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where do all non-actionable items go?

nantas's Avatar

nantas

25 May, 2010 09:44 AM via web

Hi Nirvana,

This application looks great, but I'm wondering where should all non-actionable items go? Like general reference and incubating materials.
Also is there any reason that we can't customize our own focus categories?

Thanks,
Nan

  1. 2 Posted by Proximo on 25 May, 2010 01:15 PM

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    @nantas,

    Non-Actionable Items:

    The 3 type of Non-Actionable items in GTD are.

    1. Reference Material
2. Incubate
    - Date Specific Triggers
    - Someday/Maybe
3. Trash

    Reference Material:

    Nirvana currently does not have a Reference Material bucket where you can hold items that you feel may be useful later. There are several software options for holding on to this type of materials or you can have a physical reference file at your desk. I personally use Evernote because I can access it anywhere and it allows me to capture Notes, Photos, Voice Memos, Websites, etc.

    Incubate:

    Nirvana currently does not have Ticklers which are ideal for things you may want to revisit later. I believe this is a feature that is coming in the future. Ticklers can be used for many reasons and are very useful. I currently use Google Calendar to remind me or Tickle me of certain things I need to remember. It's a short term solution for now. :-)

    For task that you would like to do down the road, you can place them in your Someday list which works great and allows you to look at them during your Weekly Review process.

    Trash:

    This is my favorite type of Non-Actionable items. Nirvana has a handy Trash can for items that appeared in your inbox, but after you completed your processing, you decide it's not something for you to do.

    Nirvana has some missing features as I mentioned above, but they are always adding functionality.

  2. 3 Posted by nantas on 25 May, 2010 09:12 PM

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    @Proximo

    Thank you very much for the suggestion, I'm getting my hands on Evernote and will see if it works for me.

    Looks like ticklers is on its way so let's just wait.

    For Reference materials, I'm currently trying to combine Evernote and Delicious.
    Evernote is very powerful but I can see it's not extremely exciting if you don't have a good smartphone like iPhone. Also its full feature set is a little bit overkill and adding up complexity for a GTD system.
    I'm only using the web clipper to collect reference material and put them all in very few lists for simplicity. And probably I need to processing those notes into more organized stuff.
    Meanwhile I added some tags to make delicious my "at hand" reference folder. I added two tags "athand" for the currently most needed webpages (like a API reference library or a long article you're reading) and "tools" for the systematic websites like gmail, Nirvana, Evernote etc.
    For Firefox, then change the delicious toolbar to "Favorite Tags view" or "Tags bundle view", then you can have access to those website at ease.

    That's my online solution, of couse if you rely on paper materials heavily you don't need to worry about lack of Reference support for Nirvana.

  3. 4 Posted by Proximo on 26 May, 2010 02:01 PM

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    @nantas,

    Looks like you have a cool setup. Always love to hear how others do things.

    Thanks for sharing.

  4. 5 Posted by JamesT on 26 May, 2010 06:22 PM

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    Most of my reference items go into OneNote. I love OneNote, but as many will point out it doesn't have a web version. With Office Web coming out in June this problem should be fixed. I can't wait!

    .02 James

  5. 6 Posted by richardtea on 26 May, 2010 07:02 PM

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    @proximo I too use Evernote for reference materials + anything and everything else. Is there a specific structure you use for Evernote or it's a tag free-for-all?

    (diverting from Nirvana a bit here)

  6. 7 Posted by Proximo on 26 May, 2010 08:09 PM

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    @richardtea,

    My Evernote setup is very simple and not that structured.

    Folders:

    1. Inbox
    2. Personal
    3. Work
    4. Business
    5. Guns (Keep track of my Guns and Ammo)
    6. Review

    The Review folder is for things I find while on-line or on the go that I would like to review later, research further or look into.

    The rest of the folders are self explanatory. (Except maybe my Guns folder) :-)

    The Inbox is where I dump any thoughts for later processing such as notes, voice memo's or a picture of something I want. Many times I am at the mall with my wife and she may see something she likes. When she walks away, I take a picture of it in Evernote for later processing. This will go in the Personal folder with a tag of "Gift".

    Tags

    This is more of a free for all because I use the tag that would best describe the reference material I am keeping in Evernote. I don't go crazy with my tags but they are not setup in a context format.

    tag examples:

    Entertainment
    Food
    Receipts
    Goals
    GTD
    Gas
    Membership
    Health
    Regitration

    etc.

    That's about it. Evernote is amazing to me because I can capture just about anything I need and it works great for capturing thoughts for later processing as well.

  7. 8 Posted by mike on 26 May, 2010 10:22 PM

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    "Many times I am at the mall with my wife and she may see something she likes. When she walks away, I take a picture of it in Evernote for later processing. This will go in the Personal folder with a tag of "Gift"." -Proximo

    Haha! My wife, whose eyes normally glaze over when I try to explain GTD, would adopt the system for this reason ONLY. That's an excellent idea, Proximo, I think you saved my life for this coming anniversary!

  8. 9 Posted by Sim on 27 May, 2010 03:21 AM

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    Another option for reference material is Springpad (www.springpadit.com). I am in the process of trying out the software and it looks impressive. It is Evernote's competitor.

  9. 10 Posted by Proximo on 27 May, 2010 03:39 AM

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    I tried Springpad and it was nice. The only things I did not like is
    the lack of voice memos which I use for mind dumbs while driving and
    the UI tries to do too much such as calendar items and todo list.

    The other very big issue for me was integration with other apps. I
    have an RSS reader that supports Evernote and my portable scanner app
    called jotnot supports Evernote. Springpad lacks the integration with
    amny of my current apps.

    It has potential for sure but lacks too much for me right now.

  10. 11 Posted by Sim on 27 May, 2010 03:44 AM

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    You have a good point. Are you using the premium version of evernote?

  11. 12 Posted by Proximo on 27 May, 2010 12:11 PM

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    @Sim,

    I am using the free version and it's enough for what I need. I would not mind paying for premium if I ever feel I need the additional space or features.

    Great Software

  12. David McLaughlin closed this discussion on 02 Feb, 2011 06:12 PM.

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