The Productivity Show #48 – Paul Ayling (Jimmy Yukka and GTD tips)
July 19th, 2009Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Paul Ayling, a listener to The Productivity Show, is the guest. Paul has a band, with the stage name Jimmy Yukka. Paul, partly from listening to the show, has implemented Getting Things Done for his productivity. One year of GTD, let’s see how he’s doing, and what recommendations he has.
The book of Getting Things Done – And the book of The 4 Hour Work Week. Using GTD to manage ideas and projects.
Looking for things – Cause of procrastination in trying to find things. “Don’t put it down, Put it away“.
A simple single in-tray to put everything in – Set time to clear inbox tray. Put everything including “things” in the inbox, and put each single note on a single piece of paper into the inbox.
Pocketmod.com – Print out A4s of tips which fold into a small book.
Capture tool with tear out paper – Spiral bound books for note capture and task lists.
Strategic MindMap – MindMap of MindMaps in Concept Draw MindMap. MindMapping to push projects forward.
Gmail – Autofilters be careful you don’t miss an email coming in! Coloured stars for gmail in settings, then search by star, “has:green-star” filters on green stars.
Outlook Short Cut keys – Move emails CTL SHIFT V to navigate to folder using the keyboard and not the mouse.
Lack of Contexts – Not enough contexts, which all merge into @home, when working from home. Go to coffee shop to create another context.
PowerPoint outline to organise folders around – Or use a MindMap!
Email folders or a single folder with desktop search?
Using GTD to manage lots of projects when it becomes overwhelming.
Who’s got the cheapest Nokia phone? Using travel time to not be on the Internet and in contact with people.
Moving to the cloud – Gmail, paper diary, Office2007 too slow with Excel and Word load times, but Publisher2007 good.
Total software capture tool? – Excel? Visio?
DropBox – Virtual online folder which synchronises with other people’s PCs/Macs.
Living the Dream – Just Do It, consistency.
Promoting music in a rock band – Website, online, calling venues, putting the promotion plan together. Subscription models and selling direct.
Productivity Tips – Spiral bound book to tear out. Short cut keys for Outlook. Refining your mail folders and re-organising them. Dump folders in an archive untouched and create a new empty folder structure. Single in-box to dump everything in. Mind Like Water now? If not, what’s the gap, until your mind is like water!
Bring your dream forward into now – Base your actions and life around the core dream. Post the actions on the wall in post its. Brings it to life with a visual. Shuffle the colour post-its around. Write 3 pages of A4 journal to help the dream.
Books – The History of the Isles, Biography of Malcolm X, The Bible, The Philosophy Gym.
Recorded with Callburner. Edited with Audacity. Music by Jimmy Yukka (The Dentist)













