I have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions. On the one hand, I feel that it’s a good idea to take advantage of the natural optimism that usually accompanies the start of a new year. On the other hand, I think that if you want to do or change something, you should just get on and do it, regardless of the time of year.
However, one thing that I don’t want to do is publish a traditional, boring list of New Year’s resolutions that I will have broken by the end of next week. So I want to outline some of the tools that I will be using to try to keep me on the straight and narrow.
I had a brief moment of mental clarity around May last year when I got myself a Remember The Milk (“RTM”) Pro account and started to use it in earnest. When your mind doesn’t have to remember all the day-to-day stuff any more, it’s much easier to concentrate on what’s really important and make better decisions.
On holiday in 2009 I had read David Allen’s excellent Getting Things Done (GTD), which describes a personal organisation method that is almost entirely based around lists. RTM and GTD are an excellent fit. Once you add in the awesome Evernote to store those reference items, photos and articles that aren’t actions in a list, you really are set for a fully-digital, lower-stress way of life.
So between those three tools, I am hoping to be more organised, more decisive and less forgetful in 2011. I have planned this year to be one of major change for me, so keeping things organised will be very important.