Over at Lifehacker today, they’re talking about the Dark Side of Getting Things Done [GTD] but here at e1evation, llc, it’s all rainbows and unicorns and we’re talking about how to apply Getting Things Done [GTD] to the curation process…

Now if you haven’t read David Allen’s classic productivity work, this would be a great weekend to do it. You can click the image to the right in order to purchase and download a copy to your Kindle or Kindle software immediately. I like to repost he Getting Things Done [GTD] workflow diagram as a reminder of the options…

…in this screencast we’ll be using Google Reader as the ‘in basket’ and the ‘stuff’ we’ll be processing is the articles that come from our trusted sources. We’ll be using Twylah and Power Tweeting to process our actionable items. Give it a view…

Why Twylah?

Questions? Feedback? Want to apply Getting Things Done [GTD] to your curation process? Use the form below or connect with me in social media…

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How to do an Ultimate GTD Weekly Review

Cover of "Getting Things Done: The Art of...

Lifehacker is offering courses online; today they tackle the Getting Things Done weekly review:

You are only as good as your GTD system.

In the Getting Things Done system, without a solid weekly review, your productivity will not be at an optimum level. The weekly review is one of the most overlooked aspect of GTD, mostly because it seems to take too much time or may seem “overboard”. The fact is the GTD weekly review is essential to get more done with relaxed control.

In this Lifehack Lesson you will learn how to do one of the most thorough weekly reviews that will boost your productivity and get you one step closer to having a “mind like water”. Get the course here: How to do an Ultimate GTD Weekly Review.

If you’re not familiar with David Allen’s classic work on ‘Getting Things Done’ I strongly encourage you to look into his system!

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

Let me count the ways…

“When technologists of the future look back in time, they’ll remember 2009 as the year Google got serious about an internet operating system, speeding up the web, and indexing EVERYTHING in sight. Take a look at the year 2009 in Google.” Source: This Year in Google: The 2009 Edition – Google – Lifehacker

No company produces more good, empowers me more, or innovates more. Go to the source for a reminder of what Google delivered this year…

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Google Calendar is a contact- and time-managem...
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The folks at Lifehacker took a poll on the top calendaring applications. Here are the results…

“Nothing’s more important to your productivity arsenal than a solid scheduling tool, and considering so much of what we do happens at the computer, a good calendar application is just the thing to bring order to your agenda. On Tuesday we asked you to share your favorite calendar application, and today we’re back with the five most popular answers. Keep reading for a detailed look at the top five and to cast your vote for the calendar tool you like best.” Source: Hive Five: Five Best Calendar Applications 

Me? I use Google calendars — the free one associated with my Google account as well as my business calendar in Google Apps. Go to the source to read the whole article — it’s worth it!

Image representing Gmail as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

Gmail recently kicked butt in a Mashable poll asking users for their favorite email client. Adam Pash writes…

“Way back in 2006, I showed you my favorite tips, tricks, and tools for making the most of Gmail. A lot has changed in the Gmail world since then, so much so that it seemed like a good time to revisit our favorite tips, tricks, and tools for getting the most from Gmail. Most, if not all, of these tips and features will also apply to the Google Apps accounts set up by businesses and organizations, but your administrator may not have enabled everything you see here.

No one really needs to be sold on Gmail anymore. Either you like the threaded conversations, powerful search, built-in filters, and awesome Gmail Labs functionality or you don’t. I love these things, and below I’ve attempted to put together my comprehensive guide for turning Gmail into the ultimate communication and productivity hub. (I’m focusing on covering territory that I didn’t cover in my previous guide, so if you’re looking for a more beginner guide, read that first. Much of it remains true.)

I’ve broken things down into sections, starting with keyboard shortcuts, then moving down into the best Labs add-ons, third-party add-ons, search techniques, etc. Ready to power up your Gmail? Let’s get started with how to set up and use Gmail’s robust keyboard shortcuts—my favorite Gmail productivity booster.” Source: Become a Gmail Master Redux – Gmail – Lifehacker

Gmail [and Google Apps for Business] is the killer app for email. If you want to become a Gmail master and master your email, follow the link and read Adams article. Comment, call or contact me if you’d like to know more about how to leverage Gmail in your business…

Lifehacker has a great roundup explaining the good and the bad of maintaining Windows. Definitely worth reading in its entirety! Click the ‘via’ link…

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“Today, I was firing off a couple of emails when I noticed that the message count in the top corner said, “483 Messages”! I decided enough was enough and began doing some more research into managing my inbox. I checked up on lifehacker.com, 43folders.com, and a few others to see what was going on. One of the best words of wisdom I found, however, rested in Scott Hanselman’s blog.

Remember that your inbox is not storage, it’s a list of what hasn’t been categorized yet.

This is exactly what my inbox had become. Sure it was kind of handy to have every email that I have received in the past year within a couple of pages, but I thought there must be a better way to manage it. I will list a few of the resources that I picked up, but let me sum most of them up.” Click here to read more…

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I use 4 out of the 5 platforms daily. WordPress is the hands down favorite of most people in this poll, but the real winner is anyone who uses both Posterous and WordPress together to drive traffic…

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Wow!

Even I’m impressed by the way my new blogging workflow has increased traffic recently…

Compare this with your numbers and then comment, call or use the contact form to discuss how this applies to your business…

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Decluttering Google Reader

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Image via CrunchBase

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know that I’m a huge fan of Google Reader. Here’s a great post on what to do when you save too many feeds to Reader…

“If your Google Reader inbox has grown out of control, and you’re spending more time trying to keep up with the flood of news than reading about things you care about, it’s time for a little Google Reader spring cleaning.

Newsreaders like Google Reader are meant to help us read more content without constantly refreshing a list of bookmarks, in theory saving all kinds of time. If your Reader addiction feels more like a timesink than timesaver, it might be time to think about decluttering and reorganizing your RSS feeds for a more efficient reading experience. Today we’ll walk you through our favorite methods for pruning and organizing your feeds to get the most from your Google Reader experience without overloading yourself.” Source: How to Declutter and Streamline Your Google Reader Inbox – Google Reader – Lifehacker

Go to the source for some really great ideas that will help you be even more productive using Google Reader…

5 reasons why Gmail rocks!

Lifehacker
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Lifehacker says…

Email as a technology has been around for decades, and thanks to wide spread adoption and popularity, it isn’t in danger of disappearing. Check out the five most popular email clients to help you wrangle your email.

Earlier this week we asked your to share your favorite email client. We didn’t restrict the voting to only stand-alone email applications or web-based email clients, but we did specify that if you voted for a web-based tool it had to have distinctly client-like features—such as Gmail’s ability to fetch and sort email from other sources. The email Call for Contenders was one of the most popular we’ve ever had, with over 1,000 votes logged. Source: Five Best Email Clients – email clients – Lifehacker

The poll is one of their most popular ever and Gmail is kicking it! Here were the results when I voted…

I won’t lie — I have been a massive fan of Gmail since day one — I’m convinced [to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote on beer] that it is ‘proof that God loves us and wants us to be productive’. The benefits are too numerous to mention, but here are a few that pop to mind at this moment…

  • The ability to search your email using a special Google syntax means you’ll rarely [won’t say never] lose another email
  • Ample storage for all your email and documents online so that important stuff is always available
  • The ability to use Gmail as your corporate email through Google Apps
  • As a web-based product it’s completely cross platform and available from computers down to smartphones
  • It gets better almost daily whereas other email clients must go through a long development cycle to provide updates

btw, I still use Outlook and Thunderbird daily, and I have used AppleMail and tried the Postbox beta [Note: you can use them all in conjunction with Gmail if you’d like]. None of them can touch Gmail’s ability to simply and effectively process that never ending river of correspondence. Nothing’s worse than knowing the answer is in your inbox but not being able to find it — I see colleagues wrestle with their email clients every day trying to solve problems that are simple for Gmail users. Sigh. If only they knew how to use Gmail like I do…

Comment, call or contact me to discuss how this applies to your business — I’d be happy to demo why I think Gmail is such a compelling product for EVERYONE…

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What is the Best Way to Manage my Tasks?

Microsoft Office Outlook
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Here are the results of a recent lifehacks survey…

“If all the methodology of the best GTD applications loses you in the productivity shuffle, there’s nothing like a classic, simple to-do list to keep you on track. You’ve never had more options—both simple and robust—for managing your to-do list as you do today. On Tuesday we asked you to share your favorite to-do list managers, and today we’re back with the five most popular answers. Keep reading for a glimpse at the five best to-do list managers, then vote for the to-do tool you like best.” Source: Hive Five: Five Best To-Do List Managers

Personally, I use Rememberthemilk because of the ability to integrate it into Gmail and my Blackberry, but I’m fluent in Outlook as well as ‘pen and paper’. Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page to reach me…

Update 10/25/09: Lifehacker lists these tools: Microsoft Outlook, Rememberthemilk, Pen and Paper, Text and Todoist. It’s one of the rare times I take issue with one of their posts. Here are a couple of other tools that are getting my attention in this space lately:

  1. ReQall; create todos, notes, share taskes with other users via phone calls, website, or iPhone. More with $25 annual subscription.
  2. Jott; Used to be my favorite in this category. Similar to ReQall, more features, more $$$. Very cool!

If you only have time to look at one, try reQall. Easy to use and inexpensive…

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