Using online tools to organise yourself: Nirvana

When "stuff" is taking over your life
Getting Things Done®,  or GTD®, is a system that was devised by David Allen.  It is based on the principle that, sometimes, we spend more time and energy thinking about what we have to do than in actually doing it!  One of the key recommendations of this system is to separate "the thinking about stuff" from "the doing stuff" by using effective "to-do lists".

Some of the most useful online innovations are tools that help us to organise ourselves, such a Remember the Milk, Toodledo or Nirvana.  This is a short video about how to sign up for, and use, Nirvana.





So how do we move from making lists of things that need to be done to actually doing them?
Another key part of the Getting Things Done system is considering how we "process" information.  Most of us are information-magnets!  We collect information via email, meetings, phone calls, list servs etc.  The sheer amount of information that we encounter everyday can mean that some of it sits in an inbox gathering dust.

In order to get things done, we must process that information effectively.  We need to decide what we will do with each piece of information in our inbox.  Allen suggests a simple (not easy!) way of doing this.  Take each piece of information and consider:

Is it actionable?  Do you need to do something with this piece of information?

And if all else fails...