I type the notes into my computer.

Next time, I will explore the email system that I have developed using the GTD principles.

David Allen in Getting Things Done, or Making It All Work does not dictate what system you need to use to apply his principles. That is left up to the individual.

My system is largely paper-based – I spent some years with a digital system and then opted to go back towards a paper based approach as it integrated into my use of a notebook and journalling.

Please download a document containing my system (My GTD System) so you can follow along as I describe each page:

1. Weekly Planner
This is an adaptation of what I have used for years from my exposure to Stephen Covey. I still like to keep my Mission, Roles and Goals in front of me – even though I also work with the 6 Horizons of Focus that David Allen teaches. The “Weekly Priorities section” are the big rocks that I need to pay attention to in the week ahead.  You will see that for each day I have a “Day Tasks” section at the bottom of the page – this is not my main task list (that comes later) but just a note about things that HAVE to be completed on specific days in the coming weeks – it is more of a “note to self on a specific day” reminder list than a genuine to do list. I am rather strict in only putting appointments on the weekly planner. There are some tasks that get scheduled but you will see that GTD encourages you to batch complete tasks so many of those are done when the context is right and time and energy are suitable to the task.

2. Projects List
This is a listing of each of the projects I have on my plate right now – I have two pages at present with things like: (1) Write Book Chapter for Zondervan; (2) Develop Youth Pastor Training Track, (3) Plan Supernatural Series for Sundays at Youth. Each project is then given a next action to be completed – sometimes I identify the next 2 to 4 actions steps, but often it is just the next one that needs to be completed to bring the project one step close to completion.

3. Next Actions List
This is the heart of the GTD system. The emphasis is on action management and you continually ask what the next task is on a commitment that you have agreed to, or an idea that come into your mind, and you enter that in your action management system which is kinda like a task list on steroids – the secret is to come up with a next action (something special and concrete you can do) and then allocate a context to it. So you only think about the action when you are in the right context – you no longer look through long lists of tasks to find something you can actually do (ie. you do find yourself at the shop wondering what you were supposed to buy because you just look at your @errands list and see it written there). I have the following contexts (and you will see that this system manages my whole life and not just work or church related stuff):
@Calls (phone calls I need to make).
@Computer (this is stuff I need to do when I sit in front of my computer – some people split this into online/offline but I am seldom not connected to the internet so they are merged).
@Office (this is pretty much for things I need to follow up on when I am at church – things to give to people, stuff to get, etc).
@Calendar (this is for stuff that I need to get scheduled in my diary – meetings to set, events to attend, etc).
@Meetings (this is a list of meetings that I have schedule or things I want to bounce off people – this is working alongside a later page I will describe – my Agenda list).
@Home (this is a list of things that need to be done once I am around the home. They could relate to work or church, but they can only be done at home).
@Errands (this is a list of all the things that I need to get when I am out and about, or buy, post to collect, etc.
@Waiting For (this is a list of things that I can’t do anything about until I get a respond or something back from someone else. This makes sure I don’t forget about things that are suspended).
Another context that GTD recommends is an @Someday/Maybe list – and I had it on this page, but it has moved to its own page. See later.

4. Agendas List
This is a list of all the people that I connect with regularly – my wife and kids are even on this page, including all my staff, key church leaders, people I am mentoring, the 5 youth pastors in surrounding churches that I meet with and a few other guys who are mentoring me – this is a place to make a note of issues that I need to raise with them or things I need to get for them when I next see them. I am very structured in when I see people and plan these into my diary a few weeks ahead at time. Some are weekly appointments, other bi-weekly, some monthly and others ad hoc. So the name is in the left column and notes in the right column down the page.

5. Ideas and Insights List
This page gives me a place to capture sayings and quotes that I don’t want to forget. I type these up each week in some time set aside in my diary to do this – usually on a Monday morning.

6. Prayer Journal
This started a while back as one of my contexts on my Next Actions list page but is has now become a page on it’s own. It is helping me to be more proactive with actually prayer for things that I commit to pray for.

7. Someday/Maybe List
I mentioned this earlier – but it is anything that comes up that I am not ready to make a project right now. It might be dreams, ideas, things to do one day – but they all get capture and lurk there until I review them and decide to either delete them as wild ideas or turn them into projects.

8. My Responsibilities
This is quite a new list I am working on. It is a list of all the things that I feel responsible for – in my different roles and things that I need to do daily, weekly and monthly. It gets a bit nitty gritty orientated, but again it means that I don’t have to try to remember things – my system reminds me about them. Many of these things get scheduled in my diary and reminders are set there for me. Here is my list at present:
* Home: Wash the Dishes; Take out the Rubbish Bins; Help Around the Home; Maintain the Property; Handle Medical Aid
* Consultancy: Revise Material Regularly, Create CDs, Submit Invoices
* Personal: Eat Healthy, Walk, Run, Play Squash
* Community: Get to Know Neighbours, Help with Vigilance, Respond to Crises
* Pastor: Pray, Read the Word, Provide Spiritual Direction
* Youth Pastor: Oversee the Vision, Empower staff, Liaise with Elders, Oversee Adult Leaders, Lead a Connect Group
* Student: Keep Reading, Summarise Books, Listen to Podcasts
* Mentor: Set Meetings, Identify Issues to Work On, Follow Up on Issues, Create Accountability Structures, Share Resource
* Daily: Devotions, Help at Home, Connect with Kids, Listen to Podcasts, Read
* Weekly: Set Weekly Goals, Visit Blogs, Type up Notes, Set Mentor Meetings, Listen to Sermon Podcasts, Charge Headset
* Monthly : Set Monthly Goals, Pay Accounts, Review and Revise Budget,
* Yearly: Set Annual Goals, Tax Return, Clear Out Files (3 Jan, 1 July)

9. My Weekly Review
The secret to GTD is the Weekly Review. You must look through the whole system each week and see if anything is falling through the cracks – cross things off – to be honest I am so thorough in the week that my weekly review is not difficult, although I have the following list that I am now using and it is adding a lot of value:
* Review Planner: Mission, Roles, Goals
* Process Paper: Inbox to Zero, Receipts
* Process Notes: Ideas, Podcasts
* Review Calendar: Last Week, Next Week
* Mind Dump: Thoughts, Walk around, Family, People, House
* Review Lists: Projects, Next Actions, Agendas, Someday/Maybe, Waiting For, Prayer, Ideas
* Review Email: Waiting For, Action, Read
* Review Habits: Time management, People management, Work/rest balance, Devotions,
* Review Learning: Books, Podcasts, Articles
* Review Entertainment: Movies to watch, TV series to watch, books to read
* Review Diet: How am I eating? What are I over/under doing?
* Review Character: Fruit of the Spirit, Integrity, Keeping Commitments
* Review System: Are there areas for Improvement?
* Preview Week: Down Time, Family Time, Weekly To Do List
* Enjoy Reward: Have a Cuppachino
You will see that the document contains my review items and there is a column in the left to check when I have done each step.

Next, we will look at the support items that work alongside these printed pages.

This is my first blog post about a system of life and time management that I stumbled across a few years back. I had been an advocate of the Stephen Covey approach which helped me identify my mission in life, live it through my roles by creating specific goals for each role and then schedule activities in my week to help live out each goal. That approach is contained in two key books by Stephen Covey (you can order then through Amazon.com or your local book store): The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and First Things First.

Getting Things Done (or GTD as it is widely called) is an approach to action management that was created by David Allen – the author of three book on the subject: Getting Things Done, Read for Anything and Making It All Work.

This approach has helped me go beyond the top down approach advocated by Stephen Covey (ie. you start with your mission, identify your roles, then your goals and finally schedule your activities). While there is still merit in this approach, David Allen has introduced a bottom up approach – it is all about handling commitments and demands on your time and energy as they arise. It leads to higher levels – as he ends up talking about not just next actions and projects but also responsibilities, objectives, vision and values.

My website contains a two part presentation that I recently shared with the 60 leaders at our local church. Take a look at the Productivity page on the Youth Ministry Resourcer website and the first four downloads on the page will give you the presentation and handouts for each session. It is explores both the top-down (Covey) and bottom-up (Allen) approaches that I have just described.

David Allen has a website with plenty of free items as well as a newsletter that you can subscribe to. Take a look at: http://www.davidco.com/

In the coming posts I will describe the tools and strategies that I use to stay focussed and in control of time and life.