I have always liked the simplicity of lists, especially bullet point lists.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve been keeping some type of to-do list and it never fails, they would always end up the same way – too long and unmanageable.

I had skimmed through a few books on time management and organization, but it wasn’t until I read Getting Things Done, by David Allen for the first time in 2001, that my obsession with productivity really started.

That was also when I figured I better get a Palm Pilot because how could anyone really get things done without a Palm Pilot.  I was surprised when I saw you can still buy these on Amazon.com!  I might have to get my m500 and TX out of the closet and set them up next to my Apple //e!

Over the last 15+ years I have been through many productivity systems – Getting Things Done, Manage Your Now, One Minute To Do, mind mapping, etc.  I have found that each has their own positives and negatives.  I’ve also tried many different apps – Evernote, One Note, Outlook, Todoist, FreeMind, etc.  And I would bounce back and forth to paper notebooks – MoleSkine, Midori, and Bullet Journal.

One of my biggest frustrations was that each of these systems involved more than one tool, whether it was paper or digital, which meant multiple lists, apps, files and/or notebooks to maintain and none of it was really helping me keep focused on the big picture, remember the obscure stuff, and get the daily tasks done.

That is until I decided to mash them all up into one.  I looked at the parts of each of the systems and apps and notebooks I have used over the years and made a list (believe it or not) of my favorite parts of each one.  Then I put the lists side-by-side to see where they overlapped.  I did the same with the parts I was most frustrated by, had the biggest challenges with, or just didn’t do with each one.

Not surprisingly, many of these systems use a lot of the same concepts and when I looked just at the parts I found most useful there was a lot of overlap.

The details of each of these systems, the parts I found most useful, how they overlapped and the new combined system I ultimately created and use today would take much more than a couple blog posts.  So, I am currently writing this up into a short eBook that will be available for free in the downloads area for anyone who subscribes to this blog.  It’s not ready yet, but I will send an email letting everyone who subscribed know when it hits.

For now, here are the key points (I love bullet lists), if you don’t want to wait for the eBook or don’t want to subscribe, just know this:

• Get everything out of your head and put it in your system, and trust it
• Use one app for your system (I’ll show you how)
• The three most crucial parts are:
  • Critical Tasks
  • Master List
  • Weekly Review

There’s much more to it than just those few simple points, so please sign-up and I’ll let you know as soon as the eBook is ready.  Believe me, it will help you sleep better at night.