home-based businesses / SAH moms

[cre8fstmpr]

Being very new to GTD, and totally being sucked into the whole idea of being stress-free AND productive (sounds like an oxymoron to me), I'm interested in dialoging with others who are in a similar position... I'm a mostly stay at home mom, with a busy and evolving home-based business (been in the same business for over 8 years).

[Anonymous]

I work fulltime, have a home based business and a generally busy life (but no kids). I have implemented parts of David's program, and it has made a huge improvement in my stress level. I have tried all different things to get myself organized and his is the best by far.

The only thing holding me back is the time to fully implement his system. I tried the electronic organizer route, but it was too time consuming, so I've gone back to my 3 ring binder.

One thing I'll differ on with Dave: the calendar. I need to carry my calendar into my classes or appts, but I don't want to carry my whole binder, so I have a large month at a glance planner that is separate from my binder & folders. I also keep an inexpensive spiral notebook where I jot all sorts of stuff, then I move things around as necessary. That way I don't have a ton of scraps of paper.

[Anonymous]

Hello girls

Whenever I can, I suggest a look at FlyLady. GTD is the only organizer system that has worked for me, but I use most of Flylady's tips and both systems go very well together. The key to getting organized is changing your habits and both, GTD and FlyLady focuse on this.

Myriam

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I've been working from home with my own business (sole or primary income earner) for the better part of 6 years now, and I have four kids. My youngest will be 12 in a week or two though, so I don't really relate to most "SAHMs" since they tend to have little toddlers underfoot.

Thanks to GTD over the past year or two, and some "cleaning of the closets" I did with projects and commitments in the past couple of months, my life is fairly stress-free

I'm productive when I put my mind to it. I've always been a procrastinator and one of the things GTD has done for me (for better or worse )is allow me to forget it. If I don't really feel like getting things done, or I only want to work 4 or 5 hours in a day, I don't worry that something will slip through the cracks. It's all there on my lists when I'm ready for it

I may be stirring the pot a bit here but.... beware... stress-free can get boring if you're not careful On the upside though, it spurs me into taking more productive projects which can increase my income.

Kathy
--
Kathy Burns
http://www.electronicperceptions.com

[Elizabeth W]

Hello girls

Whenever I can, I suggest a look at FlyLady. GTD is the only organizer system that has worked for me, but I use most of Flylady's tips and both systems go very well together. The key to getting organized is changing your habits and both, GTD and FlyLady focuse on this.

Myriam

I heartily agree.

[lgtspace]

Hello GTDers,

I've read the book. I have the addin; crashed Outlook once and have to rebuild the .pst was lost along with the OS. Que sera, sera. Since this is one of at least 50 attempts to "get organized" I am reluctant to run out and buy a PDA as it is just one more piece to manage. So I will create my own hybrid to help manage the bonfires:

I run 2 home base businesses with my husband, contracting and consulting and am considering creating a third new consulting business; have 2 kids under 10 with special needs; volunteer for our school district as Community Resource Coordinator and am thinking about designing my own college degree program while I run the household too.

My revised thoughts are to use the GTD-Outlook on my laptop to keep hard edges, and use paper system for daily's and travel along with my voice recorder. Theoretically I can update Outlook with daily pages/voice records at weekly review or when 2 minute rule applies. Doable or Amusing, comments please.

Have any GTD-veterans worked out a launch system to test the waters, or am I just adding more gasoline to the bonfire?

Susan - sfrenette@lgtspace.com

[andmor]

[quote="lgtspace"]Hello GTDers,

My revised thoughts are to use the GTD-Outlook on my laptop to keep hard edges, and use paper system for daily's and travel along with my voice recorder. Theoretically I can update Outlook with daily pages/voice records at weekly review or when 2 minute rule applies. Doable or Amusing, comments please.

Susan:

This is what I do. The main reason is that if I have the full inventory of things in front of me, I will spend all my time on Planning. But there's a time to "fish or cut bait" and when it's time to Do things, I only want to see what is immediate and I work better when I can personalize my schedule with pen and paper (where there is no right way for formatting, spelling and legibility). Then when I am finished a working session, or a trip out of the office or at the end of the day, I can go back into the electronic system and update the Calendar for history and the ToDo and Reference files for completions and newly-processed items. This way, my electronic system doesn't have iffy/vague unProcessed entries in it.

Andrew

(single parent, home-based business)

[DStaub11]

I am a freelancer working from home in a deadline-driven business (indexing); I have a teenager with special needs; my partner is disabled and needs various kinds of support; I'm writing a book; and I'm a serious artist. I use GTD with a paper-based system (Franklin Covey planner) and it really does help. I have a projects section (divided by roles) and a next action section (divided by context). I do assign myself tasks for the week in the moveable plastic tab.

My weakness is getting myself to do the weekly review--anxiety gets in the way--and I'm still working on that. (I'm going to start a thread about it.) I also use Flylady to help myself establish habits. One thing that has helped is to divide my projects and goals using my roles (indexer, partner, parent, artist, chorus member, home organizer, friend/relative, renewal). Because I'm constantly donning and doffing my various hats, it helps to stay aware of my roles.

Do Mi

[lgtspace]

Thanks to Andrew & Do Mi for replies. You're ideas were helpful. There is no 1 way that is the best (surprise-surprise). Embarking on the journey, that is the most important and "best" step for me.