Image Courtsey of kogakure

I’ve always been an extremely busy person, but I’ve been EXTRA swamped lately so that’s why I haven’t even gotten my first post done in the Envision It series.  I haven’t even had time to get in  many Tweets.

It’s primarily because our business is booming at the same time I’m trying to get Rich Women Sisterhood relaunched (after we found some problems in BETA mode).  I’ve also been coaching several small business clients, something that just kinda happened as people asked for help in setting up their business to market online.

The Problem

The problem is my old methods of  tracking my projects, and everything I had to get done, wasn’t working anymore…

I’d used a paper-based planner since junior high.  When I first got married I worked for Franklin Covey (back before Franklin merged with Covey) and fell in love with the Franklin planning system.   Once I began homeschooling and running several business I found that it wasn’t working as well anymore.  Primarily because of the many repetitive tasks and multiple projects.

In all fairness, I’ll take that back…

I had automated the system by using the Franklin Covey software, but my computer crashed and I couldn’t install it on my new computer. I wasn’t willing to invest in new software at the time.  Though now their online planning system looks pretty good.

Don’t get me wrong, I still find great value in the teachings offered by Franklin Covey system, particularly when it comes to aligning your tasks with your values and core believes. I also firmly believe that it is a fantastic system for many, many people.  And I will continue to use many aspects of it in conjunction with what I am doing now.  But, there had to be an easier way than creating a new list every day.

Getting Things Done

So some time ago, I searched and found David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity and fell in love with the GTD methodology.  I highly recommend you read the book!

I downloaded and printed some fantastic forms for GTD (I’ll still use many of them) and created my own DIY planner and used it in conjunction with the Hipster PDA.  I found that worked fairly well, but things were still falling through the cracks.  Plus it was costing me more considerably more for printing than the Franklin planner cost.

But my system wasn’t working

It wasn’t flawed, but…

I spend a good share of my day at the computer, or away from my home office.   Some days I’d go to add things to my list and realize that my planner was in the trunk of the car.  Not a problem, unless the car is gone for eight hours.   Even if the planner was right there next to me, I’d end up taking notes on a piece of paper – simply because I’d be in to big of a hurry to find the correct page to write that particular task on.

However, now after quite a bit of research and a little time organizing I think I’ve come up with something that will work well for me. Perhaps it, or parts of it will work well for you.

A New Productivity System

It’s a system that uses technology (and no I don’t have an iPhone or Blackberry), to track all my projects and tasks, and combines it with other productive tools.  It allows me to easily capture tasks on the run.  Plus, my husband, and business partner, can automatically add tasks he needs me to work on as well.

So I’m not giving up my DIY printed planner /Franklin planner /Hipster PDA completely and I still have a project folder for each one of my projects.  But I’m merging them with other tools for getting things done. I’ll share with you what I use each of the tools for.

If I were to include everything in one post it would be counter productive, and difficult to follow. So I’ll be sharing with you the tools I use to keep track of all my projects and tasks.   Perhaps some of the tips will help you not only dream, but act.  And not only plan, but believe.

Productivity Tips for Getting Things Done

1. First post – coming soon