Time Management presentation followup
Here are some followup notes for the LOPSA-Madison Time Management Round Table discussion.
(This was also sent to the mailing list)
Tools that we talked about:
Remind – Calendar
todo.sh – Task list
The books we had were:
“Getting Things Done” by David Allen
“Time Management for System Administrators” by Tom Limoncelli
Websites:
One of the websites we mentioned was 43folders. This has ceased to be the “Productivity Pr0n” that it used to be, but still contains lots of good information, tips, tricks and ideas. It may be easier to just start from the beginning of the blog and work your way forward to the present.
Inbox Zero Videos and info on the how and why of getting your inbox cleaned out.
LifeHacker Also a good productivity site and good source for ideas.
We also referenced back to Franklin Covey a few times.
Just remember, the best tools to get organized and keep on top of your tasks, projects and other commitments is the one that works for YOU. What anyone else does, while it may be helpful in showing what is available, may not always be what you need or want.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But if it is, diagnose it and get back on track.
The hardest thing about getting and then staying organized is the discipline to do whatever it is that you need to do, and do it every day.
Below are some shell functions and aliases that I use to make remind and todo.sh a little easier.
This should be able to be copied and pasted directly into a .bashrc
# GTD
alias t='~/bin/todo.sh -d ~/.GTD/todo.cfg'
# print out the todo list and 2 weeks of the calendar on login
echo " -- TODO --"
~/bin/todo.sh -d ~/.GTD/todo.cfg ls
echo ""
remind -w$(echo ${COLUMNS}) -c+2 ~/.GTD
# put the above in an alias
alias gtd='t ls;remind -w$(echo ${COLUMNS}) -c+2 ~/.GTD'
# my remind and todo.sh data files are stored in ~/.GTD and managed
# with subversion.
gtdcommit() {
cd ~/.GTD
svn commit -m 'auto commit'
cd -
}
gtdupdate() {
cd ~/.GTD
svn up
cd -
}