About 2 years ago I started with GTD, and managed to get massively organised, cleared out my overloaded filing cabinet holding stuff going back 15 years, created my lists of areas of focus, projects and next actions, and was beginning to get a bit of control.
So why am I sitting in my office on a Friday afternoon with a bulging tray for processing, a pile of unread e-mails, a backlog of work, and the feeling that I just want to run away?
The biggest problem that I can see is that I have a heavily committed hard landscape (I'm a doctor and a manager, so have both appointments to see patients, and meetings). On top of that the demands on my time and responsibilities are coming in faster than I can action them. The two-minute rule has made a big difference, but the result is that my list of things that aren't yet done are largely projects that will take some time to do.
I seem to spend my time "firefighting", doing the things that have hard deadlines e.g. writing the training programme for the new doctors that start on Monday, completing a court report due for the hearing next week, writing policy documents that are needed to underpin a new government ordered immunisation campaign starting in October. I've never really managed to do a consistent weekly review, though until recently I have been keeping my e-mail inbox clear, and I've been returning all phone calls within a reasonable time. But I'm getting complaints about the things I have failed to do.
I now feel so overwhelmed I don't even know where to start. My own manager, not to mention his manager, are equally overloaded.
Please can someone help me identify the next actions to get back on the GTD wagon?
Many thanks
Ruth
So why am I sitting in my office on a Friday afternoon with a bulging tray for processing, a pile of unread e-mails, a backlog of work, and the feeling that I just want to run away?
The biggest problem that I can see is that I have a heavily committed hard landscape (I'm a doctor and a manager, so have both appointments to see patients, and meetings). On top of that the demands on my time and responsibilities are coming in faster than I can action them. The two-minute rule has made a big difference, but the result is that my list of things that aren't yet done are largely projects that will take some time to do.
I seem to spend my time "firefighting", doing the things that have hard deadlines e.g. writing the training programme for the new doctors that start on Monday, completing a court report due for the hearing next week, writing policy documents that are needed to underpin a new government ordered immunisation campaign starting in October. I've never really managed to do a consistent weekly review, though until recently I have been keeping my e-mail inbox clear, and I've been returning all phone calls within a reasonable time. But I'm getting complaints about the things I have failed to do.
I now feel so overwhelmed I don't even know where to start. My own manager, not to mention his manager, are equally overloaded.
Please can someone help me identify the next actions to get back on the GTD wagon?
Many thanks
Ruth