So, regular readers will know that a couple of weeks ago, I became the newest member of the Church of "Getting Things Done" - a time-management system invented by David Allen, which is talked about by its fans more in cultlike terms than in business ones. And I haven't really mentioned anything about it since then, because it seems that's there been so damn much other great stuff to talk about these last couple of weeks instead. (Famous bloggers at Gaper's Block, live readings from Bookslut, another great series at the HIdeout these days - Jesus, there's a lot of great literary stuff going on in Chicago right now. Why, if they're not careful, it's going to start feeling like 1997 again around here, when the poetry slam first started gaining national popularity.) But I've been wanting to write about the first two weeks of GTD in my life, because in fact they've been fantastic - it turns out that GTD is super-simple to implement (at least for me), and is almost, almost like a magic potion, making you become profoundly more efficient the absolute moment you start using it, in a way that's so dramatic that you almost start wondering if it's indeed the act of some dark sorcerer.

The key to it all, in my particular case, is simply in following the steps that Allen lays out in the process, while combining it with the customization he builds in to the entire thing. Like, let's just take the first step alone, which is acknolwedging that a new piece of unresolved data has come into your life. In GTD terminology this is known as "stuff," and can be just about anything that pops into your head, is physically handed to you, or electronically emailed to you. "Shit, I've got a meeting in 30 minutes;" "I'd love to own a sailboat one day - I wonder what it'd take to get to that point?" "Dude, I need to transfer that girl's phone number from the napkin in my pocket to my Palm, before I accidentally run it through the wash and lose it for good." All of these, all new thoughts or other inputs in your life for which don't have a resolution, is known as "stuff," and the first step of GTD is acknowledging that the stuff is there.

So Allen simply recommends having an "inbox" to store this stuff; but then that's as specific as he gets, and he allows you as in the individual to set up your inbox in whatever way works best for you. So I actually have four inboxes in my particular life, one for each of the major contexts in which new things enter - one for my email; a physical one here at home, where I can drop in business cards I've collected the night before, magazines I need to read, things I need to scan, etc.; an electronic folder on my (offline) Mac, where I actually dump these scanned documents, files I've downloaded from an internet cafe onto my memory card, things I've transferred out of other inboxes, that are now ready to be electronically filed (which is my main filing system at home, much vaster than my paper filing system, because I am trying as much as possible to lead a paperless life these days - that's why I scan important documents, flyers I want to keep, magazine articles, etc., instead of just keeping the physical documents themselves). And then I have a page in my Moleskine paper notebook simply entitled "Inbox" at its top, and that's where I can quickly throw down random thoughts that pop into my brain ("You know, I really should do a second bike adventure soon, because the first one was just so popular with my readers"), as well as just the mundane things that happen as my day progresses ("Ran into Joshua - don't forget to drop him a line later").

For me this is perfect - each of these four inboxes serves a very specific purpose, meaning that their duties don't overlap in my particular life, which of course would lead to double inputs of the same subject in different inboxes, and a whole messy GTD system that wouldn't work. But for some people such a setup would be a nightmare - and Allen realizes this, which is why the emphasis in his system is in simply having the inbox, not what particular type of inbox you should have. Allen emphasizes this over and over again in his book, that the system will not work unless it is the absolutely most workfree and efficient one for your particular life. Unless you can accomplish all the steps in a quick, effortless, almost subconscious way, you will never develop the habit of always jotting down your ideas before you forget them, moving them into the proper areas, then actually getting them done.

And so this can be said too of all the other steps in the GTD system: of determining if this new inbox item is a "project" or not (that is, something you're trying to get done that takes more than one step); of creating a new project sheet if it is, or possibly adding the item to an existing project sheet; of determining which of these things on your project sheets should and can be done next, and moving them to your active "to do" lists; then actually reviewing your "to do" lists right before the context of the applicable one (that is, right before running errands, reviewing your "to do while running errands" list), then fucking doing them while you're actually running errands.

This has probably been the most shocking thing of all about GTD to me - that God help me, I actually am getting a whole bunch of shit done these days, because of following the system. In fact, I did a little math and I'm averaging about 20 to 25 things a day, every single day, that I'm getting done, which is easily at least 400 percent more than I was getting done before starting the system. And see, the beautiful thing about the contextual "to do" lists is that you can then make ones for all the different circumstances in your life; so like yesterday, when I was feeling lazy and didn't leave the house or even really touch my Treo, I still got 10 things done off my "to do while hanging around my apartment feeling lazy" list (which yes, no joke, is an actual to-do list in my particular GTD system - straighten things, dust, dishes, laundry, etc), while normally I wouldn't get a single thing done in that situation.

And yes, I admit that part of it is gimmicky - the simple act of crossing things off a list, and seeing that half-crossed list every time you flip to it, really does give you this quick gimmicky feeling that you actually are accomplishing things, that they're all adding up to equal a whole bunch of stuff getting done. But hey, if the gimmick works, it works, right? The main thing to me is not the gimmicks but that it's a smart system, one whose strict part is based on very simple, intuitive processes (bring the stuff in, process it, organize it, review it, then do it) but whose loosely-defined part is in how you actually accomplish each step. That's the thing I like the most - that Allen is smart enough to realize that every human goes about their daily business in a slightly different way, and that he'd have to do the job that's much tougher than what most self-proclaimed "time-management gurus" have, of coming up with a system based on a smart idea, instead of one based on gimmicks and buying new shit.

Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of GTD people who are obsessed with buying new shit (you find them all over the blogosphere, every day) - which I laugh at every time I come across it in the blogosphere, because it seems to me that they're entirely missing the point. The one and only new thing I've added to my particular life to start using GTD has been my $10 Moleskine notebook - and I did that mostly as an excuse to finally own a Moleskine (which really are just pretty much the greatest damn paper notebooks in human history), and could've easily used another blank paper notebook I already have instead. And that's something else that I really like about GTD - that it's not based on going out and getting a bunch of new stuff, and adding a bunch of new routines to your life, and learning new terminology and getting into new 'life cycles' or whatever the fuck all those new-age time-management idiots call it. What Allen is ultimately doing is simply teaching you how to relook at the stuff already in your life, and to simply categorize and track it all better, but without you necessarily having to change anything about how you actually interact with this stuff to begin with.

So, as you can probably tell, GTD gets a thumbs-up from me; and I'll clock in another progress report about two or three months into it next, when apparently a lot of GTDers experience their first sense of burnout. So we'll see, I guess, although I'm happy to announce for now that I'm rapidly getting through my old emails finally, and that just about everyone who's written over the last year can expect a response pretty soon. (Don't worry, I'm quoting the context in which you originally wrote in my responses, just in case you forgot.) And sorry I got so behind with them in the first place - as some of you already know, last summer and autumn was not exactly the most functional time in my life (ugh, glad that's all over), which unfortunately is what led to the mess I'm in now as far as hundreds upon hundreds of unanswered emails. Anyway, keep your eye out for it, hopefully coming very soon.

A couple of random notes, while I'm here:

--Jessa Crispin linked to my story of her event on Tuesday, over at Bookslut.com. Which was really nice of her, I think, to actually like it and link to it, instead of getting freaked out like is a common reaction when I write about people here. So thanks, Jessa.

(Oh, and a wonderful compliment because of that entry as well, from one of the people I ended up sharing my table with that night, who read the entry and realized it was me - that he thinks I look like Stephen Merritt, the one-man band behind The Magnetic Fields. Which is just, oh my God, so much better than being compared to Mr. Bean, which I usually am. But of course is still not as good as Edward Norton, which is the absolute best compliment I've ever received in my life...cause he fucking sexy, man.)

--And speaking of missing links, in my haste to post yesterday I forgot a couple in that entry. So here, then, are:

The link to TCPMP, the excellent and free video player for Palm;

and the link to the reason I may be participating in an orgy in New York City this October (and I may not, either - this is far from being a done deal).

--Oh, and I forgot to mention in the GTD stuff above that I love some of the new phrases and issues the fan community come up with on the discussion boards and Google groups. Like, a good one is the process of identifying your "personal suck" - that one activity that you in particular just always seem to be putting off, beause you don't like it or you're no good at it, etc., and focusing in on getting over that, so that you'll get much better at your overall GTD implementation. There are all kinds of great fan sites for GTD out there; 43Folders, for example, is one mentioned a lot, but there's a good reason it is.

--I'm listening to Luscious Jackson as I'm writing this, and the following lyrics just popped up:

And I'm always telling you
lies to hold the truth inside
The beat inside that comes
and baby, I succumb to your embrace

I succumb to your embrace
I succumb to your embrace
I succumb to your embrace
I succumb to your embrace

God, Luscious Jackson, I love you so much! Fuck ALMIGHTY, I need to get laid soon.