I seem to be in a nearly constant state of working on being personally more efficient and productive.

This seems to even creep in during vacation.   So, while I can honestly say "I had a great two-week family beach camping vacation at San Elijo, CA" — it will seem strange to many that one of the things I did that I really enjoyed was re-reading David Allen’s "Getting Things Done."

My mind set on re-reading it was to self-evaluate what I’m doing "good" vs. "what needs improvement."

First my success areas:

• Capturing all loose items, actions, responsibilities, etc.
• Inbox (email) = zero at COB [if not earlier]
• Tracking delegated tasks
• Regular status reports
• Staying as digital as possible [limited hard copy]
• MindMaps for meeting notes and project specific planning
• Microsoft Outlook as the core primary application for work [helps with Windows Mobile sync]

Second my areas of that need improvement:

• Better master projects list (MindMap?)
• Do I merge work/personal or keep them separate [they are now more separated then combined]
• "Weekly Review" [need to find a day of the week and a consistent time]
• Digitize more reference material
• Can I draw the ‘Getting work-flow diagram’ on a blank piece of paper?
• More efficient physical filing system [@Home & @ Work]
• During my processing of "stuff" I need to be more realistic about what really requires a Next Action vs. needs to just go on a Someday/Maybe list [see next item]
• Use more Someday/Maybe lists [see above item]
• Categorize tasks more specifically like "computer-work", "computer-home", "shopping-costco", or "shopping-homedepot"
• Is it possible to do a digital tickler file with tools I already have?

My personal goal for September is to try to address my areas that need improvement.  So, far I am trying to be more focused with my Tasks/Next Actions/Someday-Maybe/Categories in Microsoft Outlook, and better Project tracking/linking/workflow using MindJet MindManager.

If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.