How to decide what to do

[markjl]

I guess this is a very similar problem to everyone else. I read the book, I understand and very much like the notion of next action. I consider myself to be rigorous, disciplined and generally quite perfect.

However I have a current example. I established some things to do, notably updating my website. I thought about it quite carefully and determined exactly what I needed to do and then got going but found that I didn't want to do what I had set out to do and ended up doing something quite different, something probably like flow, that I feel is the best thing to do.

However what happens to things that I had predetermined to do? They are all still valid, worthy excellent things but probably more boring. As I look back on this difficulty I realize that as I start to work naturally I drop into flow and do the things that I feel that should be done. But what about all these pre-established tasks? they might get done, they might get done later, they might not get done at all because as I go along I determine that they're less important.

I feel as if somehow I'm deceiving myself or not doing what I should be doing and yet I am doing what I should be doing. What is your advice apart from seeing a psychiatrist to determine whether I'm going loopy. I feel like there is not a general rule, that it's impossible to advise me: do what you think you ought to be doing.

I don't really know how to explain this. I work alone, unless I'm working for customers. When I'm doing orders, everything is clear I just need to execute the order. When its like fuzzy stuff for myself, determining what is really the most important thing to do is not obvious. I guess I just have to chill out and go with my instinct. I am interested in finding out what you do and how you make the decision about what you do on a daily basis.

Of course I have like everybody else a list of next actions which is too long to be done today. I just have to live with this. I have found the method useful though, especially having the list of things to do prearranged so that when I have five minutes I can just pick it up and do stuff. I'm having some trouble organizing projects: a set of related actions but I think this is a bit related to the software that I'm using as to whether I group tasks together or not.

That's a kind of introduction I guess to me although not too coherent. Looking forward to reading you and I hope participating in this forum. Regards.

 

[mcogilvie]

I think what you are saying makes perfect sense and is pretty common. A lot of us like to plan, sometimes in detail. However, once we get started on something, doing the work leads us in a somewhat different direction. Given that, how much should we plan? David Allen's answer is "Plan as much as you need to in order to get it off your mind." It's a good answer, but obscures the fact that a lot of our projects don't come to pass the way we planned. He also says that "The value of future planning lies in the change in present behavior." A lot of the time only the next action is needed. Let me give an example. Several time a month I write a brief report on someone else's work, referee reports for journals or book reviews. I have boiled my process to a sequence: browse, take notes, draft, revise, polish final. To start, I need only pick up the work and browse through it. If I feel moved to take some notes, it's fine, but if not, that's the next step. I don't plan: I just fall through to the next step. I may do the last three steps in one sitting if things are flowing or there is a tight deadline, or I may decide I've reached a stopping point before finishing. I have a single next action for this simple project at all times. For most people, the majority of their projects are like this. Some people like to think of next actions as bookmarks that track what's next. As David Allen says, "Plan as much as you need to, but as little as you can get by with."

p.s. Yes, I am quoting from memory. I guess I have internalized a lot of GTD by now.

 

[Cpu_Modern]

But what about all these pre-established tasks?

Nothing.

The point is to reach your goals, to finish projects. We are not in some form of contest who executes his plans the most beautiful way. The point is not doing a lot of tasks. If you can, finish your projects without doing any work at all!

 

[clgreen]

I'm just getting started. In fact this is my first post. But, I wanted to chime in that you have two excellent pieces of advice here. I'm already participating to have similar issues as you've stated. As a writer, I know plans are not set in stone and expect this to also apply to the GTD method. Good luck as we step into this new way of living. Best wishes.

 

[Oogiem]

However I have a current example. I established some things to do, notably updating my website. I thought about it quite carefully and determined exactly what I needed to do and then got going but found that I didn't want to do what I had set out to do and ended up doing something quite different, something probably like flow, that I feel is the best thing to do.

However what happens to things that I had predetermined to do? They are all still valid, worthy excellent things but probably more boring. As I look back on this difficulty I realize that as I start to work naturally I drop into flow and do the things that I feel that should be done. But what about all these pre-established tasks? they might get done, they might get done later, they might not get done at all because as I go along I determine that they're less important.

I feel as if somehow I'm deceiving myself or not doing what I should be doing and yet I am doing what I should be doing. What is your advice

Plans change. Some people feel that planning anything beyond the goal and the next action is too much. In my world I tend to plan actions a lot further in advance and they rarely change but on occasion they do.

What you need to look at is the goal for the project complete? Did you solve the problem that you set up the project for? Are the actions you didn't do really something that either belongs to a different project or are they someday/maybe actions that might be nice eventually? Are you just avoiding doing the boring stuff so need to buckle down and just get things done? If they are no longer relevant then delete them but if they are in a different category now then change where they are in your lists.

 

[kelstarrising]

There's a great quote from David that goes something like "You don't create the lists to only do what's on the lists. You create the lists to get that stuff off your mind so you can be free to do what you really want to do." I add plenty of stuff to my lists that I end up deleting or letting go of. Plans, standards, interests, priorities, life changes.

And this video from David might give you some more insight on this as well:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v86tGkEJft8[/video]

 

[ArcCaster]

"You don't create the lists to only do what's on the lists. You create the lists to get that stuff off your mind so you can be free to do what you really want to do."

What a great quote! For me, it changes my perspective entirely -- old perspective: 'at one time, this was important enough to get on my next action list -- have things really changed enough to remove it from my list'. new perspective: " at one time, this was on my mind -- now that I see it in a current and larger context, it is easy to say 'no, I don't think so', and remove it from my list"

 

[rachelp]

My @Home context is where I have next actions for personal projects. I sometimes have the problem you're describing where, when looking at @home, I decide something else is more important (usually something in my someday-maybe that I decided not to spend time on this week!).

A couple things have helped me. If I see a task I don't feel like doing, I revisit my project page. I look at my notes from the Natural Planning Model: read the mission, vision, desired outcome. Read the purpose and guiding principals. If these don't inspire me to do it right then, but I've made a commitment, then it's time for a pomodoro.

The pomodoro technique is to set a kitchen timer for 25 minutes and do the task, then you get a 5 minute break. Maybe you can tackle two pomodoros today and then review these tasks in your weekly review. The more I don't second-guess the priorities and tasks during the week, the more I get done. I trust that the weekly review has set me up -- and it should because it takes me about three hours every Friday!

For setting priorities, a good book is "Eat That Frog" - which gives the advice that the biggest frog (the thing you don't want to do the most) should be eaten first. Are you contexts prioritized by biggest frog to smallest frog?

Great question - I enjoyed thinking about this. Best of luck!