The Phases of GTD:
Collect > Process > Organize > Review > Do

COLLECT:

I have been using Evernote as one of my capture tools recently. I set it up with 3 and only 3 Notebooks. Simple.  My default is INBOX. This is where all my incoming notes, emails, photos etc go.  This is my collection bucket and is completely unprocessed.  I get this INBOX to zero daily most of the time.

PROCESS:

My 2nd Notebook is NEXT ACTIONS.  As I process my INBOX I will tag the notes with the appropriate @CONTEXT.  Currently I have settled on the following tags:

.PROJECTS = List of all my projects. This is a tickler or placeholder for the project and might contain some thoughts or mindmaps in the body.
@AGENDAS = Contains a note for each person I regularly need to discuss things with.  In the body are the specific ticklers or items I want to talk with them next time I see them.
@ANYWHERE = Items that I can do anywhere.  I don’t need a computer or phone or a specific person to accomplish these.
@CALLS = Specific calls that I need to make
@COMPUTER = Things I can only do while at a computer
@ERRANDS = Things I need to get while I am out and about, like supplies at Home Depot or Staples for example.
@HOME = Things I need to do at home like change the HVAC filter or clean the fish tank.
@READ/REVIEW = Items that I have clipped or emailed myself that I want to read at some point.  Things might be articles from my Google Reader, a website or specific URL that I want to review later on
@WAITING FOR = I will clip or email myself tracking info for Amazon shipments etc.
@WORK = Things that I need to do at work. You never know when you might have an incredible idea about that certain project for that specific client while you are say running errands or just hanging out in a hammock.

Basically anything in my NEXT ACTIONS notebook are things that are undone and can be sorted by the CONTEXT that I am in.

ORGANIZE:

My 3rd and final notebook is REFERENCE.  Not everything that ends in my INBOX is ACTIONABLE.  Sometimes it is just something cool that I emailed myself or a PDF that I want ubiquitous access to (I’ve installed the desktop client on my work and home laptops, as well as my Blackberry Storm).  Items in the reference folder are tagged with categories that succinctly summarizes it and makes it additionally easy to find.

My current tags are:

FAMILY/PERSONAL – includes things like copies of birth certificates etc
GOAL SETTING – documents and workbooks for my goals
GTD – articles and documents about PDF
HEALTH & FITNESS – articles about health, workout routines, etc
PICTURES – Pictures of things like whiteboard brainstorms
RECIPES - Recipes that I’ve seen on FOOD NETWORK or otherwise would like to try or try again.
SOMEDAY/MAYBE – the infamous Someday I might do this.
TRAVEL – Places I’d like to travel, or information about a specific place like RESTAURANTS TO CHECKOUT WHILE IN ALBUQUERQUE

REVIEW:

The Review phase is pretty simple from the desktop or web client. Simply click the context you are in and BLAMMO! there you have a list of things that you can do right now.

DO:

There is probably not a lot of DOING happening inside of Evernote, however, as part of this phase I determine if the action that I completed should be deleted or archived in the REFERENCE notebook.  I will untag it from the @CONTEXT and tag it with one of the tags from the ORGANIZE phase.  Honestly, most actions don’t get moved to REFERENCE.  Some of the more complex projects that I would like to refer back to move to the REFERENCE notebook.

Finally…

A pair of tips that I have found very helpful.  I love the ability to email stuff to my Evernote account.  However, the unique email address that is assigned is too hard to remember.  So I created another GMAIL account that looks like:  evernote.myname@gmail.com and then created a filter to forward emails from my personal and work email addresses to the unique evernote address. It is then marked as read and moved to the archive.  If somebody else were to email something to that inbox, it won’t get forwarded since the filter is only for my emails.

And for my multi-function printer, I pointed all scanned items to be saved in to the newly created directory: MY DOCUMENTS\EVERNOTE. I then took Evernote Windows Client and set that folder to automatically import to my INBOX. To do that: TOOLS > ACCOUNT PROPERTIES > FILE IMPORT and then point to your directory.  It is also easy to DRAG ‘N DROP files in to that folder for quick and easy importing to Evernote.

Check Out The Definitive Guide of Evernote Essentials

The Book That Inspires The Evernote Team:

“Wow! Thanks for this book. I’ve been fascinated by MyLifeBits for years; it’s certainly inspired our thinking at Evernote.”
-Phil Libin, CEO, Evernote

Youtube Explanation (1m 4s): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVU3eGIAiqw

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVU3eGIAiqw 570 430[/youtube]

Mentions Around The Web:

• Evernote for GTD, simplified
• Getting Organized with Evernote | Brass Tack Thinking
• Hanami Design: Helping Designers Get Free with GTD | The Blog …
• Ruud Hein ” Gmail To Evernote Information Management Workflow
  
• Simple GTD Evernote

My Simple GTD & Evernote Combo is a post from: Darren Crawford

Kill procrastination

Kill Procrastination is a post from: Darren Crawford

I tend to deliver single download information products in a membership area.  It helps to protect the downloads and gives a better experience for the client.  These are single product downloads and not recurring or subscription payments (which DigiResults does not handle at this time).

Surprisingly I didn’t find any posts about how to integrate the two platforms so I emailed their support.  This is the result of the wonderful assistance of Lynette Crase and Dominic Baggot at DigiResults Support broken down into bite-sized chunks.  To integrate DigiResults with WishList Member is actually pretty simple once I got the low down.

Assumptions: I will assume you have your WishList Member site setup and membership levels assigned.  If not, you will need at least one membership level to make this process work.

Integrate DigiResults with WishList Member:

1. In WishList Member go to the Integration tab and make sure you are on Shopping Cart Integration.
2. Choose Clickbank under the Select System option.
3. Copy the Thank You URL to a text file.
4. Copy the Secret Word to the same text file.

5. Copy the membership level SKU to that text file (copy from the ?sku=1234567890)

6. In WishList Member now click the MEMBERSHIP LEVELS tab and copy the Registration URL for the appropriate product.  Paste it in the text file and add the ?sku=1234567890 to the end of it.  Obviously change 1234567890 with your number.

7. Switch browser tabs to DigiResults, login and choose Manage then Products.
8. Either List New Product or click an existing product to edit it.
9. Make sure all the relevant details are setup in DigiResults such as name, price, commission, sales page url and support email.
10. In DigiResults paste the WishList Member registration URL from step 6 to the Thank you page box with the ?sku= stuff added.  This will ensure they land on the right page to get registered for that product.
11. Click Advanced Settings and expand.
12. For your direct receipt URL paste the url from step 3.
13. At the end of the Direct Receipt URL make sure you have the ?sku= and then the SKU number from step 5.  It should look something like:

http://yourdomainname.com/index.php/register/CHfqy7?sku=12345678

14. Now in DigiResults click EDIT ACCOUNT at the top right of the page
15. Under Advanced Settings you will see DIRECT RECEIPT SECRET CODE.  You have two choices here.  Please fully read and understand before proceeding…

a) Not recommended: Using the secret code from WishList Member you paste it here and update.  If this is the first product that you are integrating then this is fine.  If you have multiple products, skip down to step b.

b) Use the Direct Receipt secret code on DigiResults by copying it and changing the Secret Word code on the Integration page (see step 4) of WishList Member.  If you have multiple products on DigiResults and they are integrating with WishList Member then you want to use a single code across all your Wishlist installs.  If you change the code on DigiResults it will break any other products that were using it.  So use the DigiResults secret code as the master.

That’s it.  You are all set.  You can now integrate DigiResults and WishList Member to take orders and create a simple affiliate program for your single-pay products and membership sites.

How To Integrate DigiResults With Wishlist Member To Deliver Non-Recurring Payment Products is a post from: Darren Crawford

Tonight I discovered the free http://kindlefeeder.com which allows you to email RSS feeds to your kindle.  It’s pretty cool.

Just create an account.  Your Kindle Feeder username becomes your email (ie: myname@kindlefeeder.com) then allow that email to send stuff to your Kindle.  Drop dead easy.

I’ve also been adding Instapaper clippings of websites I want to read to a downloadable .mobi file which I email. Handy stuff.

Lots more cool Kindle tips from Wired.com here: How To Do Almost Everything On a Kindle 3.

How To Read RSS on Kindle is a post from: Darren Crawford

This morning I discovered a great tool for converting PDF to MOBI which you can then email to your kindle (or USB if you prefer).

You’ll get some hokey formats occasionally, but it is much easier to read than the full page of a PDF with size 1 fonts.

Here is the FREE PDF to Kindle tool:

http://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-mobi

Convert PDF to Kindle Format is a post from: Darren Crawford

“Living the life of a rockstar Vatican assassin”

“This is not a bowl, it is a cauldron of awesomeness”

“If you eat like me you can be like me”

“If you aren’t thinking about what you are putting into your body… plan better!”

“My tiger blood needs meat”

“My fingertips radiate sunshine and I water them with tears of a jaguar”

“I don’t cook food… I will it.”

“My hands are rated by Zagats”

“Tastes like winning”

“Warning: Tasting Charlie Sheen has the potential to cause your soul to weep and forfeit.”

Charlie Sheen’s Winning Recipes is a post from: Darren Crawford

If you know who created the list, let me know in the comments so I can give them proper credit.

Edit: It seems we may have identified the original creator of the list; Sam Burgio, brother of commentor Carm.  Thanks Carm!

You Know Your Are From St. Catharines if…

1. You played pool (at least once) at The Rack.
2. You remember the Bijou Arcade in Lincoln Mall. (If you actually played in there consider yourself a veteran!)
3. You always wondered if anyone went inside of that Blackbeard’s Barbershop at the corner of Geneva and Linwell.
4. You shopped at Food City, Towers, Woolco, and Food Terminal followed by their respective successors of IGA, Zellers, Walmart and Commisso’s.
5. You ate at all 37 different Fish and Chips franchises at the north corner of the Linwell Plaza.
6. You had your prescriptions filled at the Big V.
7. You ALWAYS refer to AVONDALE when speaking of a convenience store no matter where you are in the world).
8. You played with and probably cried over the Tiger-Cat toys at the front of Bargain Harold’s at the Lincoln Mall.
9. You remember that stuffed animal in a hot air balloon hanging from the ceiling inside the OLD Fairview Mall, or the live birds inside the big cage.
10. You won a Book-IT coupon from elementary school and you used it to buy a personal sized pepperoni pizza at Pizza Hut.
11. You attended at least one of the St. Alfred Italian Feasts even if you aren’t Italian.
12. You joyfully ran up and down the many brown tiled ramps that were inside the old Pen Centre.
13. You thought that Lincoln Mall Cinemas were the best in the city, even though the Town Cinemas on St. Paul St. were cooler.
14. You worked out at either the old Downtown or Grantham YMCA’s.
15. One of your parents or grandparents bought cold cut meats at the Italian Shop on Garnet St.
16. Your heart flutters with recognition whenever you see someone outside of the Niagara Region carrying a Commisso’s bag.
17. You went with your parents to buy plants on Ontario Street across from the K-Mart.
18. You were shit on at Happy Rolph’s more than once!
19. One of your parents misses Joe McCaffery
20. You played in the Queen Elizabeth community centre 15 yrs ago and you thought it was a dive even back then!
21. You point out to every out of towner that Victoria School was featured in the Christmas Story.
22. You bought velcro shoes, white underwear or socks at least once at each major Biway outlet in the city.
23. You saw a $2 movie at the Pendale Cinemas.
24. You went on a date to TropiGolf or caused shit there with one of your friends.
25. You had a Blue or Red Icee (aka liquid cocaine) at the Woolco Food Court.
26. You pissed in Lancaster Pool.
27. You hate getting caught at one of the bridges (if you understand this sentence you ARE a true St. Kitter!)
28. Your ice cream has dropped out of the cone at the Avondale Dairy Bar on Reed Road.
29. Your ID was taken away at the Lakeside or Gord’s.
30. You know Pearson Park as the “Rocket ship park“.
31. You remeber the Word of Life church being an orchard.
32. You can drive through downtown without getting confused, park for free,and find your car at the end of the night.
33. The best place to get lunch downtown was at Diana Sweets.
34. You smoked pot or tobagganed at Jaycee Park.
35. You get confused in towns without Summer and Winter bars.
36. You’ve been on at least one date which included “walking the pier.
37. You know the differnce between Welland, Wellandport, and Port Weller.
38. You have a personal favourite Tim Hortons
39. You feel a certain smug supperiority over everyone who’s from Thorold.
40. You hate Niagara Falls.
41. You got tricked at least once as a kid by the knife & tool sharpening truck, mistaking it for a Dikee-Dee.
42. You went to the front window of the Hobby Shop on St. Paul St. to put your hand on the glass and make the train go around the track.
43. You bought canned goods at Valdi’s.
44. You had a birthday pizza party as a kid at Julio’s, your name was put on the train, and a Polaroid picture of you was put on a button.
45. You went grocery shopping at either the Miracle Mart, Dominion, or Loblaws at the Pen, and then bought bottles of cream soda at the Pop Shoppe.
46. You were born at the Hotel Dieu Hospital.
47. You had a hard time deciding whether to go to the Friday night Falcons game, or wait until Saturday to see the Saints play.
48. Jack Gatecliff Arena will always be known to you as Garden City Arena.
49. Sergeant Harry Artinian visited your school with Elmer the Safety Elephant.
50. You slid down the big steel slide at Motebello Park.
51. You learned how to hit a golf ball on the driving range where Costco is now. Remember the big yellow tires?
52. A good place for ice cream was the Baskin Robbins on Geneva Street.
53. It used to seem like you were driving far out into the country when you went to Club Roma.
54. You slept out in at tent at Camp Wetaskiwin.
55. You’ve gotten really drunk at the Mansion House after the Grape & Wine Festival Parade.
56. You were in the Pied Piper Parade at some time during your childhood.
57. You hit a methane gas pole with your ball at the Municipal Golf Course.
58. You loved to explore the different departments (especially the toys upstairs) at Coy Brothers.
59. Before the Mandarin, there was Kim Court, and before there was Toys R Us there was Consumers Distributing – both at the Pendale Plaza.
60. You tell everyone around you that the song is about St. Catharines whenever you hear “Lakeside Park” by Rush being played on the radio

You Know You Are From St Catharines When… is a post from: Darren Crawford

Here is what you will need:

Gmail

Labs features – superstars and multiple inboxes

Sam Adams ‘Blackberry Witbier’ (optional, but highly recommended)

Admittedly, my first attempt at using stars in Gmail was a failure.  I hadn’t decided what the star meant to me.  Was it a reminder of something to do later?  Something cool that I wanted to archive?  In reality, it was all that and more.  They had lost their clean edges – much like a fridge with a recipe (reference material) and a phone number (was that somebody I was supposed to call?).  Eventually you stop paying attention to everything there and just eat.

In March I implemented the ‘Super Nick Email System’ after watching Nicholas Holland present at Ignite Nashville.  He had clarified a few spots for me and it all made sense in a blinding flash.  Watch the ‘Super Nick Email System‘ is on Youtube here.

This is what I ended up with:

By using the ‘multiple inboxes’ I now have a TO-DO folder, a READ & REVIEW folder, a WAITING FOR folder and finally the INBOX.  As you can see from the picture, my inbox is empty.

Here are the steps to setup all the features to make this work.

Click ‘Settings’ in the top right of Gmail

Click the Labs tab and enable ‘Multiple Inboxes’ and ‘Superstars’ and save changes.

Multiple inboxes setup:

Click the Multiplex Inboxes tab

Enter the following information so that each inbox is filtered Panel 0:   has:red-bang Panel 1:   has:purple-question OR is:starred -(has:red-bang) -(has:yellow-bang) -(has:green-check) -(has:blue-info) Panel 2:   has:green-check

Choose the layout, Right-side of the inbox, Above or Below the inbox.   I am using ABOVE the inbox.

Superstars Setup:

Simply drag and drop the stars into this order.  You’ll notice a blue ‘i’ star.  This is experimental and not being covered right now.

Save changes.



Multiple Inboxes & Superstars In Action:

Email arrives and I either process in my web browser window, or via my Gmail Android phone app.  BTW, I have keyboard shortcuts turned on for faster processing.

If the email is something that I want to read later, or review for action items, I star it.  If I know that it is going to be a TO-DO, I will click the Star two times.  If it is something I am WAITING FOR, it gets 3 clicks.

From my mobile phone it makes a yellow star only.  So, I end up with a bunch of items in my READ & REVIEW folder when I process from my phone.

All emails, whether starred or not, gets archived which leaves my INBOX empty.  This is critical for my sanity so that I don’t keep re-reading those emails.

If I processed from my mobile phone, I will go through my READ & REVIEW for TO-DO items and update the star to the red exclamation point.

Once I no longer want the email showing up (ie: I have read it or acted upon it), I uncheck the star and since it is already archived, it disappears from my viewable window.

That is pretty much it.  I think the most complicated portion is the filters for the multiple inboxes.  However, since that is just a copy and paste since I have provided them above, I think you should be able to implement this within just a few minutes.

Let me know your thoughts about how you Get Things Done with Gmail.

PS: I forgot to add this… I have set up a filter so any email that I send myself, or that comes from a specific person (such as a key contact, my wife, etc…) automatically gets a star.  Chances are I don’t want to archive their email accidentally and not take action on it.

Getting Things Done In Gmail is a post from: Darren Crawford