Image: Dennis Hamilton

Like the rest of you out there, my life is packed and it never tends to let up (at least not by much, and not for very long).  After all, it is what makes it all interesting.  With a wife a daughter and a son on the way, my hectic work schedule as a Big 4 accounting firm manager, the added obligations as a college campus recruiter and class speaker, and all the other random responsibilities that pop up along the way- I have a lot of plates in the air.  I am on a constant quest to keep track of everything on my plate, break as few as possible, and hopefully get something productive done at the end of the day.

I won’t say I have the magic bullet, or that I even get much accomplished.  But, I do like to share what works for me and how I experiment with keeping my mind as clear and focused as possible.  As a caveat: this works for me.  I share the same struggles with many of my staff and peers.  As much as I attempt to share my method, it is not for everyone.  It takes a considerable amount of time to set up and discipline to perfect; but, it’s just geeky enough to keep me engaged.  So if you’re interested, this is a glimps of what I do.

The core of my productivity system is David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology.  I was introduced to GTD by my very insightful and sympathetic EY “counselor”, who recognized my plight and gave me a copy of this book early on into my career.  Over the years I have read and re-read the book, and tweaked my system to be as effortless and effective of a tool to execute as possible.  The GTD process definitely has it’s pros and cons, though the main premise is to maintain a system that captures every ‘action’ in a trusted system and to save the brain from the responsibilities of tracking all the ‘to dos’ (a process that the brain tends to be the least effective at) and to focus it on creating.

The following graphic illustrates the GTD workflow:

A favorite topic among GTDers is describing their GTD implementation.  As with most GTDers, I’ve tried a number of different setups.  For now, let me describe my current setup:

• Remember The Milk – This by far has been the most ubiquitous and easy to use list manager I have come across, to date.  For an extra $20 a year, I have my RTM lists synced across the web and various mobile devices I have with me throughout the day.  The site even has a blog post dedicated to setting up an advanced implementation of GTD.  I have recently overhauled my system to this setup, and has worked fairly well for me over the past few months.
• Pocket notebook – I carry my Moleskine pocket notebook around everywhere simply as a capture tool.  Any thoughts, to-dos, projects, calendar stuff that I collect while I’m not at the computer or with my iPod touch gets captured in the notebook and transfered to my action lists or calendar later.
• GCal/Lotus Notes - OK, I’m not the first GTDer to love Google Calendar, but it’s simply the best, and it takes care of all my calendaring needs.  Unfortunately, my work subscribes to the Lotus suite.  Therefore, my work related items are stored on Lotus notes calendar and synced (as much as I am allowed) into GCal.
• Gmail/Lotus Notes - Gmail is my main go-to for personal email correspondence.  Although, the vast majority of my emails are work related and are managed through Lotus Notes.
• Misc - Other than these main tools, I have an inbox at home and work and filing systems at both locations.

Well, I’m not going to explain the whole system in this post. Instead, I’ll provide some links to help you get started, if you’re a beginner GTD disciple.

Other GTD Resources

• Wired: A guide to GTD
• Mine Zone: Getting Things Done
• 43 Folders: Getting Started with GTD
• Davidco’s Lisa Peak: 10 beginner behaviors

Posted via email from JoS

The Bailey family spent a long Thanksgiving break traveling up the west coast.  Our journey from Tampa began with both sides of the family meeting at the in-laws’ in Jacksonville, FL for Thanksgiving day and continuing to Berkeley Springs, WV to visit my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and brand new baby Nephew, Malachite!  During our time up in WV, we stayed at our aunt-in-law’s (?) lovely vacation cottage  (see Judy’s Cottage).  Click through any of the photos below for the full album.

For some reason, my typically crazy busy Summer continued through to an even crazier busier Fall.  In the past couple months I’ve lead our practice’s campus recruiting efforts, managed two of our industry audits to completion, began coordination of my fourth audit of the year (or maybe fifth…I’ve lost count) and all the other responsibilities that are part and parcel to being an Ernst & Young manager.

Somehow while navigating through the weeds, I was able to fit in some fun with family and friends (click through each photo for the full album):

Halloween 2009- Rosemary wasn’t having it this year, so she passed candy out with mom and dad from the back of our truck.  She also helped carve some pumpkins:

Inaugural semi-annual MRAS camping trip- Starting a (what we hope to be) a frequent tradition, a few EY friends and family took a long weekend and spent the nights under the stars at St. George Island.  Being Rosemary’s first camping trip, she thoroughly enjoyed the adventure:

Wendy’s birthday- Our intention was to spend Wendy’s birthday in Paris.  Paris in Epcot turned out to be the only viable alternative:

Outdoors- Although I am morally opposed to 80 degree weather in November, we took advantage of the cooler days to enjoy the outdoors:

Now, sitting on 17 remaining vacation days that must be spent by the end of the year, I hope for a relaxing close to 2009 and enjoy this time with my wonderful family.

Happy Holidays!

On to pimping my flickr page…

Our visit to the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry:

Tampa’s very own Lowry Park Zoo:

One of Sarasota’s hidden education gems- G-wiz science museum:

And last, but not least. The Bailey family Summer vacation extravaganza! Wendy and I packed hotel hoping through Orlando, St. Augustine, Palm Coast and a trip to the in-laws in Ponte Vedra, Florida into two fun filled weeks. Our little one enjoyed, but tired out quick from all the run around.

I know, the narrative was lazy. But I guess that’s why I “photoblog” in the first place  Thanks for reading!

Anyway, clickthrough for photos:

The festival runs from February 26 – March 8.  Tickets are $10 for Adults and $5 for Children.  Also, be sure to check out the nightly concerts.  The fair tends to attract a few big country names each year (sorry kids, if you didn’t catch Taylor Swift today, you’re out of luck).  For more information, please check out www.flstrawberryfestival.com.  You can also find the fair on Facebook and Twitter (@flstrawberryfst).

My “Make Your Own Strawberry Shortcake” courtesy of the volunteers at St. Clement Catholic Church, Plant City:

Deep Fried Pepsi (Yes, deep fried pepsi):

Cow:

Feel free to check out the rest of the family fun photos:

Added bonus – admission is free if you’re a member of the Tampa Aquarium.  Otherwise, Adults (age 13 and over) $9.00 per person.  Children (ages 3 through 12) $5.00 per person.  There is no charge for children ages 2 years and under.

Feel free to check out some of the sights we saw from our tour:

Fingerpainting

Florida Aquarium

Christmas 2008