GTD on Good Friday: Google and Lists

There is a whole slew of peeps that have read and are tryiing to implement Getting Things Done concepts into their lives… You may or may not be one of them, but I’ve started finding ways to slowly build up  to a productive, efficient GTD work flow in my personal life. It was actually pretty easy for me to put in to place at work, but my personal life is a much more complex thing.  From time to time, I may share some tips on here that have helped me.

One thing that many of us do whether we have read GTD or not is create lists of all sorts of varities. This could range anything from music you want to buy, vacations you want to take, or movies you want to own. I currently have six such lists: Books to Read, Music to Buy, Vacations to Consider, Verses to Memorize, Quotes to Ponder, and Personal Mantras.

The question becomes what is the easiest way to update these lists at any given time in any given situation. If I come across a great quote while sitting at Starbucks without my computer, how can I transfer that quote to my quote list with the greatest of ease? There are several solutions… Sure, you could use the simple paper-and-pen method, but then you have to make sure you carry a paper and pen everywhere you go, or just trust your faulty memory. Besides, even if you do have a place to jot it down, you have to revisit it again when you transfer it to its digital, permanent home.

But, if you have a GMail account and a web enabled phone such as a blackberry (me) or iPhone (cool people), there is a quick, easy, and extremely efficient way to set these lists up so they are always available at your finger tips. The setup is the longest part of this process but, there is really not much to it.

For each list
1) Create a Form in Google Docs. As you will see in a moment, each “Question” becomes a column heading in the spreadsheet which is created. You can have as many questions as needed, require certain fields, and use Checkboxes or Radio Buttons for times that you want to keep the answers uniform. For example, in my Vacation list i have a Radio button field for whether it’s a “Honeymoon” trip (just the wife and I) or the “Family” for all of us.

2) Email the Form to yourself, and possibly, dependent on the list, to your spouse, friend, etc. Dionna has access to all of my lists, so if she sees a cool ad for a getaway in Colorado that she wants us to think about she can quickly add the vacation to my list. This email will serve TWO purposes, both for convenience. When you close the form (after sending), Google Docs will create a spreadsheet for you. Feel free to edit any rows above the headers.

3) Utilize Google Labs: Quick Links and add a quick link in your GMail menu to this list. You can see all of my quick links in this screen shot. Once you enable quick links, it’s super easy to utilize. This serves the first purpose of sending the form in step two. Anytime you are at a computer, you can quickly add entries to your list without having to open google docs. Yes, it only saves you one step, but you will be surprised at how much quicker using the form is compared to opening google docs, opening your list, editing the list, etc. In this case you probably already have gmail open, so you click your quick link, fill out the form, hit submit and your done.

4) Now for on the go. When you review the emailed form, you will see a statement that says “If you have trouble viewing or submitting this form, you can fill it out online:”.  Browse to this link on your iPhone or Blackberry and bookmark it! This is the second purpose of the email you sent earlier. You could technically just complete the form directly from your email that you received on your phone (if you have javascript enabled, which on my Blackberry i do not), but then you also have to deal with keeping it organized and in a place that is easy to get to. In my blackberry, it is significantly quicker to browse to a bookmark rather than sifting through my emails, even if i utilize folders.

And the final result? The next time you’re at Starbucks and you hear an awesome song, or hear a great quote, you can have it listed in no time in your Google docs without ever having to crack open a computer or fumble around with pen and paper.

(now if i could get a good photo editor on this machine instead of using Paint)