Teens are overwhelmed, partly because they don’t yet have the skills to manage the unprecedented amount of stuff that enters their brains each day. – from LifeHacker.com
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
“You can do anything, but not everything.”
― David Allen, (GTD) Getting Things Done for Teens: Take Control of Your Life in a Distracting World
SUMMARY
This week I learned about a productivity system called GTD or Getting Things Done. I’ve also implemented GTD into my existing trusted systems to great success, somehow, it’s made me a better manager of my time than I used to be, and I’ve always been a pretty good manager of my time.
PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)
Unity – C#
I left off at the lesson on the break and continue statements. Throughout my years at Capital, I’ve wrapped my head around some of C# by using it in Unity, but I’ve never gotten around to getting certified. I’ve learned some more about C# along the way as well, so certification isn’t my only reason today.
CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)
I learned about GTD. GTD, a great system for keeping track of information and completing day-to-day tasks. GTD is based upon the concept that our brain is for creating ideas, not holding them. With this in mind, I have created to Trello boards that both use GTD. I think I may have used GTD in some other fashion beforehand, but it helps to stay more organized, even for someone like me who tends not to miss deadlines. On the subject of not missing deadlines, I’ve actually gotten pretty close this year, which means my current form of GTD was failing which meant that making a new system was par for the course.
LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)
GTD-based Trusted System
My Personal GTD System:
My Homework GTD System:
OUTSIDE (PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)
OPTIONAL EXERCISE
- Read Getting Things Done for Teens: Take Control of Your Life in a Distracting World by David Allen
STUDIO (CREATING MAPS)
- Simplify Refresh MDA
- Design Maps for Refresh
- Draw The HUD for Resh in GIMP
- Draw Rough Character Sketches
- Read Carol-Ann Duffy packet for English
- Determine if I’d like to work in a group for the Carol-Ann Duffy unit
- Complete Week 10 History Assignment ARW reading #1 pg. 84-91
- Await other Assignments Tuesday and Friday
- Ask for suggestions on future projects
CONTROL ROOM (PRODUCTION)
- Complete Week 10 History Assignment ARW reading #1 pg. 84-91
- Determine if I’d like to work in a group for the Carol-Ann Duffy unit
- Read Carol-Ann Duffy packet for English
- Simplify Refresh MDA
- Design Maps for Refresh
- Draw The HUD for Resh in GIMP
- Draw Rough Character Sketches for Refresh
- Await other Assignments Tuesday and Friday
- Ask for suggestions on future projects
WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED
I learned more about GTD and how much it helps in all aspects of life. I’ve even started to use it myself for both homework as well as other work, such as a hobby, video game development in my case. Even though I’ve only had a fully functional GTD system for two days, although I’ve already seen my productivity improve quite a bit!
My Trello board was working just fine before, although it did have its drawbacks like assignments wouldn’t always make their way into the board and a backup system would have to be used. Although GTD solved that because now, I have a proper inbox(six inboxes in my Homework GTD, one for each period) to dump information into.
WEEKLY ACTIVITY EVALUATION
I really enjoyed this week. I like learning about GTD and even making my own as well as implementing GTD into my existing time management systems. It has helped me quite a bit with productivity, I feel like I’m even improving in the areas I’m already quite good in, such as time management, and it’s all thanks to GTD!