Gina Trapani, the founding editor of the Lifehacker blog, has published an updated book entitled Upgrade Your Life.  The publisher is offering free samples of the book in PDF format here.  The sample chapter contains 10 easy to use email management “hacks”.  Check it out.

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to get organized, then I recommend David Allen’s Getting Things Done book. 

If you’d like to get a taste of the concepts without opening your wallet, check out this video of David Allen speaking to Google employees.

Today I had the pleasure of sharing my GTD-inspired email and task management system with a group of human resources professionals at IBM Canada.

In my presentation, I point out that a poorly defined task can lead to procrastination.  One simple way to increase the likelihood of getting something done is to actually articulate the physical action required to perform the task.

Coincidentally, I just ran across an article, entitled “Dear Me: Get to work“, that discusses this in more detail.  In a nutshell, the author suggests:

Write your tasks as if you are delegating them to someone you actually know.

He offers some examples to bring it home.

Below is a video of Merlin Mann, author of the popular 43Folders blog.  In the video he presents his approach to personal productivity and email management to an audience at Google.  Anyone familiar GTD will recognize the similarities.

Coincidentally, I have a very similar presentation that I have delivered to teams at the IBM Toronto Lab.  I’ve got to hand it to Merlin, his slides look nicer.

If you’re having problem seeing the embedded video, try this link.

Thanks to Karen for sharing the link!

Gina Trapani from Lifehacker.com discusses the benefits of scheduling time to perform a weekly review: Getting into the Weekly Review habit

Michael Dolan, a coach with the David Allen Company, gives some advice on properly defining your next actions: Defining Your Work

Here’s two handy articles from Lifehacker that were inspired by the ideas in David Allen’s Getting Things Done. 

• Separate your emails from your to-dos
  http://lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/separate-your-email-from-your-to+dos-272590.php
• The art of the doable to-do list
  http://lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/the-art-of-the-doable-to+do-list-270404.php

Enjoy!

Here’s a tip for anyone that applies ideas from David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) system to Google’s Gmail.

I’ve been using ideas from David Allen’s Getting Things Done book for more than a couple of years.  The GTD system has worked marvellously for me.

One of the great things about the GTD system is it can be implemented any number of ways.  It doesn’t matter if you prefer using pen and paper or a personal digital assistant device, like a Palm handheld.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a solution was designed from the ground up for GTD, you are in luck.  Recently, a number of applications have appeared on the horizon. 

If you’re keen for something web-based, you can visit Nozbe or Vitalist. 

If you prefer an desktop application, try MyLife Organized or ThinkingRock.  Developed using the Java programming langugage, ThinkingRock isn’t pretty, but does run on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.  MyLifed Organized is available on Windows and Pocket PC platforms.