Overview Screen

The Overview Screen shows a diagram of the ThinkingRock (TR) screens corresponding to the Getting Things Done (GTD) workflow. You can click on any of the boxes representing a TR screen to go to that screen.

Create Data File

Initially only the Create Data File box is enabled as you first need to create a data file. Click on this box and choose a file name and location for your TR data file.

Setup

You will need to set up some Contexts and Topics.

You will need to decide if you want to use the following criteria to review your work: Priority, Time, Energy (see Criteria).

We also recommend you go through all the preferences to specify output folders and various settings.

Collect

Use the Collect Thoughts screen regularly to make sure of the following:

Process

Process Thoughts into:

Actions consist of the following:

Whenever a thought requires more than one physical action to be fulfilled, you can create a Project. This will allow you to group Actions and perform them in the sequence required. When you review your projects, you will be able to plan and organise them.

If a thought is related to an existing project or sub-project, you can add the new action to it.

Processing any thought should only take a few seconds: you are only deciding what should be done with the thought, not acting on it. Once a thought is processed it will not appeared anymore on the Collect Thoughts screen.

Organise, Review, Do

Once the whole picture of your work is in front of you, you can start doing the actions on your list according to your Context (where you are), the energy and time you have available.

You should review your information regularly: daily for actions and projects, weekly for the Someday/Maybe items.

When you first start using ThinkingRock, the three steps required to get from a thought to an action into your "Do ASAP actions" list might seem cumbersome but this tool is designed to encourage clear thinking. Going regularly to the Collect Thoughts screen encourages you to enter all you other thoughts everytime and not just the action which came to mind.

Similarly, when you plan your projects, we strongly recommend that you enter the Purpose of the project, the Vision of the results, Brainstorming all ideas and Organization of them. This information will help you to be more effective, motivated, clear, productive and innovative. Being clear about why you are doing a project and what you hope to achieve is the best way to make it a successful and enjoyable challenge.