So about 2 months ago I took the plunge and reorganized my time management around in the form of David Allen's Getting Things Done. I had seen the 43 Folders blog way back when, and I had toyed with the idea, but I was so mired in work not to mention the 1200 messages in my inbox find time to make a lasting change.
Well, I finally did it and oh boy does it feel good. All inboxes down to single digits, a consolidated todo list with context and other information, and squeezing in all those little tasks that used to stress me out.
The best part of this, and probably the only reason I was successful was some insanely great software called Thinking Rock. It's a cross-platform Java App that implements GTD to the letter. It's so much better than shoehorning GTD concepts into Outlook or Palm, which aren't really set up for them.
The best thing is there are no priorities in this system. You only care about Context (where you do something) and what the next action is for a given project. It really helps me stay on top of things and keep my head clear. Plus it exposed me to pocketmods, which are foldup sheets of paper that substitute for a PDA. So now I've got my little scraps of paper to carry around, and all my thinking rock software on a USB key and I'm very happy.
I just wish I had taken the plunge into GTD years and years ago. (Of course if I could time travel I'd send this software along with a pallet of Red Bull to myself in college :)
Speaking of midwest college days -- the Thinking Rock name does remind me of a certain beer flavored water:
