The Cranking Widgets Blog

Productivity Starts with a Clear Mind – and a Clear Desk

During his initial description of the collecting process, David Allen talks about taking everything off of (and, in some cases, out of) your desk and plopping it into your in-basket for processing (whether it will ultimately translate into a task/project notwithstanding). Having a desk at home (which I share with my wife) and a [...]

Ubiquitous Capture While Juggling Chainsaws

Written by Brett Kelly

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I’m a real all-or-nothing kind of guy. If I discover a new band or musician that I like, I’ll immediately acquire everything they’ve made (which may explain my subconscious aversion to The Beatles, but I digress). So it would follow that I would sleep better knowing that my capture methods were truly ubiquitous; [...]

Adios, Google Calendar – Why I’ve Made the Switch to Pure Analog GTD

Written by Brett Kelly

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Over all of the previous iterations of my GTD system, Google Calendar has always been a common thread. While all my other tools moved toward paper-based solutions, I always stuck with Google Calendar because it was (almost) as “always-on” as my paper tools. I could add events and get alerts from my [...]

5 GTD Implementations Critiqued

Written by Brett Kelly

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Punky over at WhatsTheNextAction.com has posted a list of 5 different GTD systems/tools he’s tried and subsequently stopped using, as well as why he stopped using them.� A very useful list for new GTDers looking for ideas on how to design their personal systems.
Obviously, everybody has a different way of working best, so this isn’t [...]

Moleskine Infobook Hack

Written by Brett Kelly

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My new buddy gtdfrk from flickr (I’d post his real first name if I knew what it was – sorry has a really cool Moleskine hack using an Infobook and a labeler to create pocket-sized GTD system.� Definitely worth checking out if you’re an analog GTD’er on the go!
Technorati Tags: moleskine, gtd, analog [...]

Combining Your Wallet and Hipster PDA with the Moleskine Memo Pocket

Written by Brett Kelly

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[Edit] A special welcome to all the visitors from lifehack.org – thanks for stopping by!
As previously mentioned, my lovely wife bought a Moleskine Memo Pocket for me for Christmas. After carrying it around in my non-wallet back pocket for about a week, I started to get a little bothered by how cumbersome it was, [...]

Hack-at-the-Pump – Tips for Buying Gas with a Debit Card

Written by Brett Kelly

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A couple nuggets I picked up while spending a year writing a custom credit card processing gateway from scratch (pro tip: avoid doing this if you can). Short Version is you should always walk inside and pay the attendant instead of paying at the pump, here’s why (long version):

How I Do My Weekly Review, Step by Step

Written by Brett Kelly

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Let me start off by saying that I’m still a budding GTD’er, so this won’t be the be-all, end-all guide to doing a weekly review. This is just the method that I’ve established (so far) and it’s worked pretty well.

Merlin Mann’s GTD Recap for 2007

Written by Brett Kelly

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Most of you have probably already seen this, but if you haven’t, the mann has posted a fantastic collection of GTD-related links (to previous blog posts) over at 43Folders.� Definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in some of the intricacies of GTD.