Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: In Context Blog

Last week’s conference call was a good discussion about using Tickler files for analog and digital uses. We had some input from the callers about real-life applications, and setting up a digital workflow.

The call lasted just under 13 minutes and I would love to hear your thoughts.
Join in the discussions at the Work.Life.Creativity forum, where we kicked things off.

Be sure to register for the next Productivity Mastermind call [Upcoming link] this Thursday, 15 January, at 2:00 pm!

Brett Kelly, the former host of the Cranking Widgets blog lets loose (with both barrels): My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD. Super. Right about the time that I am having an existential crisis about my own GTD practice. The Lovely Bride and I have been on the road for just over two months now, and being 100% mobile has taught me a few things. Like it is much easier to “do” GTD when you have an office. Or a house. Try putting everything that you need into a laptop bag and a couple of file boxes.

Here is what Kelly has to say:

Having been a fairly vocal proponent of GTD for some time, this is one of those things that I’m happy to write after having removed myself from the throngs (and I mean *throngs*) of productivity/GTD bloggers. Ever since I launched The Cranking Widgets Blog, I’ve been singing the praises of this productivity methodology to any j*****s who would listen. Now, after developing a little bit of discontent with the whole thing, I can bring it to you folks without having to fear a decline in readership. Here goes.

First of all (and probably most importantly), I’m starting to feel like GTD is really effing hard. The amount of time and effort it takes to (according to the book) manage a list of tasks, a calendar and some filing shit has become prohibitively long for me. I look at a scrap of paper in my in-basket, and I’m positively put off by the effort it will require to add it to the project list, choose the next action, pull out a blank folder, label it and file it away. Perhaps I’m just being lazy, but that’s the freaking honest truth.

Built-in anxiety is almost a guarantee. Unless you’re a poster child for GTD, you’re going to have shit slip past the defenses of your system. Hell, David Allen himself has confessed to “falling off of the wagon, repeatedly” on several different occasions. And if you’ve become such a loyal adherent, the very act of *not* doing the GTD thing will create stress. This might just be my own dumb brain thinking about this stuff the wrong way, but I’d bet the contents of your wallet that this type of mental spasm is more common than you think.

What say you? Where do you want Productivity in Context to go in 2009? Is Getting Things Done over? How excited are you about the prospect of a new book from David Allen?

What did you think of the first two FAQ posts - and would you like me to work with you on developing this system (for lack of a better word) into something more (and by more I mean less, GTD has too many folders and rules - I have to confess that I only look at my Tickler File once a week nowadays).

Leave a comment, let’s discuss this. In the meantime I am going to be downsizing from 43 folders to 15.(More on this later)

Related:
James has been thinking about this even longer than I have.

Whakate has posted their 2008 Web awards and we are pleased to announce that this humble site has been voted the best discussion group of 2008! We would like to thank our members and contributors for this amazing honor, and invite you all to join in the conversations to make 2009 an even better year.

See the Whakate site for the complete listing, and visit the other winners as well:

The Whakate Best of Web 2008 Award

The top websites in each category are as follows:

Best Discussion Group 2008

Work. Life. Creativity (Whakate Rank: 8 out of 10)

Making Sense of Personal Development and Productivity

The goal of the Whakate eMonitor and the “Best Of Web Award” is to help our readers make sense of the plethora of personal development resources that exist on the web at a glance. Our calculation of the final score incorporates traffic ranking as well as article quality, and because most of our sources boast good traffic rankings, this allows the reader to immediately assess if a source is credible.

This is a very exciting piece of news and we are grateful for the attention. Be sure to get involved with the Work.Life.Creativity forum soon!

Phil Gerbyshak at Slacker Manager has tagged me with this meme, and since I am sick and unable to concentrate too much, I’ll play along. First, the Rules:

• Link to the original tagger(s), and list these rules on my blog.
• Share 7 facts about myself in the post - some random, some weird.
• Tag 7 people at the end of my post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

7 Facts About Me

1. I’m 39 years old, as of December 1st, 2008. I have just under one year to complete my goal of making a million $$$ before I am 40. (I set that goal when I graduated from High School and everything looked peachy)
2. I went to college for Mechanical Engineering, loved college and my friends - hated engineering. If I could go back and do it again I would major in History.
3. I got married for the very first time in March of 2005. Since then the lovely bride and I have lived in three states (CT, NC, ME) and visited 11 more in the last 5 weeks.
4. I have had a wide variety of jobs and a “career” in Hospitality Management, but I have never loved any job as much as I love working for myself, helping other people learn the skills that have helped me.
5. I do not really like dessert.
6. I have ADD and I manage it thru diet, suuplements and lifestyle management.
7. My hobby is collecting and painting miniature soldiers.

NOw, I get to tag 7 other folks to share information about themselves, and then let them know they have to play.

I have a good feeling about these 7 fellow tweeters and bloggers!

• Styletime
• Ross Hill
• eDragonu
• Sarah Lewis
• Heidi Miller
• Becky McCray
• communicatrix

Please do feel free to stop by. These blogs are not all about productivity, but they may have some helpful tidbits for you in other parts of your life.