GTD Practices – Organize

This week we continue the ongoing series on GTD practices with a discussion on organize. If you are not familiar with the GTD concept, read my GTD overview. Also, as a reminder, if you missed part one or two in the series on the process of collecting or capturing and processing, I highly encourage you to start there first.

In plain English, this step of organize really deals with the “nitty gritty” daily practice of how to differentiate your projects and tasks; first by separating them, then determining if there is a next action and if so, what context. If there is no immediate next action, then it is should be “filed” as either reference, waiting for something or someone or a someday/maybe item. A key component to any successful organizational method is an effective filing system that is simple to use.

Note: I use categories to organize my tasks instead of context, such as or by categories such as “work,” “finances,” “calls,” “review,” ”someday,” “WOR,”  “household,” etc.

To optimize your GTD routine and clarify the method further I highly recommend listening to the GTD Best Practices of Organize podcast from David Allen the creator of the GTD system.  David and some members of his team share tips and strategies for organizing tasks, actions and projects; including details on how they utilize lists and contexts.

Please share any tips or comments you might have on how you are using this system. Stay tuned for next week’s discussion on the process of Review…..and in the meantime check out the related posts on the GTD system.