(Archived) GTDers - How many notes do you have?

[scott222 0]

I have 708 and I started with Evernote 2 months ago. I have 100 next actions. I wonder how many I may have in 1/5/10 years... and will it still be manageable? I know action items are regulated daily by getting down to "0", but does anyone have any thoughts on routinely (monthly or quarterly) consolidate tags with semi-related content to arrive with some order? Or would this overcomplicate things and I should just rely on the search function? I can't help but feel a purge and consolidation of the reference system should be in some frequency. What do you think?

I'd love to know how this compares to other Evernote gtd users? Are 2 year veterans overloaded with reference material? What's an unmanageable efficient management amount? Seems pretty self-managing as it is. Lol

Scott

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- Scott

[scott222 0]

I would also love to see stats/reports on my use.

- Like how many notes I have in each tag (in a one spot overview page on iPhone)

- How many I create/delete in a day/week/month/year showing the number of notes and a line graph (switch to other graphs like the "daily tracker" app)

Anyone else Agee?

Scott

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- Scott

[Limegreen 8]

I would call myself a GTD user, though I am still just learning the ropes, and I recently got my notes down to about 800, naturally and without really having a monthly or quarterly review. Yes I do procedurally consolidate, summarize and above all throw stuff away. I get rid off my old 'Next Action' items as soon as I've done them, but I do archive finished projects.

But I've recently been thinking that I should review my references perhaps every couple of months. It would be quite easy because the reference 'pile' is itself organized into some nice big and general categories.

The main split is 'data about the world' and 'data about me'.

In the former there is:

• Natural Science (with subs: Chemistry, Biology etc.)
  Social Science (Economics, Political Science etc.)
  Humanities (History, Philosophy etc.)
  Formal Science (Mathematics, Logic etc.) and
  Professions and Applied Sciences (Law, Dentistry etc.)

In theory, all of human knowledge can be contained within these simple categories and their sub-categories.

The later ('Data about me') Is about my Health, Politics, Finance, Residence etc.

It would be fairly easy to once every three months go through and collect my thoughts on issues of say Economics and Philosophy and then clean house in all these major categories, and to polish and summarize that which I want to remember and refer to later. The nicest thing is the overview you get by having your references organized by subject like this.

I shouldn't really hijack your thread but, how do you keep your references? Do you have one amorphous notebook/tag called "reference" where it all goes or is your reference material itself categorized similar to what I do? Otherwise its seems hard to ever keep that big filing cabinet in check. But then again I'm not sure you need to when you can use it as a search engine of just your memories.

I like to keep it this organized so that I get reminded on a daily basis of what there is in the world, without me having to go to search and actively look for it (Oh yeah I should revisit that Math problem, and I should look up that about Geography). As I've said I'm still figuring GTD out but I have been using the core principles which works really well for me.

[scott222 0]

Yes I've been working GTD for about a year or two now, but until 2 months ago I was totally paper based besides my 20,000+.

I organized my reference system with a Reference NOTEBOOK and tag each item in there with 'Life Categories': Finances, Relationships, Mentality, Health, Spirituality and Business. I do this so if I'm wanting to improve any area of my life I can locate everything I've collected to-date. Some are additionally tagged with other relating subcategories if it's something I'm working on/towards.

For NOTEBOOKS I have INBOX (primary), NEXT-ACTION and REFERENCE; I'm considering moving to INBOX, PERSONAL and BUSINESS notebooks. This way I can tag action items, someday maybes and reference notes instead of having the notebooks divide them up. What do u think - I'm still on the fence and want the smoothest running system

Scott

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- Scott

[davidward 13]

@Scott, I use two notebooks, INBOX and NOTES (everything else) and tag everything. However, of the two methods you mention, the latter makes more sense. I just did a three-part post on my set up on my blog. PM me if you want to see it or, if nobody objects, I can post a link here.

[scott222 0]

Yes, I'd like to see it as I really do nor want to redo my system twice. I am also curious what morning/evening routines you (and/or others) use regularly.

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- Scott

[davidward 13]

NB: If anyone objects, I'll take this down.

Here is part one of my three-part write up of Evernote: http://www.attorneymarketing.com/2011/07/21/evernote-helps-lawyers-get-organized-and-get-things-done/ . In part three, I get into GTD and my workflow, including what I (try to) do every evening.

Also, I've done a post or two about GTD on this forum. If you click on my user name, you'll be able to see my posts. And, there are others who have discussed this, too. Search and ye shall find.

I hope this helps.

David

[danielegold 26]

David's 3-part series is right on point and very insightful! He pushed me to the point I needed to be in order to leverage Evernote as my "life management" tool to get things done successfully. Implementing a bit of David's system, a watered down version of Ruud Hein's system, and my own thinking, I've finally achieved a bit of "mind like water" and can concentrate much more on the "doing" as opposed to the "tinkering"!

[TechBarber 100]

I've been using EN for about 5 months but I'm only at 110 notes.

I'm using it more each day though so it won't be long until I'm up there with the pros!