GTD scripts

Introduction

I've been using GTD for over a decade. I've been developing and using these scripts for almost as long.

If you run setup.sh from this directory, it will by default setup;

1. ~/gtd as a base directory for the GTD files
2. ~/gtd/tickler as the tickler directory
3. ~/gtd/Projects as the project directory, and ~/gtd/Completed as the completed project directory
4. ~/gtd/next_actions.otl as the (vimoutliner) next actions file
5. ~/gtd/done.otl as the (vimoutliner) done file
6. ~/bin/update_repeating as the script to update the tickler files each month
7. ~/bin/tick as the script to run each day to view your daily tickler files
8. ~/bin/project (alias p) as the script to manage projects

Tickler

A tickler file is machination to help you remember periodic tasks. For instance,

1. On a certain date each month you should pay rent
2. On a certain day each week you should water the lawn
3. On Tuesday and Thursday you should mail progress reports to your boss
4. The 15th of February you should pay annual insurance

The tickler scripts in gtdtools are designed to help you remember those. You'll have a 'tickler' directory, usually ~/gtd/tickler. Under that, will be

1. A file for each possible date of the month (01-31)
2. A file for each month
3. A 'repeating' directory which is the source of information for the daily and monthly files

On the first of each month, you will

1. Go through this month's monthly file, and copy the information to the relevant dates.
2. Run the script ~/gtd/tickler/update_repeating script to apply the information under ~/gtd/tickler/repeating to the daily files

For instance, on the 20th of February you may have noticed that during the next month you'll need to refill some account. You quickly write a note under ~/gtd/tickler/march to that effect. Then on March 1, you move that information from march to 10 to remember on the 10th to do that.

Meanwhile ~/gtd/tickler/repeating/general.r has entries:

D 10 pay loan
A March 15 Mom's birthday

When you run ~/gtd/tickler/update_repeating, these will be copied to the 10 and 15 daily files.

Now, every morning you run the script tick to open the current day's daily file alongside ~/gtd/next_actions.otl, to copy actions into next actions (or, move them to a different date, move them elsewhere, or just delete them).

The first letter of each line dictates the type of entry, which can be:

1. A(nnual): List the month and day-of-month, then description. For birthdays and rare bills.
2. W(eekly): Give the day of week, start and end times, then description. Good for weekly meetings, and things like "go over GTD project list".
3. D(ate): Same (numbered) day of every month. Give the day (i.e. 3) and description. For instance, useful for bills.
4. M(onthly): Actually... I don't use this, so may drop it as it may not even work.

GTD

GTD is in my opinion an excellent workflow for managing projects and information. It is designed to at the same time never lose any information or lose track of any task, and to never be stressed about whether you are working on the wrong thing or forgetting something.

This repo provides tools which help me use GTD. It is not a how-to guide for using GTD. If you want to learn more, I highly recommend reading the book. (Check your local library)

Project

GTD is often used "physically" - using paper and folders. When used this way, you might have one folder for each project you are working on. All information for that projects goes into that folder. Then you have a separate 'next actions' paper or folder where you only write the very next action to be done for projects. (The idea is, if you see "I have to replace the car window motor" you may hesitate; if you see that the next step is to walk to the car and get the VIN number before ordering the motor, then you don't need to think through steps, and you might do it)

The 'project' script here is designed to help (me) use this. The goal is for nothing to stand in the way of my keeping organized, so shortcuts are in order:

$ p l
Project                                 |  Last updated
gtdtools                                |  Dec 28 10:51:10 2017
$ p new car_window
$ p e car_window
# An editor pops up with three files under ~/gtd/Projects/car_window/
# ("p s car_window" would be a shortcut for "p n car_window; p e car_window")
$ p co<tab> ca<tab>    # moves car_window to the Completed folder

Usage

Once you've run "setup.sh" (or manually done the setup), log out and back in (or rehash), now you should be able to do the following.

Look at next actions

Just run 'n' to edit your gtd/next_actions.otl and gtd/done.otl files.

At the top of 'done.otl', type ";d" to enter separators and today's date. Then start typing what you've completed.

Look at open projects

'p' is an alias to 'project'.

serge@jerom ~$ p
Usage:
  project [l|list]: list projects
  project [[e|edit] PROJ]: edit details of PROJ
  project [[n|new] PROJ]: create new project called PROJ
  project [[s|start] PROJ]: create new project called PROJ and edit
  project [[c|complete] PROJ]: move project PROJ to this year's completed list
  project [[d|delete] PROJ]: delete project PROJ
  project [[p|postpone] PROJ]: move project to postponed list
  project [[a|actions] PROJ]: list actions for project PROJ

To list projects, just

ubuntu@gtd:~$ p l
Project                                 |  Last updated
first                                   |  2022-08-18 20:50:41.968916094 +0000

To just create a new project, you can use "project new projectname". You can then edit it with "project edit projectname". To create a new project and immediately edit it, use the shortcut "project start projectname". Editing a project opens vim with three files

1. summary.otl: a good place to keep a description
2. log.otl: a place to keep dated journal entries of completed work
3. actions.otl: a place to keep nicely split up actions.

The idea is to periodically look through your open projects, and copy actions from those actions.otl files into your next_actions.otl. At any given time, next_actions.otl should be a list of simple things you can immediately do. Work items which make you sit back and say "hm, to do that, first I'd need to..." do not belong there. (That's the GTD concept, anyway)