organisation

Lean 5S for personal productivity

Lean 5S is usually talked about in the context of factories, workplaces and production systems.

But it is also a powerful way to think about personal productivity.

At its heart, 5S is about creating an environment where useful things are easy to find, unnecessary things are removed and the system is simple enough to maintain.

That applies to a workshop. But it also applies to your home, your desk, your files, your inbox, your notes, your photos and your task manager.

How to make GTD stick by changing identity first

A lot of people approach Getting Things Done as a tool problem.

They look for a better app.
A cleaner list.
A smarter workflow.
A more perfect setup.

But GTD does not really begin with tools.

It begins with identity.

GTD fails without the identity shift

Many people try Getting Things Done (GTD) as if it were a set of tools.

They make lists.
They create folders.
They sort tasks by context.
They build a beautiful system.

And for a little while, it feels promising.

What happens next

But then life gets busy. The lists grow. The habits slip. The system becomes something else to manage. What looked like clarity starts to feel like admin.

That is often the point where people think GTD has failed.

The real problem

Usually, though, the problem is not the method. The problem is that the tools arrived before the identity shift.

GTD only really works when you stop thinking of yourself as someone who is ‘trying to get organised’ and start becoming someone who captures, clarifies and reviews as a way of life.

GTD is not a productivity system – it is cognitive load management

Getting Things Done (GTD) is often described as a productivity system.

That description is accurate, but it’s also misleading.

One of the reasons people bounce off GTD is that they think it’s about doing more.

More capture.
More lists.
More discipline.
More effort.

But that framing misses the point entirely.

GTD doesn’t reduce work.
It reduces mental strain.

That distinction matters.

An overview of my planning and productivity system in 2019

Google Calendar, Microsoft OneNote and Todoist

My personal organisation system has evolved over the years in an iterative and rather agile approach.

This post outlines the major building blocks of my current system.

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