Getting Things Done GTD with Personal Development and Motivation for Success

Just returned from three days at Legoland Windsor with my family.

This marks the end of my summer vacations. My children go back to school at the end of this week and my twins start school a week Monday so exciting times ahead.

Got to get my head down this week. Spent a great few days planning and mind mapping last week and this week is about getting all of my projects back in control after my summer breaks.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to a great post about Getting Things Done from Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.com. This is a short blog post and a short podcast that Darren recorded whilst going for a walk, now that is multi tasking at its best!
• My second link is a post titled 5 Common Misconceptions about Evernote. This post looks at the Evernote application and answers some common questions about the apps usage.
• My third link is to a post that looks at 7 Reasons Why I Love OmniFocus. I use OmniFocus on my Mac, iPhone and iPad to run my life and this brief post covers why the post author also loves OmniFocus.
• My fourth link is a link to a review of MindMeister: A Sturdy Mind Mapper With a Route to the Cloud. MindMeister is an App that I have covered many times in this blog and is the best cloud based Mind Mapping application in my opinion.
• My fifth and last link is to part 11 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This tenth installment is titled Getting Things Done: The Power of the Collection Habit. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Had a great holiday, much more to come but I am pressured for time..

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to a video post from the BBC that covers How to get a grip on your email inbox. This was shown on the BBC News Channel and features some great tips and applications on how to get things done. Nice to see David Allen briefly featured.
• My second link is a post titled 70 Essential Personal Development Blogs for College Students. There are some great blogs listed here and I am happy to say that I get a mention on the productivity blog links.
• My third link is to a post showing you 4 Things You Must Do To Get Things Done!. This is a great little post with four very important topics that I agree you must do in order to Get Things Done.
• My fourth link is a link to a video blog entry from the founder of Nozbe titled My Simple Email setup with IMAP. This is very similar to how I manage my email that I must one day write about.
• My fifth and last link is to part 10 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This tenth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Getting Projects Under Control. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

This is my second post that I scheduled as I am currently enjoying a holiday in Italy.

Hopefully I will have had over a week playing with OmniFocus for the iPad now and my review of the app should be well under way.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to a great post showing you how to Get Things Done in Evernote with One Notebook. Great post with some nice ideas on how to implement a GTD system with Evernote.
• My second link is a post reviewing the top GTD Apps for the Google Android Mobile OS. I use an iPhone but Android is a fast growing OS that a lot of developers are now taking notice of.
• My third link is to a post showing you how to Organize Your Web Surfing with Evernote. This is yet another great post showing you how the great note taking app, Evernote can be used in different ways.
• My fourth link is a link to an interesting post that looks at Defogging the cloud-computing myth. Cloud Computing has been an industry buzz word for quite a while and this article looks at some of the better cloud computing apps that can be used.
• My fifth and last link is to part 8 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Making the Best Action Choices. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

I am currently in Italy enjoying the sun and this post has been written before I left.

I am currently sat here waiting for OmniFocus for the iPad to be approved in the App store before I leave on vacation. I was hoping to review it before I go away but now I just hope that I get it!

I am guessing that by the time you read this it has been launched.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to OmniFocus for the iPad. This has been my most anticipated app for the iPad and even though I have not yet seen it (as this post is scheduled) I am sure it is awesome!.
• My second link is a post looking at the Causes of Difficulty Getting Things Done. It is fair to say that more people fail at productivity than who achieve a productive lifestyle and this post tries to look at why this happens.
• My third link is to an interesting post covering The Hit List, the Mac GTD Application. The post is titled Forget what you need to do, with confidence! and it is well worth the time investment.
• My fourth link is a link to a post stating why Evernote is a Lifesaver for the blog author. I agree, Evernote is a lifesaver for me too!
• My fifth and last link is to part 8 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Keeping Your System Functional. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

I had a busy week last week and this week is shaping up pretty much the same.

I am going on vacation Friday for a couple of weeks in Northern Italy with my family. Really looking forward to a well earned break.

I am just hoping that OmnIFocus for the iPad comes out before I go so that I can truly put it through its paces whilst away.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to great post titled ADHD & Productivity: 12 Strategies for Getting Things Done. Ignoring the part about ADHD, this is a great 12 point strategy list that we can all use as a way to increase our productivity.
• My second link is a great link from the Smart Bloggerz website titled Six Keys To Getting Things Done Over The Summer. Summer is here and I know it is a time when productivity can suffer due to the fine weather and light evenings. Read this guide to ensure you stay on track over the summer months.
• My third link is to an interesting post titled Methods of Work: It Didn’t Happen If You Didn’t Write It Down. This looks at the process of taking notes and also covers some of the cool note taking applications that are currently available.
• My fourth link is a link to Spootnik. Spootnik is an app I featured a while ago but it has had quite an overhaul and has some cool new features. Spootnik allows you to have a web front end on OmnIFocus so that you can use it anywhere. Check it out as it is pretty cool.
• My fifth and last link is to part 7 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Hope you all have had a great week.

Not much work for me this week as I have been at the British Open in St. Andrews as well as having the privilege to play one of the fabulous courses at Gleneagles in Scotland.

It has been a great week of golf and now I am back to work!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to a great post from the Washington Post titled How to Leave Work Early. I tweeted this on Twitter and it had a great response so it is obviously a topic we all like and there are some fun ideas on how to achieve this. Bottom line is to be more productive and get your work done at work so you can leave for the day!
• My second link is a link to an interesting post talking about Long and Short term thinking. The post is from the reinventing business blog and covers some good aspects of the common beliefs of short and long term thinking.
• My third link is to a good post titled Self-sufficiency vs. getting things done from the computer scientist blog. This is a very interesting and well written post that covers an excellent topic.
• My fourth link is a link to Evernote Trunk. Evernote Trunk is a collection of applications and hardware that will all work with Evernote in orde to make organizing your life easier. This is an official list from the makers of Evernote.
• My fifth and last link is to part 6 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Getting “In” to Empty. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Let me start by wishing all my US readers a Happy Independence Day! I know the majority of my readers come from the US so I hope you are all enjoying the festivities and fireworks!

I missed last week as I was away with my son on a survival weekend and I was not home until late and totally whacked!

I now am also the proud owner of an Apple iPhone 4. Loads to come on this and how I use the iPhone and iPad to Get Things Done..

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to a great no-nonsense post from Ivan Walsh titled How To Make Friday Your Busiest Day And Get The Rewards. Friday is my busiest and most important day of the week so I share a lot in common with this post.
• My second link is a link to a post from Business Builder Marketing titled The Mechanics of Getting Things Done. This post provides a great overview of the Getting Things Done methodology.
• My third link is to a screencast based review of Evernote for the Blackberry mobile device. Always cool to see a screencast based review over the traditional written review as you can see what the author is talking about.
• My fourth link is a link to a nice post from Scot Newbury titled GTD is about method not tools. Scot hits the nail on the head with the statements in this post. I always tell people that productivity systems are personal and it is different for every person. Too many people spend time working on the tools rather than actually getting things done!
• My fifth and last link is to part 5 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting things done 101: Corraling Your Stuff. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Happy Fathers Day to all!

My kids got me some great cards and a cooking lesson at a local restaurant. Spent a great day with them and finished it with a great meal at a local Italian restaurant.

Busy week ahead with a lot of planning to do.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to a great comparison of OmniFocus and Things for Getting Things Done. The link is directly to the PDF file where the author does a pretty good comparison of OmniFocus and Things. I have always stuck to OmniFocus as I am a die hard GTD’er and the author of the comparison agrees a lot with my theory on the subject. As soon as the iPad version of OmniFocus comes out I will write my own comparison.
• My second link is a link to an excellent post titled 8 Things You Should Store in Evernote. Evernote sure is a life saver for me and I love posts such as this.
• My third link is to AppSumo.com and the 6 Productivity Apps for $55. This is a must buy as you get 12 month subscriptions to Evernote, Remember the Milk, TimeBridge, MindMeister. a 6 month subscription to RescueTime, and a 2 month subscription to ShoeBoxed. Total retail value of $340 for an amazing $55.
• My fourth link is a link to a nice post called How to tell when GTD and eProductivity really works. If only I could get my wife so organized!
• My fifth and last link is to part 4 of a 14 part series from the Christian Science Monitor where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting things done 101: setting up the time, space, and tools. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

This is another post on autopilot as I have taken my wife away to the Lake District to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Staying in a great little hotel and booked into some awesome restaurants so I am sure I am enjoying myself.

I am also away with my Apple iPad for the first time although the location where I am staying is very remote and I do not hold much hope for any 3G access. Still it will be nice to see how I cope without my MacBook Air, which I sold last week!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

• My first link for this week is to a great post titled 6 Tips for When You’re Not in the Mood to Work. I am sure we all feel like this from time to time when the procrastination monster moves in and this post has some ideas on what to do when you do feel like doing nothing.
• My second link is a link to an excellent OmniFocus Cheat Sheet. OmniFocus is an excellent application and one that has a control of in-depth control. This cheat sheet shows you some of the keyboard shortcuts that can be used to make navigating the application a lot easier. Essential reading if you use OmniFocus.
• My third link is to a post titled The End-All Guide to Getting Out From Under Your Office Crap. This is a great de-clutter post from Lifehacker that covers the importance of a clutter free working environment.
• My fourth link is a link to a nice post called Ways To Get More Done from Investors.com. This is nice little post that covers some productivity basics.
• My fifth and last link is to part 3 of a 14 part series from the Christian Science Monitor where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This third instalment is titled Getting Things Done 101: The five phases of project planning. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Evernote have organized a series of worldwide Meetups for all Evernote Users to meet and share the ways in which they use Evernote.

These Meetups are organised for June the 23rd and are currently available in 258 worldwide locations.

Attendance at these meetups is free and it would be great to get together will fellow lovers of Evernote and spread the word. The meetups are organized and scheduled through the excellent app at meetups.com.

I am currently down for the meetup in York, UK, but at this point I am the only attendee so please join me if you are in the North of England for the York Evernote Meetup.

So, be sure to get the 23rd of June in your diary and check out your local Evernote Meetup.