Some websites will swear by Moleskines, while others pimp out Google Calendar and Gmail, while STILL others go about using things like text files and command line utilities. But all of them claim the same thing, so I will as well – because it is terribly important. You need to find a system that fits for you. If you don’t spend a lot of time on a computer, don’t get a system that’s based around it. If you don’t have a lot of paper or pens around normally, don’t bother with things that deal with writing. Don’t try and change your life to fit your new tool, instead make sure that your tool fits your currently life. If it doesn’t, it’s not right for you. Sure you may have to make a few sacrifices here and there, but hey, if your end result is being productive, that’s all that matters.

For me, the right tool for me is a webapp called Producteev.

The task manager that works the way you do

Producteev is, at it’s surface, a simple task management web application. And of course you can treat it as such – it has all the base features and a lot more!. You have a common “inbox” that lets you house all your tasks. Of course for each task, you can easily add a due date or categorize it via a label. You can even go so far as setting up custom notifications for certain items through email, google calendar or a number of instant messaging services.

Producteev takes it a step further by allowing “workspaces”. You GTD folk can think of these as contexts, but that’s too limiting. Basically a workspace can be anything you want it to. It’s simply a way of grouping tasks. For me I just have the one workspace labelled “Personal” but Producteev doesn’t limit the number of workspaces you can have. If you want to see some better examples of workspaces in use, Producteev has a VERY useful Use case section outlining how different individuals (or companies!) can use their product.

Where Producteev’s power really lies for me, is in it’s capturing interface. Not only can you visit the website and add and manipulate tasks directly, you can do the same through a simple task@producteev.com catch all email address. Basically, anything you send to this address from a registered email address is automatically added to the inbox of the default workspace. Few task management applications offer this ability, and as a BlackBerry user, it is probably the most important for me. I always have my BlackBerry with me and remembering the email address is never an issue. In fact, I just made a contact for Producteev on my phone and I can easily email new tasks to the service. And just to make it EVEN better, you can set up new tasks through an IM service that supports MSN, Gtalk, Yahoo, AIM and even Twitter (just to name some of the more frequently used ones)

As an added bonus, I can even label it, assign due dates, or swap it between work spaces ENTIRELY through email. That means if I’m stuck in traffic and remember something that I need to do, I can easily fire off a quick email task to Producteev.

I’ve even set up daily digests, outlining all the things that I need to do for the day, to be emailed daily.

Producteev is definitely one of those applications that isntantly found its way into everyday use and definitely one I would suggest you check out. Like most web applications these days, they employ a Freemium model, so that individuals (At the moment) have free accounts limited to two users.

If you are interested (and you defintiely should be) check out the video below.

How is that a problem? Simple. During my downtime I spend hours researching new ways to organize myself. I try out new web-apps, install various AIR apps and even download and install a variety of desktop apps. I spend hours reading different methods of organizing yourself. Things to trick out your Moleskine (of which I own 3 half-empty books). I look at pens that people swear by, claiming that after they got it they were instantly more productive. This went from just a casual hobby into something that started impacting my actual productivity. Now instead of working on something, I would spend a little time researching the best way to do it. And then that little time would spiral into a lot of time, and before I knew it, I would be up all night trying to get something done.

I would spend all this time simply searching for some magic solution that would help me get organized instantly. But I was looking in all the wrong places. Instead of focusing on the actual WAYS to get productive, I was instead focusing on tools to help steer my productivity. And of course, if I hadn’t realized the WAY to being productive, how would these tools work? Of course, it took me years to figure that out.

The answer is the simplest thing, and one that I’ve been told countless times by my father, but one I always seemed to ignore and tag as irrelevant. Do it now.

Sure it sounds all well and good, but until you realize the power of that, it’s just a bunch of words that you will ignore.

Lets take a very simple example. I had a report that needs to be in before the end of the month. Now I had finished this report about halfway through the month, but I kept forgetting it. I’d leave it places I’d think I would pass by, figuring I would see it and then grab it before I left for the day. No dice. I’d either just not see it, or I would never pass by those places. I took to leaving my glasses on it the night before. But then I would not only forget my glasses, I’d also forget that report. The final straw was when I decided to leave not just my glasses by my wallet arguing that I NEVER leave the house without my wallet.

And so I spent the next day without a wallet and glasses.

And then I realized something. Whenever I left the report somewhere, it was always near where I was immediately. For example, if I was at my computer, I’d leave the report near my computer. If I was in my living room, I’d leave it on my piano. Instead of taking the few minutes to put it into by bag (which has my laptop, so I do take it daily) right away, I would just leave it somewhere convenient immediately. So I decided to just deal with it, and I took the report upstairs, and put it into my bag.

Magically, I had it with me the next day.

I think as productivity hounds, we forget the most important part of being productive. It’s not the tools you use, but the fact that you get something done. Instead of focusing on entering tasks and scheduling things into our tools, if we just sat down and got it done it would be done, and the tool would be useless.

By implementing this “Do it Now” philosophy I had not only solved my productivity problems, but I had also solved a lot of my forgetfulness. Now it didn’t matter whether or not I forgot about emailing that client, because my doing it as I found out, it was already done.

If so, Stardock‘s latest product, Fences is for you. Fences allows you to section of areas of your desktop and label them. Your icons can then be dragged and deposited in these sections. The icons within each section are automatically arranged in an alphabetical-grid format, and if you add too many icons to a section, Stardock will hide the extras. Until you mouse over (what good are continuously hidden icons anyways?) and then a little scrollbar for that section appears, allowing you to look through all your icons. As a bonus, when you hit WIN+D (or the show desktop button) Fences stays displayed!

Fences is a great way to get your desktop organized if things invariably end up there. I used to keep various browser short-cuts, often used tools and a sort of “inbox” where I would dump everything and deal with later. Fences is currently in beta and is a free download to everyone. I recommend keeping up with the product releases (there’s another one in November) as Stardock will probably work out any bugs (I never ran into any, but people claim they have).

The key component is to make it a habit. Your system could be as simple as emptying your pockets and going through them daily, or as complex as writing notes in a little pad attached to your wallet that you review nightly. It doesn’t matter – you just need to get some kind of rhythm going. The GTD methodology relies heavily upon this idea. If you have a system outlined and you get into the habit of performing it, then you won’t need to worry about forgetting to do it. This isn’t something that can be learned, you just need to start doing it and not stop. After about a month of repetitive action, it becomes second nature – which is exactly what you want.

Get an Inbox!
This is the first step in my system. Whenever I get home I empty out my pockets and place it into a little letter tray that I bought at Ikea. It isn’t necessary; I just wanted to dedicate a section of my desk for this task. It’s not the most important part of my system, but it’s the building block. Bits of paper, flash drives, my cell phone, wallet and my notebooks all go into my inbox. Once they’re out of my pockets I don’t have to worry about it.

Review
This is the most important step in any GTD system. Reviewing the items in my inbox happens when I sit down to relax for the day. The only way I can really relax is to make sure that all my work is done for the day. So I get home, Inbox my pockets, change and then return to my workspace to go through my inbox. Often times I find that the actions can be completed immediately, if so, I’ll get them done right away. My flash drive, for instance, normally contains files that I want to transfer to my PC at home. So I’ll plug in my flash drive, do what I need to and then move it back to my inbox. Most times simply seeing an item in my inbox will remind me of what I need to do. If an action needs someone else’s input, I’ll fire off an email right away. If an action requires me doing something at a future date, I’ll make a note of it in my calendar. This review happens daily to ensure I don’t miss anything. Sometimes I have nothing to do, but that doesn’t matter. The act of looking through my inbox is something that has become a habit for me. I do it even when I didn’t have a physical inbox, I just allocated a section of my desk for it.

Capture Points
My works tends to happen at a desk with a computer in front of me. As a result, I need to have tools available to me to capture things when I need. I keep a simple pad of graph paper and a pen from Grand and Toy on my desk. When I have an idea, I write it down or sketch it out. The pad of paper holds my thoughts for the evening. Apart from that I use Evernote as a capture point for the web. When I’m browsing a website and see something I want to save, I’ll just clip it. It doesn’t need to be an action, it could just be something I want to save for later, perhaps a link that I want to share. I also keep a phone (a land line!) and right next to it some post it notes. The pink post its are for things that I have to do, the yellow post its are notes that I have to give to other people. When a post it is done, I stick it to my shelf, right above my computer right in my line of sight.

Preview
At the end of the evening, I before I call it a night, I look through my capture points and figure out what I need to do for the next day. I keep a small hardcover moleskin with me at all times to keep track of to-do lists and things I want to remember while I’m out. Any to-do items get recorded on their own page with a little empty box next to it. Once I go through my capture points, I’ll sit for a few minutes and just think about anything that I want to get accomplished the next day. The hardest part about this is keeping it real. When I first began, I used to keep outrageous timelines (i.e. finish in-place editor demo) and found that a lot of my to-do items never got done. As you spend more time entering to-do lists, you’ll learn how much free time you actually have and you’ll be able to break down your tasks to fit it.

My system isn’t perfect, but it works for me. It isn’t something that took a lot of time to work into my routine and it has become something that I can do without thinking about. There is still some room for improvement, however. I don’t have any way for me to store physical documents for extended periods of time, for example. While this isn’t a major issue, it is something that will come up. I know this because every so often, I will take time out of using my system to review my system itself. I try and see if there are things I can add to it or take away to streamline the process. Sometimes, I find that this monthly review of my system really keeps things in check. It helps me ensure that my system is exactly right for me, which is important if I want to get things done.