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Use My Obsession to Help You Define Your Own System
I don't think obsession is not too strong of a word.
Hi, I'm Mitch and I obsess over my task capture system.
I have gone through many different types of capture systems during my career. Some have been a better fit for me and I've stuck with them longer. Others were more of a passing productivity fling and quickly abandoned.
Defining my system is a continuously evolving battle to find something that works for me and requires the least amount of energy to maintain. I don't want to be a slave to my productivity system. I want my productivity system to help me be a prolific creator of great work that makes a positive impact on my life and the lives of others. That's not too much to ask, is it?
Today, I will describe the current capture system that I use everyday. This system is what I use to manage all of my professional and personal tasks and ideas. This description is for those of you who still need more inspiration for your own capture systems, after reading the 5 key elements of a great capture system and looking around on the internet for ideas.
The history
As a kid and young adult, I was fascinated with keeping a journal. I realized later that I was actually interested in the idea of keeping a journal and not the actual act of keeping a journal. The net result is that I owned many nice journals with only the first three pages used. Sometimes there would be a fourth entry that started with "Wow, I'm not very good about journalling regularly, but this time I will stick with it ...". I simply could never sustain the effort to journal regularly for very long.
I think my task management obsession shares the same root in my psyche as my earlier "journalling bug". I no longer pay much attention to journals (although I'd still like to be the kind of person who journals regularly) but I love the idea of finding the perfect organizational system for my tasks and ideas.
Over time, I learned the value of being organized and reliable, and I am constantly tweaking how to to achieve that with as little wasted effort as possible. The true value of an organization system is the output it creates, not the minutiae of the system.
“The true value of an organization system is the output it creates, not the minutiae of the system.”
It took me years to stop focusing on the system and start obsessing about how the system supports my output.
As I said, this system is and always has been a work in progress. Today is just a snapshot in time of what my capture system looks like. Tomorrow it might be different.
In the past, I used paper lists, post it notes, elaborate text files on my computer, day planners, Palm Pilots, and emails to myself, but in the end I continuously return to the tool that I now have with me 99% of my waking day: my smart phone [1].
My current system
Depending on where I am and what I'm doing when I need to capture any idea, task, or reminder, my method will vary slightly but they all involve my productivity task manager of choice, OmniFocus, and my iPhone. OmniFocus is fantastic, but it is Mac and iOS only. If you are a non-iOS or non-Mac person, lifehack.org has a list of alternatives to OmniFocus.
My capture method depends on the situation I find myself in. The table below lists my current major use cases.
| Situation | Capture Method |
|---|---|
| In the car | I will use the 'Hey Siri' method on my iPhone via my car's bluetooth microphone to add a task or reminder to OmniFocus. |
| In the shower | This is more awkward. Accessing my phone is not possible from the shower so currently I need to remember things until I get out and dry off. The problem is I often have several thoughts coming at once in the shower (here's a nice explanation of why we get creative thoughts in the shower). For me, this makes the chances of remembering everything a little lower than I'd like. Recently I've heard good things about water proof notepads but I taken my task management obsession that far (yet). |
| In a meeting or place where electronics use is considered 'rude' | I will write on a piece of paper and translate it into my productivity system later. I don't like to do this because it adds another handover step in the capture chain for me to remember, but depending on the circumstances, it's unavoidable. |
| Any place where I need to be quiet and can use my smartphone | I will pull out my smartphone and type a new task or idea directly into OmniFocus. |
| Any place where I can speak and use my smartphone | I will dictate my task or idea directly into my productivity system using Siri and OmniFocus. You can follow these instructions from the Omni Group to set it up. People sometimes laugh at me when I do this, but it is by far the fastest way for me to input a task into my system. |
| General ideas | I will grab a piece of paper or go to a white board and start diagramming and making notes. When I'm finished I will take a picture and store the image in Evernote for future use. |
As I said, this is what my system currently looks like. As technology becomes more powerful and inconspicuous, we can draw more and more support from it to help us remain organized and in control of our increasingly complex lives. Over time, I expect my system to continue evolving.
If needed, use this as inspiration to develop your own reliable capture system.
Take care, and I'll talk to you next time.
- [1]: Honestly, how much longer are we going to call them "smartphones"? As smart phones become more and more ubiquitous, when does the default meaning of the word "phone" refer to a smart phone instead of a feature phone. At least in North America and Western Europe, I think it's about time.
Question: What situations do you find yourself most needing to capture ideas and tasks? Let us know in the comment section below.