Before picking up and implementing GTD I had lists and information in all kinds of places, with no consistent method of keeping track of everything and it just wasn't working. I'm a fairly organized person, and it was driving me crazy.

After using the GTD method for the last 5 months (or so), what I've learned is that my system is constantly evolving. When I first started, I had one pocket-sized Moleskine notebook that I used for both work and personal projects. Over time, I realized that all the work-related items I was tracking were taking over and I wasn't capturing my personal items.

Since my work can be confined to only a couple of locations (or "contexts," as Allen calls them) I picked up a large, squared Moleskine for work and kept the small Moleskine for personal items. The work notebook typically stays on my desk in my home office; the small one lives in my purse. I use unruled, index-card-sized post-it notes to track my "next actions" for each project I'm working on, and the rest of the notebook for various lists, notes, keeping track of the time I spend doing various projects (for work), interesting ideas or thoughts I hear, etc.

Last week, I added Evernote to my arsenal of tools for collecting information. One of the things that happens frequently is I find a news story or an interesting blog post or some other web-based piece of data that I want to do something with. There are web clipping services (like ClipMarks) and news aggregators and all kinds of stuff out there for gathering different types of information, but Evernote is the first thing I've seen that makes access to the information I clip really seamless regardless of where I am: I have the software on my work and personal computers as well as my mobile phone and I can access my information from the web when I'm out and about! It is really, really easy to quickly clip a piece of an article or information, save it to my account and go on about my business, knowing it's captured and that I can process it at a different time. And, unlike some of the other offerings available, I only have to deal with my own clips: I'm not bombarded by rankings and 20,000 other people's recent clippings or ideas. (Social networking has its place, don't get me wrong; I just don't want it in the middle of my organizational system!)

So, the bottom line is, has this approached helped me? My answer is, definitely yes. With a caveat. From a work standpoint, I'm way more in-control and productive than I've ever been. I'm able to crank things out quickly and easily given the time I have available and, for the most part, I don't spend my time freaking out about something I might be forgetting.

From a personal perspective? Well, I'm just as unproductive as I've always been. :) And that's the caveat. The difference is, now my lack of productivity is a choice, and that's pretty freeing. I have all my ideas and projects and goals and "to dos" captured: I just don't always feel like doing them. I'm comfortable enough with my own system now that I know it's okay that I'm not doing all the things that are on there. The things that absolutely have to get done go on my calendar; everything else waits until I'm ready to do it. You know, right after I've finished beating a level or two of Super Mario 64 on the Wii. (Wii Fit what?)

And that's the beauty of GTD: I'm in control (mostly) and choosing what to do based on having a clear picture of what truly needs to get done. (If you're curious about my system, here are some pics of it. )