Evernote is a fairly flexible tool, and there are many different ways you can set it up for GTD. The method I’d been using was fine, but the system suggested in these guides is much simpler and much more elegant than mine. I’ve been transitioning from one to the other, a few notes at a time, and I’m already seeing a big difference.

The short version of their strategy is a notebook for each next action context, and a note for each projects with links to relevant next action notes. I prefer my existing method for tracking calendar items, so I’ve adapted it to their system, but otherwise I’m following their road map and getting real results.

Are you a GTD devotee? What tools do you use, and how do you use them? The David Allen Company offers setup guides for a wide range of platforms, and although they’re not free, they might give you some ideas if you’ve been thinking about making a switch. For free resources, check this space instead.

We’ve all been there, right? You want to get all your ducks in a row before you leave town, so you can enjoy your time away. As a result, you end up plowing through as much work as you can in those last few days, trying to wrap everything up. That’s pretty much where I am now.

Wish me luck, would you? Some of the results might appear in this very blog between now and Friday, though it’s tough to say for sure.

Last summer, my wife was on maternity leave. Every Friday, I’d meet her and my kid on the patio at our local pub, where a few friends would hopefully join us. It was a great way to start the weekend, and I’ll always look back on it fondly.

You see, those days are gone. It was all fine and good to drag my kid out to the pub when she was just a few months old, and it was fairly likely she’d sleep through half of it. Now that she’s a full-blown toddler, it’s just unfair to ask her to sit still and watch adults drink for five minutes, let alone a whole afternoon.

This year, we’re moving the whole operation into our backyard. It’s close to home, it’s easy for people to get to, and we already know my kid loves it. The drinks are also cheaper, and that’s no small thing when you’re paying for daycare.

Hope you’re able to make as much of your Friday as we are. Hell, if you’re in the neighbourhood, and you know me well enough to get to my house, why not drop in sometime?

Please feel free to share your recommendations. My current plan is a quick visit to the Hill before enjoying a blissfully quiet night in a baby-free hotel room, but of course I’m open to having some actual fun. Do let me know how you think I ought to do that.

Better yet, if you’re in town and you want to get together, let me know where you’ll be on Sunday night! It’s been years since I’ve been out there, and I’ve got no idea who currently lives there, but it’s always nice to see some old familiar faces.

Not that your face looks old, or anything. You know what I mean. If anything, I’m sure you look like you’ve been working out.

It’s also a bit of a break, because the office has been very hectic lately. Lots of competing priorities, and lots of calls to drop everything and take care of something immediate. Today, one of those calls might come from the daycare.

Which is kind of nice, in the sense that it reminds you who you’re really working for. There’s a lot of work my bosses want me to tackle today, and the nature of that work could change at any minute. But if I get a call about my kid, then that’s going to take immediate priority – at least until I can hand her off to her grandmother.

Knowing that, and having those priorities in your mental foreground, is a pretty great state of mind. When you’ve been mired in the details of your job for a while, it’s nice to reconnect with the big picture. Plus, it has a funny way of renewing your work ethic.

As far as the work is concerned, today won’t be that much different from any other. I’ll tackle the same jobs, and I’ll stay as focused as I can. But when I need to take a break, I’ll clean my kitchen.

It’s funny and ironic how that works, isn’t it? Shouldn’t just knowing you’ve got a lot to do be enough to encourage you to do it? Sadly, of course, it’s not that simple, and the opposite is often true. Knowing that you’ve got a lot to get through can not only make it tough to know where to begin, but it can sap you of the will to take that first step.

Not that I’ve been doing nothing but this weekend but dodging work and wasting time. I mean, it’s not like it was a mistake to visit my family yesterday. It’s not like I regret having a drink with my wife, and then going out to see a show. These are things I chose to do instead of catching up on work, and on a long weekend, I feel pretty good about that.

Today, though, I’m ready to buckle down. I’m awake, the coffee’s made, I’m sitting by an open window on a nice day, and my parents have my kid until this afternoon. Now, what to do…