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ZTD and transitioning to using GTD

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tomos:
a notebook is NOT a viable alternative; only an index card will work because only index cards may be easily and independently shuffled, sorted, laid out neatly
-mouser (November 07, 2015, 05:44 AM)
--- End quote ---

I was reading ewemoa's links and thinking index cards would be better --
when you're on the go mouser, do you carry some index cards with you?
If so, how -- do you have some sort of box or protection for them ?

mouser:
when you're on the go mouser, do you carry some index cards with you?
If so, how -- do you have some sort of box or protection for them ?
--- End quote ---

There are all sorts of tiny portable or big permanent index card boxes.

But then, i'm not opposed to jotting things in a notebook while traveling and then TRANSFERRING to index cards.

Getting back to why a list on paper is such a bad (non-transitional) solution, one of the counter-intuitive (to me at least) lessons from the original GTD book was the idea that "neatness" can make a difference in terms of mental load.  I have found that viewing attention and mental capacity as a limited resource makes sense for me -- and it's one that is taxed by messiness.  Trying to work with a list where half the items are crossed off is just too much noise for me.. Being able to spread out cards in a grid and physically remove the ones i complete is a noticeable reduction in mental load.

ewemoa:
Thanks for sharing.

Some points that appear similar include:

-Creation of external representation soonish (for lessening mind burden?)
-Index card use (required in one, alternative in others)

On first glance, this feels mostly like the collect/capture portion.

Any thoughts on the other 3 portions of Minimal ZTD (process, plan, and do)?

ewemoa:
But then, i'm not opposed to jotting things in a notebook while traveling and then TRANSFERRING to index cards.
-mouser (November 07, 2015, 05:09 PM)
--- End quote ---

There is something similar to this mentioned in the collect step:

When you get back to your home or office, empty your notes into your to-do list.

--- End quote ---

At least there's the idea of there being a capture tool that is with you as much as possible -- presumably so it's more likely that things get captured more often -- and the idea of transferring to some other structure at an appropriate opportunity.


Have been thinking that for some things "double entry" can be a feature.

mouser:
Any thoughts on the other 3 portions of Minimal ZTD (process, plan, and do)?
--- End quote ---

Only to the extent that i don't view them as being important or universal enough to make them worth talking about.

To me, the key is getting ideas and todo items out of the head and into bite-sized chunks (index cards) that can be conveniently organized and extracted for processing with minimal mental load.
From there you can figure out what works best for you in terms of allocating your time working on them.

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