In case you missed it, SpedSafari Book Club just finished reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. Head on over to that post to get the full experience of what the book is all about but one thing is crystal clear after reading it- a system that’s portable, accessible, and easy to use is mission critical to not only implementing the GTD system (or any other organizational system for that matter) but for getting the peace of mind that comes with knowing you aren’t forgetting anything, aren’t likely to be surprised by anything, and know what you are currently focusing on and what you’re not focusing on. Easy enough, right?
When I finished reading Getting Things Done the first time, I immediately wanted to start putting it into practice because I, like everyone, have so much going on! Work, my business, my volunteer and family commitments, and the interests and hobbies I have that just make life interesting- each of these is a complex sphere in my life, and keeping track of everything can be a daunting task, especially during the school year when unexpected things happen all the time. I knew going into it that there were a few facts that had to be taken into consideration as I experimented with different systems:
At the end of the day I do better with digital tools than I do with pencil and paper for organization;
The system would have to be accessible from multiple locations and devices;
The system would have to be flexible and adjust as I grow and adjust, since things in life change all the time!
I tried a couple of systems without much success at first, but then I stumbled upon TasksBoard, and it was a total game changer!
The TasksBoard app is independent from, yet syncs perfectly with, Google Tasks, but is probably more similar to Trello and other apps like that. You can assign tasks, write descriptions, and generally personalize and provide as much information as you want, while still organizing your lists according to GTD if that’s your bag or by project, area of life, or any other category you want.
There are free and paid versions of TasksBoard, but you can definitely get started with the free one (I did). First things first is to make boards- here’s a sneak peek at mine:
From there, you can open a board and add lists, which I use to organize projects in different areas of life:
Under the main headers, add as many projects as you want! The more thorough of a brain dump you do, the more peace you’ll feel knowing you’ve tracked everything and haven’t forgotten anything. That’s one of the biggest up front benefits of the GTD system, and even if you’re not sold on that system in particular a thorough map of everything you have going on will help you feel more in control.
I always list all of my projects in a board like this and have a separate next actions and waiting for list on a different board, but you could definitely use the text boxes to add that information on this screen and use tags or color coding to keep track that way. Dealer’s choice!
I love the functionality of TasksBoard- not only does it allow me to stay organized but by being able to categorize projects, attach documents that might be needed, and add text descriptions, I’m able to keep track of my ideas for future products, refreshing current offerings, and big someday goals. How often have you had a cool idea and written it down and then promptly forgot where you wrote it? That will never happen again once you have a system up and running to capture fun, spontaneous, creative thinking like that.
As if that weren’t enough, TasksBoard syncs across all my devices- work laptop, business laptop, and my phone! Anywhere I am, I have access to my organizational system, and any updates will show up wherever I am in the future. No more second guessing if I actually did the thing! Full disclosure: I am a devoted PC and Android user, so that’s what I’m using as the basis for my statements here.
Ultimately, the best organizational system is the one that you use and that helps you get things done. For me, it’s TasksBoard- the syncing, the clean lines, the built in goal tracking- it ticks all my boxes! However, there are a ton of different systems out there- tell me about yours in the comments!
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