43 Folders

I use several tools, but I try to keep the following system:

The main (top level) groups are:

* Personal (finances, insurances, gov, health, personal interests, etc)

* Work

* Church (I'm volunteering for some church-related projects, I keep those projects separated from the Work folder)

I use those 3 main categories for my notes, my calendar events and my todolist.

Then, in every one of those main categories, depending on the tool, I have folders for each project. For example, in my Work folder, since I am working on my startup, I have: NameOfTheStartup, Freelancing (contains small client project folders), BigFreelancingClient1, etc.

Also, I have a naming convention for folders that are "meta" : they start with an underscore (so they show on top) and are named in ALL_CAPS. Example:

* _EVENTS (for recurring things to do when something happens within those categories of my life. Those can refer to a _PROCEDURE)

* _KNOWLEDGE (for storing information for those categories, such as PDFs, ebooks, etc)

* _THINKING (for notes about things I think about in those categories. It can contain notes of books I'm reading.)

* _PROCEDURES (for common tasks that I have documented)

* _LOGS (contains text files where I put time-ordered events that occurred within those categories of my life)

Tools I'm using (in order of prevalence):

- Todoist for short term events/todos

- The windows File Explorer. They contain Docx, PDF, md, Xlsx and txt files. (Lacking consistency with file…

That feels kinda familiar. My experience might or might not be helpful.

I read about Getting Things Done, and I worked to track everything in one place, but I find that task tracking in two places work best for me:

1. Something like Evernote or Simplenote, for capturing notes on any device that's handy: phone, tablet, computer, etc. Being able to search really easily is crucial, to avoid duplicate topics.

2. Something like Trello for easier prioritizing and categorization. Moving around the index card analogies is much easier than moving text.

Using email as an issue tracker is an anti-pattern. It means your work to prioritize can get casually jumbled, and for me, that flow can get interrupted more easily. Ditto for Slack.

I like paper notebooks - I used one at work so I wouldn't drop any of the tasks I was juggling - but they're less portable than my phone. Before that, I had a Hipster PDA (index cards and a paper clip - http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda ) but I had lots of notes, and searching was awkward, meaning "just write it (again) before I forget it, sort it out later," meant there was curation involved, and that using 1. above was lower-friction and just overall better.

I use my own hacked version of GTD, albeit very simplified, partly because, well, I guess I don't have that much to do :D. GTD still has a cult following and has several sites that cover it a lot (http://www.43folders.com and http://www.lifehacker.com among several)...

There have been several discussions regarding GTD at YCNews (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15450) and I am sure these should answer your question.

My approach has been explained well at lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/practicing-simplified-gtd-335269.php). I came across another article (http://www.emaginacion.com.ar/cym/get-organized-with-hipster-pda/) and currently trying to build that into my system.

If you were to use searchYC.com you will find several discussions regarding GTD (http://www.searchyc.com/GTD)

At the end of the day, GTD is merely another tool that aids in keeping track of everything you do. But its __effectiveness__ lies in your ability/dedication to sticking to the system. Although over time my simplified system has served me well, I do occasionally find myself slipping. A little tweak here, a little tweak there, wash, rinse, repeat...

Hope this helps.

NNTR (or something similar) can be pretty useful: a lot of people send long, rambling emails that don't clearly state what they want. In cases like that, `NNTR' or `Just FYI' can be a God-send.

I also like the idea of a checklist at the top of emails, as suggested in Inbox Zero[1]:

This email is: [ ] actionable [x] fyi [ ] social
Response needed: [ ] yes [x] up to you [ ] no
Time-sensitive: [ ] immediate [ ] soon [x] none

I've never actually used them myself, but they seem like a great idea if you could avoid getting lynched for using them. I don't think they would go down particularly well in a lot of offices. (I also dislike the wording used, but that's a nit-pick more than a valid criticism.)

EOM is pretty superfluous, though -- it's clear from the fact that there's no more text that I've reached the end of the message.

[1]: http://www.43folders.com/2005/09/19/writing-sensible-email-messages

I didn't know Derek, but reading this I'll miss him, but thank him for this.

Between this post, "Cranking" (http://www.43folders.com/2011/04/22/cranking) and the fact I have a second child probably coming Very Soon Now, I have to admit I'm sitting back and thinking hard about where I've spent, and am spending my time. I'm thinking about all the wasted time and opportunities I've accrued over the past 31 years.

I'm thinking about all the time spent arguing with people on the internet and giving up my free time to change some small part of the world, and not playing with my almost four year old daughter, or talking with my beautiful wife.

Take stock in your life and make sure you're following your passions. Make sure you try to remember and capture every moment before it's gone. Change the world while you're still here.

Appreciate the world while you're still here.

No one is as focused on "shipping it out the door" as a news editor, according to Paul Ford in this essay (http://www.ftrain.com/editors-ship-dammit.html) posted to HN yesterday: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1891392

Merlin Mann at http://www.43folders.com/ started out writing about David Allen's GTD system, but then turned away from "productivity porn" and started writing more focused essays about creativity.

This isn't necessarily related to shipping products, but I love this Jeff Atwood quote: "If you can’t come up with at least one interesting thing to talk about every day, you’re not trying hard enough! The world is just full of fascinating stuff." from this interview: http://community.devexpress.com/blogs/aspnet/archive/2010/10/24/video-interview-with-jeff-atwood-aka-codinghorror-com.aspx