{"id":4480,"date":"2015-09-10T14:54:01","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T01:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=4480"},"modified":"2016-08-01T10:07:30","modified_gmt":"2016-07-31T21:07:30","slug":"throwback-thursday-how-can-a-postgraduate-student-get-more-things-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=4480","title":{"rendered":"Throwback Thursday: How can a postgraduate student get (more) things done?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post by Dr Geoff Dickson first appeared here\u00a0on Thesislink in 2012<\/em><\/p>\n

The short answers to get organized. The longer answer goes like this.<\/p>\n

Time<\/strong> – you never have enough of it.\u00a0 So how can you make the most of it? There are a myriad of time management and personal productivity frameworks. About two years ago, I looked at a lot of them and opted for Getting Things Done and Thinking Rock.\u00a0 Later I evolved from Thinking Rock to Things.\u00a0 Let me explain.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Getting Things Done<\/strong> (GTD) is a method pioneered by David Allen.\u00a0 At its heart is a system for dealing with stuff.\u00a0 Allen defines stuff as \u201canything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn’t belong where it is, but for which you haven’t yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step\u201d<\/em>. GTD gets you to move tasks out of your mind by recording them externally.\u00a0 The net effect is that your mental bandwidth is not preoccupied remembering tasks. Therefore, one can concentrate on performing the tasks, instead of remembering. Think of it as a sophisticated to-do list\u2026on steroids.<\/p>\n

When a thing arrives \u2013 via email, phone or hard-copy, they need to be processed.\u00a0 Four options: delete, delegate, do (if less than 2 minutes is required), or defer.\u00a0 When you defer something, you place it in a safe and trusted place, usually with a way of being reminded about it.\u00a0 The other key argument of Allen\u2019s GTD approach is an effective workspace.\u00a0 This starts with a good pen, quality writing paper, and an efficient filing system. There\u2019s more to it than this, but there are A LOT of resources available on the internet (as well as a book what is well worth the investment).\u00a0 Check them out.<\/p>\n

Thinking Rock<\/strong> is free software that is designed specifically for GTD.\u00a0 There are many, many others.\u00a0 Thinking Rock is the software that mirrors most closely the GTD approach.\u00a0 I started with it because it was free and I guessed (quite correctly) that it would help me learn and understand GTD. Later I went to Things, a Mac-specific tool.\u00a0 The best feature of Things is its ability to integrate with the Mac Mail.\u00a0 Within minutes I can empty my email in-box.\u00a0 Nirvana.<\/p>\n

When I am using GTD well, I am at my most productive.\u00a0 Not only does it seem to create time, but it greatly ameliorates any feeling of being overwhelmed.\u00a0 I like being not overwhelmed\u2026a lot. GTD can instill confidence, and boost creativity and energy. GTD provides structure without constraint, and can manage with maximum flexibility. GTD is well suited to the demands of a postgraduate student.<\/p>\n

GTD resources:<\/strong>
\nGetting Things Done: http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/<\/a>
\nThinking Rock: http:\/\/www.trgtd.com.au\/<\/a>
\nThings: http:\/\/culturedcode.com\/things\/<\/a>
\nMore GTD: http:\/\/zenhabits.net\/the-getting-things-done-gtd-faq\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post by Dr Geoff Dickson first appeared here on Thesislink in 2012 The short answers to get organized. The longer answer goes like this. Time – you never have enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25632,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29],"tags":[96,55],"class_list":["post-4480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-category-3","category-throwback-thursday","tag-time-management","tag-tips-tricks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p83npQ-1ag","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4481,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4480\/revisions\/4481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}