What's the next action - AideRSS (All)

The next action: Closing up shop

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:52:00 GMT

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, but I have come to the conclusion to stop this weblog.
It may come as no surprise since my writing here has been on an alltime low the last couple of months. Like I said, I thought about it a lot and it comes down to one thing: You got to do what you love and what you do best. And during the last year, my focus has changed to other areas in the field of (amongst others) personal development. There are a few reasons for this conclusion

Since september 2007 I have been working on a new Dutch website called lifehacking.nl. Ofcourse on the subjects of lifehacking and GTD, amongst others. Together with a growing group of authors we are building a new community in The Netherlands and I am very proud to be part of this. Ofcourse this would not have been possible without this weblog. Because I have been writing on this blog, I found out there wasn’t really a Dutch version of the different lifehacking/GTD/personal development weblogs. So after meeting up with some people we started making plans and starting Lifehacking.nl. It has been very succesfull the last couple of months and we are working on expansion. So you need to make choices on where to spend you time and resources.

The blogosphere around GTD has grown exponentially the last year. I have to be honest, I don’t read them all anymore. It’s too much. There are a few very good weblogs on this subject which I follow every now and again, but I find the field too crowdy. Too crowdy for me to try to stand out even more, get more original content and improve that way. Is this a way of giving up? Not for me. I made a concious choice to leave the US-centric area of GTD/Personal Development blogs and try to grow the “scene” in The Netherlands and in my native language, Dutch.

One thing that kept me in doubt whether I should continue or not, is the enormous readerbase on this weblog and with it, some nice advertising-money every now and again. Not the kind of amounts that makes me travel to some nice beach in the sun, but at least a new book every now and again and the server and domainname is paid for. But thinking about it some more, if I should continue because of the monetairy rewards alone, where would that leave the passion for writing? It has come to me that I find it harder to write with great passion about GTD in english and finding new subjects to write about (see reason 2 as well). Writing and continuing this weblog just because of the advertising would not be an option. Especially when the passion is gone.

So this is it for Whatsthenextaction.com. It has been a blast to writing this weblog, finding my way in GTD and personal development, meeting new people from different countries. My thoughts and articles really gave me insights for my own on how I could grow as a person. I am very thankfull for every single comment, email, skypecall with each and everyone of you. Thank you all for your interest and your conversation. Perhaps we’ll meet somewhere online again!

Peace out!

Email reminders the easy way

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 01:36:00 GMT

I saw this service on a few other blogs and I must say I am intrigued by it. 3mindme.com is an email reminder service. You basically email a reminder to yourself at “tomorrow@3mindme.com” or “jan5th@3mindme.com” or “nexttuesday@3mindme.com” and it’ll forward whatever you sent back to you at the specified time. David Barret, the creator of the service has just started this and is looking for feedback. So any advice, tips and compliments are welcome!

New GTD app coming up - Things

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:59:00 GMT

This one came through the email grapevine: A new (another?) GTD app is bound to hit the virtual shelves these days. Things from CulturedCode is a Mac based GTD application with the basic features you need for your GTD pleasure (collect, organize, projects, next actions) but also has some nice new shiny features like tagging, collaboration and a quick entry window for collecting you thoughts. To be honest, I don’t see anything really outstanding or groundbreaking but when you’re looking for a GTD app in Leopard-style, Things might be your…erm…thing.

Dutch version of GTD in stores now

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:20:00 GMT

I know most of my valued readers are non-Dutch speaking and mostly from the US. But I want to share a very special moment with you. For the past few months I have been working on a dutch site called Lifehacking.nl about, you guessed it, lifehacking and GTD. Together with dutch lifehackers Sanne and Martijn and a dedicated team of writers and technicians we launched it and it became very popular in a few weeks.
Because of that we got in touch with a Dutch publisher who wanted to publish the translated version of the GTD book. The translation was almost done but she needed some endorsements on the book…

Now I must say I felt very special when they asked me and my friends to not only write an endorsement, but Martijn and Taco (Dutch GTD trainer from Meereffect.eu) also got to write the foreword of the book. I am on the backcover of the book with my endorsement for GTD.

You can view it fullscreen on my Flickr-page. Translated it reads: “Getting Things Done becomes a part of your life once you read the book. You don’t want to go back to a stuffed Inbox in your email or stacks with ‘things’. David Allen offers you five steps from chaos to order. Not once, but permanently”
I must say I am very very proud to be on a book from The Dave. And I would like to thank my good friends Martijn Aslander, Sanne Roemen en Taco Oosterkamp for the opportunity to work together on one of the fastest growing communities in the Netherlands, Lifehacking.nl. And yes, you can buy the book in The Netherlands!

GTD World loses a true advocate with Marc Orchant

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:03:00 GMT

This morning I found the news that Marc Orchant has passed away following complications from a massive heart attack. Marc was a follower of my weblog and responded every now and again. We first met through email in november 2004 and I got connected on his Officezealot GTD website.
Thoughts go out to his family and friends, a good man has passed away. Thanks Marc, you are missed.

David Allen on a trip?

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:18:00 GMT

In the latest edition of the David Allen Company Newsletter there are some new products for your travelneeds. They include

GTD System File folders and GTD Zip pouches
The “Instant Messenger” bag and the “Ready for Anywhere” rolling work bag
GTD Tri-fold Notetaker wallet and accessories

Nice gear, I like the preprinted file folders. It’s all a bit of priceleague and most material can also be found in your local officesupply store. I can recommend the zip pouches as a way to keep your stuff safe while travelling. But I use simple plastic filefolders you can lock with a simple click.

(image courtesy of Malias)

Nozbe makes me blush behind my screen

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:58:00 GMT

What a surprise this morning to see my humble weblog featured on Nozbe’s weblog as an affiliate showcase. I do recommend Nozbe to everyone who is fairly committed to GTD. But I have to be honest, if you’re starting out with GTD it might be a bit overwhelming, all those online tools trying to help you. Nozbe can be of great help though, because it helps you through the whole process of collecting, processing and organizing. No, it doesn’t do the tasks for you. You still have to do that yourself. But for me, it’s a great way to collect my thoughts and tasks and view them in a single system. Another great feature for me is the mobile version and the widget for Netvibes. They work even more intuitive for me than the site itself. And the emailfunctionality is a lifesaver for me. Great feature!
I’ve recommended more applications in the past and yes I would still do so. Backpack, Mindmanager, ThinkingRock. All great in itself. But as you grow more accustomed in your life with GTD, Nozbe is of the key players you should definitely check out.

Disclaimer: The links to Nozbe are affiliate links. The earnings go directly back to my website so I can keep it up and running.

The Mobile Productivity Toolbox

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:41:00 GMT

I’m not a very frequent traveller but when you stay in hotels a lot or are on the move and have some internetaccess, be sure to check out this enormous list of resources when you’re on the move. Email, webtools and Wifi-tips. Great resources. Bookmarked!

Gmail improves with excellent shortcut

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:39:00 GMT

Gmail had an overhaul in its interface the last few days. It’s a bit cleaner. With the revamp also comes an excellent addition to the keyboard shortcuts in Gmail. With the key “[” you can archive an open message and immediately open the previous one. If you use “]” it opens the next one. Finally! No longer switching back to the Inbox, but processing your email in one big swoop. Gmail is already my favorite app, but this shortcut was missing for me. Also, make sure this shortcut only works in the new interface. If you use Lifehacker.com’s Better Gmail extension (if not, you should) also upgrade that one to version 2. The Gmail Macros in the extension work perfectly with the mentioned Archive-Next/Previous shortcut in Gmail itself. Check out this article on the Gmail Blog for more improvements.

(Thanks to @erwblo for the tip)

New mindmapping software by Tony Buzan

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 15:10:00 GMT

The inventor of Mindmapping, Tony Buzan, has also entered the mindmapping software space with the release of iMindmapping. You can find an introduction to his software and his philosophy about mindmapping after the click

More on mindmapping on the excellent Mindmapping blog from Chuck Frey and ofcourse my review of Mindjet’s Mindmanager and the use of GyroQ in it