The GTD process starts with items going in your personal in-boxes. In-boxes can be anywhere: on your desk at work, at home in the living room, or, if you do your best thinking there, even next to the throne in the bathroom. The more in-boxes, the better.
When I say the more the better, I really mean, in theory, the more the better. The problem arises at the next step in the process: collecting everything from your in-boxes. You really need to do this every night, otherwise things fall through the cracks. And this, you see, can soon end up a chore, much like emptying the bins. And who wants to do that every night?
I forgot to mention, your e-mail also should be emptied regularly. I posted on that subject before though, so I won’t go through it again now. But anything you have to do which results from an e-mail also has to be entered into your system at the end of the day, so you have to consider it.
Enter the modern mobile cellphone. It’s actually a real help here. Most phones now have quick-on cameras and voice recording. So instead of throwing something physical, like a note on a piece of paper, into a basket, I typically whip out my phone and take a picture of what needs doing. If I can’t take a picture of it, perhaps because it’s an idea, I click the preset for my voice recorder, and record it as a voice-message instead. With defaults set correctly, you can really get a quick-to-make, decent-sounding, small-sized sound file on your phone.
Then, at the end of the day, all it takes is a quick synchronization with your computer, or even a quick look through the pictures for the day on the phone itself, and you’re done. You don’t need to go searching for in-boxes all evening in order to get things done. Once the items have been processed, just delete them and start again.
Photo of phone by Indigo Goat.
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