Slice of GTD Life with Emily

[René Lie]

To bring this back to the interview, my wife is a human services professional, her cousin has a special needs child, and at one time I worked for a corporate partner of New York State Industries For the Disabled (NYSID), which exists to promote hiring of individuals with disabilities at private-sector companies. In addition, my wife got her second (or third -- I can't remember) master's degree while we were together. So I found a fair amount to relate to.

I do not have a PhD. So my ability to relate ends there.

I really respect how she learned to embed GTD principles into the onboarding process for her employees without requiring them to formally adopt GTD. I've worked at organizations that have tried to use tools as a substitute for best practices, and that's always a waste of time. "Hey, use the tasks function in Teams" pretty much means people can generate more agreements with themselves and others that they can mismanage with greater velocity.

As I'm kinda flying without GTD at the moment, I can very much related to the unpleasant feeling of having a recurring thought about "I need to do..." multiple times. It doesn't feel good.

Hey! Her example was, "I need to call the plumber." OK, I'm only about 15 minutes in and need to take a pause, but I'm hoping there will be a more robust discussion about toilets. It's largely unexplored territory for GTD. It needs more focus.

Sigh. So this is what a Slice of GTD Life interview looks like when John interview an intelligent, well-adjusted human being. As opposed to someone like... me.

Hm. As I catch up on these interviews, I have a feeling I'm going to be feeling like this a lot.

I love your kind of humor, man!

And I have a vivid memory of your intervew (and toilet story) - it was actually a very good interview!

 

[bcmyers2112]

I love your kind of humor, man!

And I have a vivid memory of your intervew (and toilet story) - it was actually a very good interview!

I'll take you at your word. But my focus in watching Emily's interview is to learn from her. She's clearly far more mature in her GTD journey than I am. This isn't a moral judgment about myself or her -- just an observation. Her GTD system is working. At the moment I, I don't even have a system.

I also appreciate her ability to articulate in a very clear and simple way how GTD helps her and how she implements it in her life. I tend to obscure things with unnecessary complications.

It will be interesting to see if there's more discussion of how she uses Omnifocus. I'm not a Mac users so Omnifocus isn't an option. But I would find it of value to understand how she applies it -- the underlying principles might help me use my own tools more effectively.
Anyway, like I said, I'm only 15 minutes in but I'm hooked.

@John Forrister, I take it Emily is not on the forum? I ask because it would be great to be able to engage in a dialogue with her in this thread. Or, barring that, at least express my appreciation for her sharing her experience.

 

[René Lie]

I'll take you at your word. But my focus in watching Emily's interview is to learn from her. She's clearly far more mature in her GTD journey than I am. This isn't a moral judgment about myself or her -- just an observation. Her GTD system is working. At the moment I, I don't even have a system.

I also appreciate her ability to articulate in a very clear and simple way how GTD helps her and how she implements it in her life. I tend to obscure things with unnecessary complications.

It will be interesting to see if there's more discussion of how she uses Omnifocus. I'm not a Mac users so Omnifocus isn't an option. But I would find it of value to understand how she applies it -- the underlying principles might help me use my own tools more effectively.
Anyway, like I said, I'm only 15 minutes in but I'm hooked.

@John Forrister, I take it Emily is not on the forum? I ask because it would be great to be able to engage in a dialogue with her in this thread. Or, barring that, at least express my appreciation for her sharing her experience.

As I recall, she shares her email address in the end!

 

[mksilk2]

A very enjoyable, informative interview. Thanks for sharing John and Emily.

 

[John Forrister]

@John Forrister, I take it Emily is not on the forum? I ask because it would be great to be able to engage in a dialogue with her in this thread. Or, barring that, at least express my appreciation for her sharing her experience.

She has access, but may not be watching this thread or the forums in general.

 

[bcmyers2112]

She has access, but may not be watching this thread or the forums in general.

Got it. Not a big deal. I'm getting a lot from the interview, that's the main thing.

 

[Ariadne Marques]

I just watched Emily's interview. What a delight! I loved the comments about recognizing that capturing is its own thing and how separating capturing from doing is a life changing skill! Becoming comfortable with the "non-closure" of things is also something I learned (and continue practicing with varying success rates) with GTD. Such a calming perspective from Emily, thank you!

 

[John Forrister]

I loved the comments about recognizing that capturing is its own thing and how separating capturing from doing is a life changing skill!

Amen to that! Combining the steps turns the steps into a slippery slope.

 

[bcmyers2112]

I just love the clarity of her thinking. It's focused. Makes me think GTD can be like a lens in that sense.