As I was setting things up for the week I wondered what gets in the way of getting GTD 'right'. I came to the conclusion that there was very little but what did get in the way had a major impact. The main failings for me are:
not writing things down - not having a single place I can feel confident has everything. I have the place but forget to actually commit the write it down. If I don't write it down I have to rely on memory (uh oh not a good idea at my age), rely on some subconscious trigger or worst of all wait until someone asks me if I have done such and such. That's the worst I feel such a prat , letting people down, I feel, I the worst feeling in the world- if only I'd etc etc....so the pocket book goes everywhere, I always have a pen and if it's in the book it gets looked at..now there's the next problem
not getting things done that are on the list(s); procrastination happens, well not really I let it happen. There's always something else to do (that's life) but in reality I've made a choice I decided to do x over y. Is that a problem? well only if I've put something off that I could have done and it's going to have a major impact by not being done..for example I have had "check out hotels in Paris for family break" for a week - if I don't get it done this week I'm a dead man! - so what I love about things being on the list is that I choose and I live with the consequences - actually that is quite liberating - what I found this week is that I did things that I would normally put off - "phone the garage about the car.." - don't want to because it will cost money..but it will cost a lot more if I leave it another week...
not finding what I need to do the action; this was a great feature of GTD the book as a tip but my procrastination was at Olympic heights, "can't do that now can't find the number", "oh that'll have to wait the file's in the other room"....I knew all the excuses, still do
- but now I have less excuse (thank you Mr Allen I owe you) now I question my next action every time "Where is the support for the action..." If I know I need a phone number may rather radically write it down, make a ref note to the project file..I have now started a week file (photo to follow) which has a section for Mon, Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri (all the support materials for these days meetings go in this section) this includes to do type actions where a specific day has been scheduled; materials for calls to in the @calls section, specific hard copies of waiting fors go in the @waiting for section with the name of the person owing me the action; @file ..waiting to put away (note to self need to get this sorted..too big ) - this is my version of a micro tickler file just for the coming week. If the weekly review works (gulp guilt trip coming up) then the file is set for the week, if not then chaos tends to ensure on Monday and every day after this, but when it works everything for the day is at hand.
Anyone else have any failings and tips for overcoming?
not writing things down - not having a single place I can feel confident has everything. I have the place but forget to actually commit the write it down. If I don't write it down I have to rely on memory (uh oh not a good idea at my age), rely on some subconscious trigger or worst of all wait until someone asks me if I have done such and such. That's the worst I feel such a prat , letting people down, I feel, I the worst feeling in the world- if only I'd etc etc....so the pocket book goes everywhere, I always have a pen and if it's in the book it gets looked at..now there's the next problem
not getting things done that are on the list(s); procrastination happens, well not really I let it happen. There's always something else to do (that's life) but in reality I've made a choice I decided to do x over y. Is that a problem? well only if I've put something off that I could have done and it's going to have a major impact by not being done..for example I have had "check out hotels in Paris for family break" for a week - if I don't get it done this week I'm a dead man! - so what I love about things being on the list is that I choose and I live with the consequences - actually that is quite liberating - what I found this week is that I did things that I would normally put off - "phone the garage about the car.." - don't want to because it will cost money..but it will cost a lot more if I leave it another week...
not finding what I need to do the action; this was a great feature of GTD the book as a tip but my procrastination was at Olympic heights, "can't do that now can't find the number", "oh that'll have to wait the file's in the other room"....I knew all the excuses, still do
- but now I have less excuse (thank you Mr Allen I owe you) now I question my next action every time "Where is the support for the action..." If I know I need a phone number may rather radically write it down, make a ref note to the project file..I have now started a week file (photo to follow) which has a section for Mon, Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri (all the support materials for these days meetings go in this section) this includes to do type actions where a specific day has been scheduled; materials for calls to in the @calls section, specific hard copies of waiting fors go in the @waiting for section with the name of the person owing me the action; @file ..waiting to put away (note to self need to get this sorted..too big ) - this is my version of a micro tickler file just for the coming week. If the weekly review works (gulp guilt trip coming up) then the file is set for the week, if not then chaos tends to ensure on Monday and every day after this, but when it works everything for the day is at hand.Anyone else have any failings and tips for overcoming?