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A New Way To Free Thinking Is On Your Mac.

Dobie - Thinking RockGetting things done seems to be more difficult these days, even with an organized digital life.

With apologies to Dobie Gillis, even David Allen’s popular book, Getting Things Done and his GTD method needs a Thinking Rock.

Life today is more complicated than ever. Even the tools to help us improve productivity are complicated to use.

Recently, Mac360 reviewed a number of digital organizers for the Mac, and highlighted some favorite tools.

There’s even cool organizers that are so cool and new you can’t even buy them yet.

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a new approach to organizing and getting things done.

On the Mac, Thinking Rock is the nifty neato Mac utility which uses the GTD method and approach to collect and process your thoughts and needs.

It’s actually simple. Thinking Rock follows Allen’s GTD methods so you can take your thoughts and process them.

Actions, Projects, Information, or Future Possibilities.

Actions are a straightforward “do it, delegate it, defer it (my favorite), or drop it” steps.

Thinking Rock is beneficial in other ways, too. It’s a single place to put all your lists of what needs to get done and when.

It differs from list managers because of adhering to GTD’s action groupings; projects, sub-projects, etc.

Everything we get done eventually gets done because we took some form of action (mine usually come after it’s too late, which makes for some interesting 2-Minute Warning drills).

I know what you’re thinking. You’ve tried every sort of digital organizer and have at least three running on your Mac right now.

You’re still having trouble staying organized, right?

That’s what makes David Allen’s Getting Things Done method so interesting. It isn’t the list that’s important. It’s what you do and when you do it.

I know that sounds simplistic, but work with me on this. I’m a new mommy, a working mommy, and the struggle to organize all the To-Do’s is no picnic.

Neither is the monthly bill for Pampers, but that’s another issue that even my Mac can’t help.

You’ll see something very straightforward about Thinking Rock once you open it up. Set up is easy. Define contexts, define topics.

Then, begin collecting by getting rid of things on your mind. Step three is processing. It’s fun to delegate (Honey!! It’s your turn to feed and diaper!!).

Organize, Review, and Do. That’s reallly about it. If you’ve wanted Getting Things Done on a Mac, Thinking Rock is a start.

Thinking Rock is also special because it’s multi-platform. Yes, it’s Java, so it’ll run on both PPC Macs and Intel Macs.

It also runs fine on Linux PCs, and Windows PCs. All that’s needed to back up and move around is a single separate data file.

It’s perfect for that keychain-sized USB thumb drive you’ve been wanting to buy. Thinking Rock is also free. Damn. I love to say that.

Click Here to take a look at Thinking Rock. Click Here to hit the Mac360 Store for David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.

   • Article by Alexis Kayhill • Published on Monday, November 13, 2006
   • Category: Software • 1 Reader comment(s) • Email This • Digg This • Shop Now
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