An Epiphany: Why I Kept Failing at GTD

[Oogiem]

I felt a second wave of overwhelm when I realized that my lists can't help me. The amount that I have committed to in my system doesn't fit into the laws of time and space.

I can empathize with you. My idea to help: Take time now at the end of the year when many people take stock of where they have been and where they are going to review up the higher levels.

Are your areas of focus well defined?
Do you know in your heart of hearts why you are here on this planet at this time in this space? No? Then can you figure it out?
What can you do that no one else in the world can do?
If you were to die next week what would your obituary say about you?
Do you like it?
What can you do now to change how you will be remembered?
What do you secretly long to do but never find the time/energy/money/space or whatever things is holding you back to move on?
What is the smallest tiny action that is the first step to realizing that dream?
Is that dream a project for you in GTD now?
If not why not?
If yes are you happy with how you are progressing?
Can you sort your desires and ideas into any broad groups of related items?
If so then can you pick the most important to you one in each group and only have the actions related to that project as active? (You might consider each of those groupings as an area of focus)

Look back through the forums, I know there have been many versions of the year end or solstice review mentioned and a lot of them are asking yourself the deep questions. The answers can be painful to hear but often lead to a much more useful GTD system.

In my case as I start my year end review and next year planning I know that my areas of focus have changed and my system and my expectations have not changed to match that. So I am re-evaluating each individual area very carefully. I have always had a personal statement of purpose but this winter for the first time in decades it doesn't feel quite right for me, so I ma noodling on what has changed and what I need todo to re-write it to be me here and now. I also have an obituary written and I haven't updated mine in several years, I feel it's time to acknowledge some of what I do that makes me unique and so I plan to do that as well. I also realized that part of the AOF change is that I AM working on some long term dreams. One tactic to keep track is I have a log file, not really a diary but more a date listing of major projects completed. As I have been reviewing it (I update it each month) I can see that although I feel I didn't accomplish much at all this year that is not true and in fact I've done a lot that moved me forward on the path I have chosen. I also had previously sorted a lot of my ideas into main groups but I see now that they are both too broad and too focused. So part of my year end review will be to move things around so they more clearly fit into my new AOFs.

So try some of these exercises and see if that helps.

 

[CJSullivan]

I was creative, curious and ambitious until I found that creating ideas is the easy part. The hard part is to focus to make them happen - one by one...

Exactly! People often use "creativity" and "ideation" interchangeably. Creativity is a dance between the ephemeral realm of ideas and the physical realm of the senses. Creativity encompasses the conception, gestation, and eventual birth of an idea - it's the whole package. For some, it's easy to come up with ideas and not so easy to execute them. For others, the execution's the thing, and they rely on great ideas from others to spur them on. And for some, the entire creative process is what turns them on - either because it comes naturally or because they've practised it. Creativity is all about choices. IMNSHO...

 

[treelike]

I was creative, curious and ambitious until I found that creating ideas is the easy part. The hard part is to focus to make them happen - one by one...

But you forget that you also need to be creative, curious and ambitious to find ways to make the things happen. In life, at every level except possibly the runway. things rarely go to plan.

 

[gatorm]

I can empathize with you. My idea to help: Take time now at the end of the year when many people take stock of where they have been and where they are going to review up the higher levels.

Are your areas of focus well defined?
Do you know in your heart of hearts why you are here on this planet at this time in this space? No? Then can you figure it out?
What can you do that no one else in the world can do?
If you were to die next week what would your obituary say about you?
Do you like it?
What can you do now to change how you will be remembered?
What do you secretly long to do but never find the time/energy/money/space or whatever things is holding you back to move on?
What is the smallest tiny action that is the first step to realizing that dream?
Is that dream a project for you in GTD now?
If not why not?
If yes are you happy with how you are progressing?
Can you sort your desires and ideas into any broad groups of related items?
If so then can you pick the most important to you one in each group and only have the actions related to that project as active? (You might consider each of those groupings as an area of focus)

Oogiem - Thanks for this. So many great ideas here. I remember your interview with Kelly and being struck by how creative you are and how magically you corral that energy into your system in a way that works for you.

I don't have trouble getting a ton done and I'm happy with the progress of my goals/my AOF. It's finding the balance between all the dreams I have and then only having active projects on the stuff I am really working on today/this month/this quarter. After the dreamer has put all her ideas/possibilities out there, it's the Editor/Prioritizer/Curator that needs to own my system, so it feels more manageable and actionable for day-to-day combat.

I spent time over the past week - and took many of your questions with me into my review/reflection/refresh. Thanks.

I also remembered David talking about journaling - which I will be doing more of this year. It'll give that "dreamer" a place to empty out my head and have an open space to put ideas out there. There is a great site for it (maybe you guys know it already: 750words.com).

Happy new year!

 

[hjobanputra]

The post captured sentiments of a lot of GTDers

I like the post and the way in which it captured the sentiments. In my short but exciting GTD journey, I found a number of "point of failures" that a typical GTDer might face. I have tried to summarize them here> http://wp.me/p45fvO-b2