![]() But viewing these text files in Notational Velocity has several virtues. That has advantages I’ll talk about later, including the fact that I can view my tasks in any text editor. I have my NV preferences set so that each note is stored as a plain text file in a folder called “notes,” so when I create my task as a note in NV, I’m actually creating a plain *.txt file with the note title as the file name. Imagine a text editor that doubles as a Finder window and Spotlight, and you’ve almost imagined what an awesome tool NV is. If you already use Notational Velocity, you know how fast and easy this process is if you aren’t familiar with NV, it’s free, easy to download, and easiest to understand when you’re actually using it. Within the note itself, I then put any associated information about the task: notes, hashtags, contexts, links, due dates, whatever. When I need to create a new task, here’s what I do on my Mac: I use Notational Velocity to create a note whose title is my task. ![]() In my system, each of my tasks is the name of a plain text file. In other plain text GTD systems, a task might be a line in a list contained in a text file. In Things, each of my tasks was an item in a database that also had separate fields for tags, notes, and a due date. The core principle of my GTD system is this: every task gets its own plain text file, whose filename is the name of the action I need to take. But this does allow me to replicate the way I was using Things, with some added advantages I didn’t even know I was missing. I should stress that I do not claim that this system fully replaces the functionality of Things, which remains a good piece of software. That’s when I started developing the following system. I was also reluctant to shell out at least another $20 for the iPad version. ![]() I began thinking about alternatives to Things, though, when I got an iPod Touch, and then an iPad, and joined the legions of Cultured Code followers waiting longingly for cloud synchronization (which is now apparently coming soon). I used it much like Shawn Blanc used to and Ryan Cordell does, so if you’re not familiar with the program, start there. Even today, I still think Things is a great program. When version 1.0 appeared and quickly began winning awards, I gladly shelled out the asking price. I got hooked on Things when it was still in free beta. I started using Things at the same time I was introduced to GTD, in the Spring of 2008. Again, for a short introduction, see elsewhere.This post does just what its title says, so if terms like GTD, Things, and Notational Velocity mean nothing to you, you may want to move along: there’s nothing to see here but an excruciating display of plain-text nerdiness.īut if you are looking for a way to implement the Getting Things Done approach to task-management on your computer without spending much (or any) money, if you are a devoted user of Things by Cultured Code who has begun to toy with alternatives that support cloud synchronization, and/or if you secretly thrill to posts like this one, read on. In short, you ask Hazel to keep an eye on folders, and apply actions to the files they contain. Hazel is an utility to automate your computed organisation. Notice the xpath field in the metadata? This is the important part, that will be used by Hazel to sort the notes in various folders (see below). Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, nvAlt: for fast and easy markdown writing.My workflow is based on three essential tools: It is not perfect yet (any suggestions are welcome!), but it is getting efficient. The aim of this post is to share the writing setup I came up with. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |