1. Set
up your contexts and subcontexts.
Add your contexts in the Contexts tab. What are contexts? There are places or situations where you're supposed to complete your tasks: your home, your office, your phone, your Mac connected to Internet...
You may also consider setting up some subcontexts. For instance, consider creating an Office context with subcontexts like Phone, Boss, Mac...
2. Set up your projects.
Add your projects in the Projects tab. Think about your tasks - can you group them into projects? Of course, you can - consider creating a separate project for each more significant group of work activities. You may also think about creating some projects for your private tasks which belong together - financial issues, designing your website, school projects...
3. Think about your tasks.
Think about the way of organizing your tasks. Would you like to prioritize them? Or to sort them by effort required to complete them? It's up to you. Learn about sorting and customizing the task views: you can hide the task columns you don't need.
4. Collect your tasks into Inbox.
Inbox 'context' is a place to collect your tasks. It's the entry-point! Learn adding your tasks to the Inbox quickly - to not to forget about them. You'll be able to assign the Inbox tasks to chosen contexts and projects later.
5. Use the tricks for adding tasks.
Learn the F6 trick. You can hit F6 to add a webpage, an e-mail, a RSS post or a file to iGTD inbox quickly. It works for many popular applications - web browsers, e-mail clients, RSS readers, Finder....
Get to know the F7 trick. Just hit F7 to open the Quick Add Window, type in your task details... and that's all.
Add your contexts in the Contexts tab. What are contexts? There are places or situations where you're supposed to complete your tasks: your home, your office, your phone, your Mac connected to Internet...
You may also consider setting up some subcontexts. For instance, consider creating an Office context with subcontexts like Phone, Boss, Mac...
2. Set up your projects.
Add your projects in the Projects tab. Think about your tasks - can you group them into projects? Of course, you can - consider creating a separate project for each more significant group of work activities. You may also think about creating some projects for your private tasks which belong together - financial issues, designing your website, school projects...
3. Think about your tasks.
Think about the way of organizing your tasks. Would you like to prioritize them? Or to sort them by effort required to complete them? It's up to you. Learn about sorting and customizing the task views: you can hide the task columns you don't need.
4. Collect your tasks into Inbox.
Inbox 'context' is a place to collect your tasks. It's the entry-point! Learn adding your tasks to the Inbox quickly - to not to forget about them. You'll be able to assign the Inbox tasks to chosen contexts and projects later.
5. Use the tricks for adding tasks.
Learn the F6 trick. You can hit F6 to add a webpage, an e-mail, a RSS post or a file to iGTD inbox quickly. It works for many popular applications - web browsers, e-mail clients, RSS readers, Finder....
Get to know the F7 trick. Just hit F7 to open the Quick Add Window, type in your task details... and that's all.
6.
Learn Quicksilver syntax.
Already a QS user? Learn the syntax for adding tasks to iGTD via Quicksilver plugin.
Not a QS user? You still can benefit from the powerful Quicksilver syntax by using the Quick Type In window (F8 key trick).
7. Process and review your tasks regularly.
It's surely not enough to store the tasks in iGTD. Let's complete them!... Make sure to use iGTD on a regular basis.
Use contexts to see the tasks you're supposed to complete at the given place. You're at home? Open the Home context. At the office? Let's open the Office context...
It's equally important to review the task lists on a regular basis - i.e. weekly. Delete the tasks which are no longer active, add notes, set some future start dates for tasks to complete later...
8. Archive items for reference.
Some of your tasks (like web links, some e-mails etc.) are not tasks. But you may need to store them for future - these are the reference items. Please put them into archive! Learn how to use the Archive tab and divide your archive into categories.
9. Use task tags and smart folders.
Sometimes contexts and projects are not enough. You may need to add another categorization for your tasks. Solution is simple: use tags!
Short example: you may have some different tasks which require doing some print-outs. Mark all of them with a tag named 'print' and create a smart folder in To complete tab showing the tasks with 'print' tag only.
10. Learn about other advanced features.
When getting familiar with IGTD, learn about other features you may find useful: syncing to iCal or .Mac account, doing exports to print your tasks or import them into Excel...
Please do not forget to have a look at the iGTD preferences where you can customize the app's behavior a bit.
Already a QS user? Learn the syntax for adding tasks to iGTD via Quicksilver plugin.
Not a QS user? You still can benefit from the powerful Quicksilver syntax by using the Quick Type In window (F8 key trick).
7. Process and review your tasks regularly.
It's surely not enough to store the tasks in iGTD. Let's complete them!... Make sure to use iGTD on a regular basis.
Use contexts to see the tasks you're supposed to complete at the given place. You're at home? Open the Home context. At the office? Let's open the Office context...
It's equally important to review the task lists on a regular basis - i.e. weekly. Delete the tasks which are no longer active, add notes, set some future start dates for tasks to complete later...
8. Archive items for reference.
Some of your tasks (like web links, some e-mails etc.) are not tasks. But you may need to store them for future - these are the reference items. Please put them into archive! Learn how to use the Archive tab and divide your archive into categories.
9. Use task tags and smart folders.
Sometimes contexts and projects are not enough. You may need to add another categorization for your tasks. Solution is simple: use tags!
Short example: you may have some different tasks which require doing some print-outs. Mark all of them with a tag named 'print' and create a smart folder in To complete tab showing the tasks with 'print' tag only.
10. Learn about other advanced features.
When getting familiar with IGTD, learn about other features you may find useful: syncing to iCal or .Mac account, doing exports to print your tasks or import them into Excel...
Please do not forget to have a look at the iGTD preferences where you can customize the app's behavior a bit.