Hi everyone!
Would be so grateful for your input --
I am a PHD student (philosophy & literature) with a million ideas, some of which need to go into my dissertation (whose scope is still being defined in terms of what goes in and what doesn't).
I'm having trouble running GTD when it comes to recurring Ideas I have that might pertain to my dissertation or might be a future writing project I haven’t conceived of yet — or might just be personal musings.
(--I do have a great Filing System thanks to GTD, with many research topics alphabetized, and this is wonderful! The problem is that the line between what is actionable ("write about this now!") and what is reference ("really don't need to look at this right now") is extremely blurry and changes very rapidly -- IF i can every come to a decision about which is which!
It feels like all my good ideas are getting lost and I am constantly trapped in a cycle of a) conceiving the idea; b)writing it down in a flurry of inspiration; c) losing track of it d)re-inventing the wheel a few months later when the same (or an iteration of the same) idea re-occurs to me, as if anew. Each time there are variations, and I always seem to forget that I have had this thought before — but apparently am not appropriately engaged with it. You’d think it would be easy — the range of possible next actions/outcomes associated with ideas like this is really only limited to writing(i.e. writing is the main thing I could do with it). But still — because it has to do with writing I’m finding it very challenging to figure out how to incorporate this stuff into my system.
When I do the GTD method and come across notes like these (that have to do with “big ideas” that are potential parts of my dissertation, or other writing projects that I haven’t conceived of yet), I just get so overwhelmed that I seldom am able to do the processing phase to completion when it comes to these type of notes. What is the next action, for example, on a really good idea I had when it comes to fiction/philosophy (my topic).
Here’s a bit of a transcript of what comes to mind when I run the Processing phase on a given note:
Should this go in my dissertation?
If so, where? Here’s where I get so overwhelmed — it’s the kind of thing that could go anywhere?
Can I really cover it in this dissertation? I have way too many chapters as it is…etc.
Is there room for it at all?
If not, should it go to some other writing project I haven’t conceived of yet?
In the meantime, if it’s a reference or a someday/maybe, how should I store it?
Should I just start typing it up right away — for future reference?
My fear is that then it just sits in the computer, lost and I forget about it.
Or just keep it in its paper form?
But then if there are SO many papers like this — but this one is important — how do I actually start converting it into something tangible?
Months later I find myself writing a new note with a similar insight.
I’ve basically been struggling with this ever since childhood, when ideas would occur to me (some philosophical, some having to do with art, etc). GTD has helped me hugely when it comes to more practical matters, but these more diffuse issues (like writing a dissertation) are much much more challenging to me when it comes to the Processing phase.
Would be so grateful for your input --
I am a PHD student (philosophy & literature) with a million ideas, some of which need to go into my dissertation (whose scope is still being defined in terms of what goes in and what doesn't).
I'm having trouble running GTD when it comes to recurring Ideas I have that might pertain to my dissertation or might be a future writing project I haven’t conceived of yet — or might just be personal musings.
(--I do have a great Filing System thanks to GTD, with many research topics alphabetized, and this is wonderful! The problem is that the line between what is actionable ("write about this now!") and what is reference ("really don't need to look at this right now") is extremely blurry and changes very rapidly -- IF i can every come to a decision about which is which!
It feels like all my good ideas are getting lost and I am constantly trapped in a cycle of a) conceiving the idea; b)writing it down in a flurry of inspiration; c) losing track of it d)re-inventing the wheel a few months later when the same (or an iteration of the same) idea re-occurs to me, as if anew. Each time there are variations, and I always seem to forget that I have had this thought before — but apparently am not appropriately engaged with it. You’d think it would be easy — the range of possible next actions/outcomes associated with ideas like this is really only limited to writing(i.e. writing is the main thing I could do with it). But still — because it has to do with writing I’m finding it very challenging to figure out how to incorporate this stuff into my system.
When I do the GTD method and come across notes like these (that have to do with “big ideas” that are potential parts of my dissertation, or other writing projects that I haven’t conceived of yet), I just get so overwhelmed that I seldom am able to do the processing phase to completion when it comes to these type of notes. What is the next action, for example, on a really good idea I had when it comes to fiction/philosophy (my topic).
Here’s a bit of a transcript of what comes to mind when I run the Processing phase on a given note:
Should this go in my dissertation?
If so, where? Here’s where I get so overwhelmed — it’s the kind of thing that could go anywhere?
Can I really cover it in this dissertation? I have way too many chapters as it is…etc.
Is there room for it at all?
If not, should it go to some other writing project I haven’t conceived of yet?
In the meantime, if it’s a reference or a someday/maybe, how should I store it?
Should I just start typing it up right away — for future reference?
My fear is that then it just sits in the computer, lost and I forget about it.
Or just keep it in its paper form?
But then if there are SO many papers like this — but this one is important — how do I actually start converting it into something tangible?
Months later I find myself writing a new note with a similar insight.
I’ve basically been struggling with this ever since childhood, when ideas would occur to me (some philosophical, some having to do with art, etc). GTD has helped me hugely when it comes to more practical matters, but these more diffuse issues (like writing a dissertation) are much much more challenging to me when it comes to the Processing phase.