Friday is going to start being my favorite day of the week. It is officially guest post day. Today's guest post comes from Andy Roller of Expio Consulting. He is an author, speaker, consultant, and social media junkie. I have spent enough time around him to rip off most of his ideas, in-fact I have an upcoming post on How to Use Email that is solely based on one of his lectures. He is one sharp cookie. Enjoy.

For more information about Andy you can check out his site here, or follow him on twitter @andyroller

Getting Things Done is Old Hat

It may - possibly - be the first lap top: Abraham Lincoln's Stove Pipe Hat.

He was sometimes ridiculed for wearing the now famous hat, but it was far more than a fashion statement. It was his personal productivity system. 

When our 16th President got inspired about a task or project, or added a name to his contacts list, he would use his hat to capture the information. He carried blank pieces of paper, along with a small pencil, inside his hatband on one side; the notes he had written on the other side. If he needed to make an input to his system he would take out a blank note, write on top of his hat, file the note in his hatband, and process the notes when he got back to his office. 

Getting Things Done (GTD) type guy that he was, I'm sure he took his notes, at least weekly, and either delegated, deleted, deferred, or did (using the 2-minute rule of course) whatever he had captured in his hat that week.

As you can tell, I'm a fan and user of GTD. I've read and re-read it; applied it; taught it. I even exchanged a few emails with David Allen several years ago when I taught a leadership class at USC. He is a brilliant, standup guy, and he was thrilled to know his system was included in materials we were using to train college student leaders.

If you've tried the GTD system you know it's not for everyone. I like the lists and the sense of control - knowing that everything I'm not doing at that moment is captured; that I can zone in later at the appropriate time-place. However, most people just need a simple system to capture their stuff and tag it with simple triggers - like Lincoln did.

For more practical tips I've included slides from a presentation I once did on the subject. 

In short, pick a tool (small moleskin notebook, smart phone, Ipad, top hat, scrap paper you stuff in your shoe...); make disciplined inputs into your trigger-system of choice; conduct a disciplined review each week to make sure you get your stuff done, delegated, deleted, or deferred to your calendar. 

If you need help or have questions contact me. I'd be glad to respond.