Do a Periodic Mind Sweep

One of the most relieving experiences for me was when I did my first mind sweep. I was taking a GTD course and the instructor asked the class to do a mind sweep. That is, get every to-do, must-do, want-to-do out of your head and on to a piece of paper. At first I struggled with what to write? OK, I had a few obvious things write down, but then I got stuck. To spur us along the instructor threw out a few questions (aka triggers) to get our minds sweeping;

- Is there a birthday or anniversary that you need to purchase something for?
- Are there chores around the house that you have been putting off?
- Is there a trip you would like to start planning for?
- Are there questions you want to ask your boss the next time you meet him/her?
...and so on, and so on.

As the instructor asked these probing questions, it generated loads of to-do's in my mind. I quickly scribed those onto my paper.

Once everything was out in front of me, I felt a sense of relief. A sense that everything and anything sitting in the even most remote parts of my mind were out in the open. Out for consideration. Out for me to develop a plan of action.

Doing an initial mind sweep is a must do activity for those new to GTD. The output from your mind sweep sets the critical base for which to build your GTD system. It sets the stage for keeping your mind like water.

I also find it useful to periodically set aside some quiet time and perform a refresher mind sweep. I try to stay in constant mind sweep mode and record everything in my Moleskine notebook, but doing a periodic full mind sweep ensures all my mind-buffers are clear.
--It's like a mind reboot. For those who run Windows XP, you know that a good reboot is essential to keeping your system running efficiently!

There are some great sites on the Internet with excellent, probing, mind sweep enhancing questions or as they are called in GTD-speak "Incompletion Trigger Lists". Here are links to a few trigger lists that I would recommend you review as you enter mind sweep mode.

• Trigger List @ 43Folders.com
• GTD Portal Incompletion Triggers List
• Productivity Lists I: Personal Incompletion
• GTD Incompletion Trigger List MindManager Templates

GTD Digest 2008-03-30

 

Weekly recap of GTD highlights (news, views, tips and tricks) from around the web

Getting Things Done with Gmail and Firefox
By Rob Bushway
We have many readers who follow David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology for task, project, and email management. I've read his book several times, and also enjoy corresponding with good friend and GBM reader Eric Mack, ...

Empty Inbox - Using Getting Things Done and gMail Labels
By scott cate
All over the web people are raving about their success with Getting Things Done (or GTD). I read this article about using gMail labels for GTD, and I copied the idea. It's working really well, and I wanted to pass it along, ...

Time management is dead: The new reality of productivity
By LauraStack
We’ve all been there. There’s mail piled up on the corner of your desk. You have 37 unread e-mails. The phone is ringing (not that phone – the other phone). And you’ll be lucky if you can get through three of the fifteen items on your ...

The 5th Habit of Highly Effective People
By Stephen
Welcome to part seven of the series on how to implement the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in a Getting Things Done-style system. This series of posts will guide you through the stages of personal implementation over several weeks. ...

GTD: 43 Folders Task-Capture System
By Sara Ch.
To eliminate this stressful habit, I started looking into Getting Things Done systems. This week I will be running a series explaining how I went about picking and choosing the pieces of GTD that would work for me. ...

David Allen: The Warmth Of The Radically Mechanical
By David Allen(webmaster@huffingtonpost.com)
The David Allen Company is a professional training, coaching, and management consulting organization, based in Ojai, California. Its purpose is to enhance performance and improve the quality of life by providing the world's best ...

Take Back Your Inbox: How To Better Manage Your Inbox
By mark
Referencing David Allen’s (no relation) “Getting Things Done,” Scott Allen explains that you have three options for dealing with messages: 1) Do It, 2) Delegate It, or 3) Defer It. If you can answer the email in two minutes or less, ...

Not To Do List
By Lisa Call
Many books about getting organized and getting things done talk about the importance of making a not-to-do-list. Here’s mine. If I catch myself doing or thinking these things I change my thoughts and behavior to something more nurturing ...

How To Instantly Increase Productivity on your Mac [Part 2]
By Jackson Chung
Getting-things-done applications (GTD) are widely popular so I won’t cover them again. A few good ones have already been elaborated on this site, which are Things for Mac, Remember The Milk, Simple GTD, Task Toy and a few others covered ...

Simply GTD with Kelly: Getting GTD off the ground
By kelly@davidco.com (Kelly)
If I had to guess what the biggest challenge people have with GTD, it's not maintaining the system, it's building it. And you might feel that the task of building it seems daunting and undoable, given the world doesn't really slow down ...

Getting to Zero: A Task Management Tool
By Orchard Cove Photography(Orchard Cove Photography)
Getting Things Done (commonly abbreviated as GTD) is an action management method of The David Allen Company, and the title of the book by David Allen which describes the method. Both Getting Things Done and GTD are registered trademarks ...

Learning Your Way to a Better Memory
By Benjamin
One of the great things about David Alan’s Getting Things Done (aka GTD) is that you don’t have to remember anything. “Get it out of your head” David says. My memory has improved since I started using GTD to keep my head clear. ...

Work Smarter for Better Time Management
By Jay White(Jay White)
Sometimes we become so focused on getting things done that we forget to give ourselves a break. Walk around the office or go outside and get a few minutes of fresh air. Eat your lunch, and have a snack in the afternoon. ...

Getting Things Done
By Administrator
Hi,. Procrastinating is human. But for those who want to make money online, procrastinating can be another nasty habit that keeps freedom at bay. So why don’t we start with what does procrastination feel like and what should you do ...

Best Buy Awards HD-DVD Purchasers $50 Gift Cards

In February, 2008 the HD-DVD VS Blu-ray Disc war ended. Blu-ray won. Best Buy is offering relief for HD-DVD buyers.

Best Buy has announced that it will mail gift cards worth USD50 to US consumers it can identify as having purchased an HD-DVD player before February 23, 2008.

• Best Buy will proactively mail gift cards to HD-DVD customers it can identify.
  • Reward Zone members, BestBuy.com customers, and those who purchased Performance Service Plans (PSPs) should receive their gift cards by May 1, 2008.
  • Other customers with a receipt or credit card bill need only call 1-888-BEST BUY to receive their gift cards.
• Customers will receive a gift card for each HD-DVD player or attachment they purchased and may keep their HD-DVD equipment.

Best Buy Customers and others who no longer want their HD-DVD players can visit Best Buy’s Online Trade-In Center (Bestbuytradein.com).

• Beginning March 21, 2008, the site will offer instant estimates of the value of a customer’s HD-DVD player and movie titles.
• Customers who agree with the estimates can ship their HD-DVD products using a prepaid shipping label.
• Payment for the HD-DVD products will be made through additional Best Buy gift cards.

Get the official GTD widget

The David Allen Company is offering a GTD widget for your website, blog, or personal home page. The GTD widget comes in 2 flavors;

• - One that shows headline links to the latest articles, podcasts and blog posts on davidco.com.
• - One that shows full articles written by David Allen.

To see a sample of the widgets, visit David Allen's widget page.

GTD Digest 2008-03-23

It's been a crazy past two weeks for me.  My work (my paycheck) has kept me from finding time to update my blog.  It's all good though.  I have many new learning's to share in the upcoming weeks.  Stay tuned!  Until then, I offer you  2 weeks of pent up GTD news and views from around the web.  Enjoy!

Weekly recap of GTD highlights (news, views, tips and tricks) from around the web

The Right Kind of Efficiency
By Thomas Baekdal
But efficiency is not just about getting things done, or doing something as fast as possible. Efficiency is really about optimizing the user experience. Let me explain. When people discuss how to make a new application or how to solve a ...

Simple Email Management
By sarah
Here’s my system which owes a lot to Michael Linenberger: Total Workday Control and David Allen’s Getting Things Done. My system is a huge oversimplification of these but works pretty well for me. Firstly, I only run one email folder in ...

42 Ways to Make your Deadlines and Goals
By alex
Not our cup of tea (for all these reasons) but David Allen’s GTD system works for some people. If you’re one of them, we think you’re strange… but there’s nothing wrong with that. 2. The Printable CEO David Seah’s Printable CEO system ...

Dealing to workplace distractions
New Zealand Herald - New Zealand
Lists prioritising work tasks are a great aid in getting things done - but only if you stick to them, says Leitner. The structure of a list helps focus the ...

Writing Things Down (WTD): 13 Reasons To Switch Back To Paper Today
By Nick Cernis
... and a paper calendar (I’ll feature some I recommend early next week) and see how you get on for a month. If you don’t like it, you can always go back to your bingling box! Image credit: my parody of Getting Things Done by David Allen.

Dear Project Manager 1... Getting Things Done (GTD)
By MindMatter(MindMatter)
One of the best books I ever read is "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. Although not strictly project management material it indeed has a bearing on the personal conduct of the project manager and team as a whole. ...

GTD: Is Stress-Free Productivity Really Possible?
By Cody McKibben
GTD is a productivity and organization system that was created by management consultant David Allen in his 2001 national bestseller Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Allen calls his system the “martial art of ...

Simply GTD with Kelly: Step away from the inbox
By kelly@davidco.com (Kelly)
However, I do think stepping away from the constant stream of new input can be helpful, if not essential, to getting things done. Otherwise, it can be like standing in front of a fire hydrant with water blasting you in the face. ...

Getting Things Done! The Stress Free Way!
By Stephanie L. H. Calahan
A while ago I introduced David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology along with a video of David talking to Google. David talks about different “horizons” of focus. The horizons are the different ways we can look at what we do and how ...

Success For The Average Man Woman Part 3 Getting Things Done
By ragnar111
Part 3 Getting Things Done. Here is a very important exercise that takes 10 minutes that you can do before going to bed at night. Review what you did for your entire day but go through it backwards. Start with the time you are going to ...

Trust your GTD System
By jpickett1968
Several blogs note the ongoing battles one can have with your Getting Things Done system. Half the battle is getting things figured out in the first place and determining the best set up for yourself. Whether it involves index cards, ...

GTD (Getting Things Done) Academic Paper: The Science Behind ...
By Justin Buzzard
I recently finished reading a helpful academic paper put out by two students at the Free University of Brussels examining the science behind the GTD system. If you're a GTD practitioner, as I am, you'll benefit from reading this paper, ...

If it wasn't for "the last minute" nothing would get done
By Glen Alleman
David Allen's Getting Things Done is a "must read" for anyone in the getting things done business. While Allen's suggestions have tremendous merit for individuals and possibly organizations, in the project world there are some ...

Simplifying Life and Getting More Done
By kungfooguru
Monotask: I’ve tried to convince myself that multitasking and using switching to a different task as almost like a break from the current one is a good way of getting things done. Now I plan to completely change that in an attempt to be ...

Arrow-Tip #23 Could a Plug In Increase Your Outlook Efficiency?
By MistyKhan
Getting Things Done (GTD) - Even though I’m not a user of the GTD plug in (I’ma Franklyn girl myself and have spent a lot of time customizing my Outlook Task Folder for that purpose) I’ve heard nothing buy rave reviews from those that ...

How to Instantly Increase Productivity on Your Mac [Part 1]
By Jackson Chung
What with all the Getting-Things-Done (GTD) applications for Windows, Mac and even mobile devices, there are hardly any excuses for not completing the task in hand. However, it’s not always about working harder but working smarter. ...

Use A Price Book To Save Money On Groceries
The Consumerist - New York,NY,USA
Frugal bloggers everywhere write about it like it's the GTD of grocery shopping and our own reader marsneedsrabbits suggested it in a thread earlier this ...

Getting Things Done Desktop Wallpaper
By graiz
The desktop of a computer is often a wasteland of unused icons, application shortcuts and all sorts of junk that never gets filed or deleted. What if the desktop wallpaper could help you get organized? Using some basic concepts from ...

Embrace GTD and Gain Momentum
By jpickett1968
Then more than ever you must embrace a philosophy like GTD to get your mind away from a panic mode and into one of a productive mode - determining the next action(s). And when you embrace your overwhelming project by breaking it down to ...

How to recreate the Windows Show Desktop icon

The Windows XP quick-launch tray has a handy little icon called Show Desktop.  This application will minimize all your open Windows so you can quickly and easily see your Windows Desktop.  Conversely, with all your applications minimized, the Show Desktop app will open them back up.

Note: This can also be accomplished by using the Windows-Key + D shortcut key combination.

Unfortunately, if you accidentally delete your Show Desktop icon, it's a little tricky to get back.  Here's how to recreate the Show Desktop icon.

1. Start Notepad.  Click START, Run, then type notepad.exe and hit ENTER.

2. Copy and Paste the following text into Notepad.

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

3. Select the File menu, then Save As and save the file as;

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Show Desktop.scf

Where USERNAME is the name of the user you are logged in as.

Fixing Corrupt Excel Files

I had an Excel file go bad on me today.  I spent a few hours getting it all wired up, only to to open it up later and be faced with the error;

Very frustrating!

I did learn a bit about accessing/fixing corrupt Excel files though.  Here are some tips I found to deal  with a corrupt Excel file.

I. Excel has a built-in "fix" feature.  When opening a file in Excel, you can ask Excel to try repairing the the file by selecting  Open and Repair in the File|Open dialog box.

That did not work for me...

II. If you just need to view the data in the Excel file, you can download the free Microsoft Excel File Viewer to try viewing the data in your corrupt file.

That did not work for me either...

III. Try opening the file in Microsoft Word.  For me, the file opened in Word, but it came up as gibberish.

Still no luck, I need to keep trying...

IV. Try opening the file in Google Docs.  Google docs is a web based set of Office-like applications that can read and write Microsoft Office formatted files.

Nope, Google Docs could not open my file...

V. In a new Excel worksheet, you can try linking to the corrupt workbook and pull the data out.

1. Start Excel.
2. From the File menu, Select Open.  Browse to the folder with the corrupt file, then click Cancel.
3. Select File | New.
4. In Cell A1, enter =FileName!A1.  Where FileName is the name of your corrupt file.  If the "Select Sheet" dialog box appears, select the appropriate worksheet and click OK.
5. Copy Cell A1 to the cells with the data you want to pull from the corrupt workbook.

This worked for me, woo-hoo!

If you ever encounter a corrupt Excel file, I hope one of these tips works for you.  I'd highly recommend giving these tips a try before buying one of the many Excel "repair" applications that claim to fix corrupt Excel files.

GTD Digest 2008-03-09

Weekly recap of GTD highlights (news, views, tips and tricks) from around the web

GTD Applications
By adelarosa
I was digging more into this GTD concept and found some really neat applications available to help you keep track of your Most Important Tasks as well as Contexts, Projects, and more. Happy Exploring! Simple To-Do Lists ...

Getting things done for designers, an interview with Nick Pagan
By Mirko
As a final note, I’d like to thank you, Mirko, for giving me the opportunity to talk about some of the common problems that stop people from getting things done. Your readers are welcome to post specific questions on these subjects ...

David Allen: What's Your Standard For 'Stuff'?
By David Allen(webmaster@huffingtonpost.com)
The David Allen Company is a professional training, coaching, and management consulting organization, based in Ojai, California. Its purpose is to enhance performance and improve the quality of life by providing the world's best ...

GTD For Moms and Other Homies: Reference Files
By Lela Davidson(Lela Davidson)
Have you run out and bought Getting Things Done by David Allen yet? It's okay if not, because I'm here again to give you more tips for getting more things done at home, work, or wherever with more focus and WAY less stress. ...

10 Useful Tips for Optimizing Ubiquitous Capture
By gtdfrk
Well, the same goes for your GTD system. Here’sa big surprise: if you feed your GTD system incomplete or incorrect input in the Collection phase, you will never get reliable or useful output in the Doing phase (next actions). ...

Flow: The Fluid & Happy State of Getting Things Done
By Ananga Sivyer
Have you ever found yourself completely absorbed in a project or creative activity; so much so that you lose sense of anything but what you are doing and time seems to fly? If you have, you have experienced what professor and author ...

Zen Habits
By Owen
I am a huge fan of GTD, as you probably know by now. It’s one of the best productivity systems ever invented. However, it’s not without its flaws, and because of that, I have a new productivity system for you: Zen To Done (ZTD). ...

GTD Mastery 100: Step 22
By Chris Y.
To read my complete journey to GTD Mastery see the main post. Step 22 to GTD Mastery is: My computer files are set up for maximum productivity. Above is a screenshot of all my files. Even with nearly 50000 files spanning multiple ...

Free Your Mind - Reducing Clutter
By Vlad Dolezal(Vlad Dolezal)
Those of you practicing GTD (Getting Things Done) know what I'm talking about. I'm a recent adopter, and the peace of mind is amazing. The reason your mind gets cluttered if you don't write things down is that it's trying to make sure ...

Productivity
By NichM
GTD, or Getting Things Done, sounds like a simple way of managing your life. Do something, then do the next thing. Unfortunately we all know that it isn’t so easy, and how that it can often take twice as long as we assumed. ...

Shortcut Keys in Mozilla Firefox

I use Firefox as the primary browser on my home PC.  Why Firefox instead of Internet Explorer?

• Firefox seems to load web pages faster
• Firefox does not generate Windows errors for me like IE does
• Better tabbed browsing than IE
• The bookmark maintenance features in Firefox are better than IE
• Incredible add-in support.  There are tons of add-ins available for Firefox!
• More Keyboard Shortcuts!

...and that's just the beginning.  If you have not dumped Windows Internet Explorer for Firefox, I'd highly recommend giving Mozilla Firefox a try.

Now, back to the subject of this post!  Firefox keyboard shortcuts.  As I noted in my post on Internet Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts, my favorite Explorer shortcut keys are;

CTRL-ENTER: This is my favorite.  When typing in the URL of a website, you can skip the "www" and the ".com".  For example, in the address box, enter google, then CTRL-ENTER and low and behold, the address turns into www.google.com. 

CTRL-F: Find on the page.  Looking for a specific word, use CTRL-F.

CTRL-N: opens a new Internet Explorer Window.

ALT-LeftArrow & ALT-RightArrow: Simulates the Explorer Back and Forward button.  Quite handy.

Guess what?  These all also work in Mozilla Firefox.  Very cool!  No relearning keyboard shortcuts.  In addition to my fav's, Firefox includes a ton of other keyboard shortcuts.  Following is the complete reference.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Command	Shortcut
Add Bookmark	Ctrl+D
Back	Backspace Alt+<-
Bookmarks	Ctrl+B Ctrl+I
Caret Browsing	F7
Close Tab	Ctrl+W Ctrl+F4
Close Window	Ctrl+Shift+W Alt+F4
Complete .com Address	Ctrl+Enter
Complete .net Address	Shift+Enter
Complete .org Address	Ctrl+Shift+Enter
Copy	Ctrl+C
Cut	Ctrl+X
Decrease Text Size	Ctrl+-
Delete	Del
Delete Individual Form Auto-Complete Entry	Shift+Del
DOM Inspector	Ctrl+Shift+I
Downloads	Ctrl+J
Find Again	Ctrl+G F3
Find As You Type Link	'
Find As You Type Text	/
Find Previous	Ctrl+Shift+G Shift+F3
Find in This Page	Ctrl+F
Forward	Shift+Backspace Alt+->
Go Down One Line	Down
Go Up One Line	Up
Go Down One Page	PageDown
Go Up One Page	PageUp
Go to Bottom of Page	End
Go to Top of Page	Home
Full Screen	F11
Help	F1
History	Ctrl+H
Home Page	Alt+Home
Increase Text Size	Ctrl++
Move to Next Frame	F6
Move to Previous Frame	Shift+F6
New Tab	Ctrl+T
Next Tab	Ctrl+Tab Ctrl+PageDown
New Window	Ctrl+N
Open File	Ctrl+O
Open Link	Enter
Open Link in New Tab	Ctrl+Enter
Open Link in New Window	Shift+Enter
Open Address in New Tab	Alt+Enter
Page Source	Ctrl+U
Paste	Ctrl+V
Previous Tab	Ctrl+Shift+Tab Ctrl+PageUp
Print	Ctrl+P
Redo	Ctrl+Shift+Z Ctrl+Y
Reload	F5 Ctrl+R
Reload (override cache)	Ctrl+F5 Ctrl+Shift+R
Restore Text Size	Ctrl+0
Save Page As	Ctrl+S
Save Link Target As	Alt+Enter
Select All	Ctrl+A
Select Location Bar	Ctrl+L Alt+D
Select Next Auto-Complete entry in text field	Down
Select Previous Auto-Complete entry in text field	Up
Select Next Search Engine in Search bar	Ctrl+Down
Select Previous Search Engine in Search bar	Ctrl+Up
Select Tab [1 to 8]	Ctrl+[1 to 8]
Select Last Tab	Ctrl+9
Stop	Esc
Toggle Checkbox	Spacebar
Undo	Ctrl+Z
Web Search	Ctrl+K

 Mouse Shortcuts

Command	Shortcut
Back	Shift+Scroll down
Close Tab	Middle-click on tab
Decrease text size	Crtl+Scroll up
Forward	Shift+Scroll up
Increase Text Size	Ctrl+Scroll down
New Tab	Double-Click on Tab Bar
Open in Background Tab	Ctrl+click Middle-click
Open in Foreground Tab	Ctrl+Shift+click Shift+Middle-click
Open in New Window	Shift+click
Paste URL and Go	Middle-click on Tab
Reload (override cache)	Shift+Reload button
Save Page As	Alt+click
Scroll line by line	Alt+Scroll

Happy surfing!