TUAW Resolutio : Organize your life and get things done

t. The secret of the Getting Things Done philosophy? Keeping a calendar and doing regular reviews of your to-do lists. Yes, it's a bit counter-intuitive. Who would think that the underlying basis of controlling your life is to focus on pla ing rather than on actually doing the things that need to get done? But it's a fundamental truth that without a game plan for a ecific destination, many of us will get lost along the way wasting time and energy that would be better used productively. If we don't know where we're going, we end up someplace else. Getting-things-done relies on choosing tasks after a e ing all tasks that need getting done. Sure you could start juggling 43 folders and all that, but you don't have to. So long as you start making room in your life for pla ing, your life will get more organized. Your Mac can help you do that. Here are some ways to use your A le equipment to take control.

Use a calendar. iCal is the two-ton gorilla in the world of A le pla ers. It offers a single destination for all your a ointments. You can even su cribe to a Google calendar via iCal or use two-way Google/iCal synchronization via a ing Sync. Your (non-shuffle) iPod will sync to your iCal calendar and you can set alarms on iPods for calendar events. Use your calendar to make sure your time-dependent to-do items are kept on track. Best of all, if you're using OS X you already have it.

Create to-do lists. We're all waiting for Leopard's built-in "to do" lists exte io to Mail so you can organize your action items as you work through your i ox. Until then, there are many alternatives not the least of which are Actiontastic, Stickies and, yes, TextEdit. A simple text to-do list can bypa all sorts of technological confusion and encourage you to update, review and a otate your action items on a timely basis.

Use ticklers. Another feature of the getting-things-done philosophy is using a trusted system to remind you of items that have been lying dormant. You can send yourself scheduled e-mail via futureme.org, take advantage of any number of A leScript tickler scripts, many of which work with iCal. The Omni group is working on a GTD a called Omnifocus, which a arently will offer tickler su ort. They're pla ing a meetup at MacWorld to solicit design ideas.

Hide distractio . Uncluttering your work ace and trading multi-tasking for single-tasking can help some people focus on the at-hand task and better get things done. A licatio like irited Away and MenuShade let you neaten your desktop and hide items that might otherwise distract you. And avoiding distractio is certainly an important part of getting the job done.