How To Use A GTD Inbox To Organize Tasks And Get Things Done :: Planning Techniques

hello friends welcome to squared plans i'm stephanie and today we're going to be talking about the getting things done method by david allen and how i'm applying it to my planner it is a great tool for helping you organize all of the many things that you have going on in your life and i'm going to be specifically talking about using an inbox system to make your tasks more manageable so that sounds good let's jump in so i have this inbox insert that i actually carry in my shop if you guys are interested but basically it is based off of that getting things done method with multiple list options for you to help sort and organize tasks as they come in so the first thing i'm going to do is go ahead and cut this guy down and get it ready for my planner and while i'm doing that let's talk about the fundamentals of this gtd system the first step in the system is to capture what you have coming in so it's a way for you to collect what has your attention and write record or gather anything and everything in some kind of collection tool so you need to have a home base for things the next step is to clarify which is to process what that thing means is it actionable if so you need to decide what the next action should be or if it needs to move into something like a project with multiple steps and then if not you get to decide if it is trash or a reference or something else that you need to put on hold somewhere in some kind of container next step three is to organize so you need to put it where it belongs park reminders in that categorization system that you've developed and put them into the appropriate places step four is to reflect so that's where you go back to these systems you've created in these containers and review them update them get things done off of those different systems and just have a method of reviewing what tasks you still have left to do and finally the last step is to engage and that is to actually do those things use your system to make the actions and decisions you need with confidence and with clarity okay so those are the fundamentals of the getting things done method and that will kind of explain how this inbox system is set up there are more than the sheets that you're going to see here i've only printed off the sheets that i plan on using in my planner but again if you are looking for something more robust there are definitely many different options on itsy if you have a paper planner or a digital planner that has maybe more than what you're going to see here or if you like the system that i have there are also other options that are blank that you can customize a little bit more you just check those out in my etsy shop that'll be linked below in the description if you are interested in this insert in particular so i'm just going to go ahead and drop this in now and we can talk about just the section itself i have set it up right here in the front of my planner just so that i have a quick reference to put things down as they come in that's kind of the important part of this is that it's easy access to your first container for where your tasks and items are going to come in and you have a place to write it down immediately so let's talk about the inbox and how it is set up once you have a project or a task or anything come in to your life something that you need to manage you open up this inbox and say one of two things is it actionable decide if it's something that you can take action on right away or something that needs something else to happen if it is actionable then there are four ways that you can divide it up first way to divide it up is to schedule it you can take the task and say okay i know when i need to do it and put it directly into your calendar if it's an appointment or an event there's an obvious time and a place but it also might be a time in a place where you just know that is when you want to get that task done and you can schedule it that way into your calendar or planner however that is digitally paper planner whatever you want to do the next category under actionable is next steps that is when you have something that you're not quite ready to schedule but you can categorize it into some type of place where you can attack that task when you get to that place so for example maybe you need to do something like install some hardware on your computer then okay my next steps is when i'm at my computer i will install this hardware and you can define that task into your next steps container and then categorize it in the appropriate spot so the next time that you are in that location at your computer you can look through your next steps task list and define which things you can tackle while you're there the third thing that could happen is that you have a task that is actionable but you are waiting on something to come in or for somebody to complete some part of that task in order for you to make it final or to cross it off if that is the case then you would build this container for waiting on things of course this is more likely if you are in a work environment where there are multiple people handling things and you're delegating tasks to a team but it could also happen at home where you're waiting to hear back from a lawyer or customer service agent or something like that in order to get something crossed off your list so that is another like holding place another capture place where you define what you're waiting on who it is if there is a definite timeline for following up that kind of thing that's another container for capturing tasks and identifying what needs to be done next and lastly in the actionable category is project if you have something that requires more than one step you should consider that a project no matter if it's just two steps or 20 steps to get it complete so you want to write that down and then further break down that final goal or project task into bite-sized pieces that are the individual tasks that you need in order to complete the full project itself giving you a better view of all of the steps needed in order to complete the task and allow you to keep track of where you are in completing the project as a whole now talking about items that are not actionable meaning things that you may need to reference later or you just want to keep track of but maybe you don't have a defined time for that thing to be done then there are some other ways to categorize those types of tasks the first one is the someday task list and that's just something that you think you would like to do but again it's not something that's got a high priority and isn't urgent in any way however you don't want to lose track of that task so that's a way to keep track of it just writing it down into the someday category that works well for things like aspirations or things growing yourself personally or professionally that you maybe want to do in the future but don't have a defined time frame before the next one is reference and that is when you have a task that's more of a thing that you again want to keep track of and have a place for but you know there's nothing that really needs to be done with it so if you have an article let's say that gives you some great information you know on growing your business or something where you might need it later for a project some samples or things like that but you don't lose track of it then you would put that into your reference category and place it somewhere that you know where to find it again if you need it and just keep track of it but there's nothing that needs to be done with it right away it's just a place for you to know this thing i have a reference for and will access it as needed in this spot that doesn't necessarily need a list but you need some kind of container or place to capture those items whether they're physical or digital so that you know always where to go to find those reference materials and finally there are those things that come in that capture your attention seem like they might be important but in the end you've decided that it's nothing that you need to deal with that is when you just eliminate it keep your mind clear of those things just kind of bubbling around that you really don't need to put your attention into so that is an overview of the compartments that are available for organizing your tasks as they come in using the getting things done method so now that i've gone over how the inbox works and how it'll help you organize your tasks we can start by doing an example so i'm going to go ahead and write in some tasks that i currently have in my former inbox system that haven't been tackled yet and i will categorize them here on screen this inbox should be your first step for when things come into your life tasks and things that need to be done and so you just want to have it there for catching all of the tasks as they come in this is your first stop in your process so i've written a few things down here and now i'm just going to evaluate each one and where i think it fits in so the very first one is spray paint discs that i've had on my list to do so i've put that in the next step category because i have everything i need i just need to be in the right place at the right time in order to make that work so i'm going to go ahead and put those down into the next steps category and then define where i'm going to do it so just kind of going down my list and defining which ones are actionable and not and where they need to go i'm also going to use this first column for keeping track of when i've migrated tasks so i have a few more items that are in the next steps category including that research figma the next task i'm writing down is in the waiting on container in the insert set and there i'm just putting it down because i'm waiting for a customer service agent to get back to me and so i really can't move on it until that happens the next one i have is a project it's a task that i can see there will be multiple steps needed in order to complete so i'm going to go ahead and use one of my projects inserts here and write in the main task there in the big bold area i'm also going to define a due date so that i can kind of define how much time i have to get things done and i do have a time frame for where i want to have things up and ready and then i'm writing down the individual tasks themselves as to what i need to do in order to complete that project as a whole and again showing that my grading arrow so that i know that i've already moved that task into its appropriate container next we have a someday task that i'm going to go ahead and put on that sunday list there are tasks on skip as we go through as well because i don't quite know how i wanted to find them yet some of them i'll probably schedule or put into a different part of my planner that's it really i'm going to show you some other kind of just fun ways to make this a little bit more vibrant and also ways for you to kind of customize it a bit more for your own use as far as those inserts are concerned you can easily highlight the columns and different colors and use that color coding to keep track of the tasks as they come through you can also go ahead and number out these projects in the project section and keep track of them by project number or project letter that way if you have a lot of different smaller projects going on you can you know say task one a project on your catch-all daily planner when you're ready to tackle it and then you can come back and reference it here instead of having to write out each individual thing that is a nice way to just keep track of tasks and things and have it all together grouped together by project but also reference it from another location within your calendar or planner you can also color code the headings kind of like i'm showing you here so that they correspond and you can easily look by color it's another way to just kind of make it a little bit easier on yourself and then there are also blank options for a lot of these so if the categories don't fit your life then you can do your own categories as you see fit so that was an overview of the getting things done method i hope you enjoyed this video if you did please give it a thumbs up down below go ahead and leave me a comment if you'd like to get in touch and think about subscribing to my channel if you haven't already if you'd like to see more of my videos thank you guys so much for watching i really appreciate it and we'll see you next time bye you

Channel: squaird plans

Views: 30,943

Keywords: squaird plans, happy planner, functional planning, white space planning, decorative planning, planner layout ideas, planner inspiration, discbound setup, horizontal layout, monthly layout happy planner, fitness happy planner, social media planner setup, happy planner setup, planner setup 2021, happy planner frankenplanner setup 2021, planner flip through, discbound planner setup, classic happy planner flip through, planner ideas, happy planner ideas, planning with stickers

Id: gQCjZUJLaMI

Length: 15min 30sec (930 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021