How much freedom do you really have in choosing tasks?

Lucas W.

Lucas W.

Registered
Working as a manager, I’ve noticed that about 80% of my workweek is filled with routine tasks, meetings, or breaks. That leaves just 20% for everything else – which isn’t much – and I usually have to plan those tasks well in advance, no matter how much time or energy I’ll actually have then, because I might not get another chance to do them.

What I mean is that being able to pick a task based on context, time, or energy is a rare luxury, and planning my week ahead is pretty much a must.

I’m not complaining – it is what it is. But I’m curious to hear about your experiences.

Of course, I’m talking about my professional life here.

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It’s hard for me to offer specific comments without knowing how you differentiate routines vs. tasks. It may be worthwhile to ask why you are uncomfortable with the balance: Do you feel that you have no time for creative problem solving? Do you feel that your time horizon is kept too short? These are the kinds of things GTD can help you address.
 
mcogilvie said:
It’s hard for me to offer specific comments without knowing how you differentiate routines vs. tasks. It may be worthwhile to ask why you are uncomfortable with the balance: Do you feel that you have no time for creative problem solving? Do you feel that your time horizon is kept too short? These are the kinds of things GTD can help you address.
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I use “routine tasks” pretty broadly – basically anything I do regularly to keep things running smoothly: checking emails, preparing for meetings, reviewing sales reports, etc.

For me, 70–80% of my week is already defined before it even starts. Example: Monday morning I get sales reports, prep conclusions, discuss them at a noon meeting, and then follow up right after – Tuesday would be too late. Same with team meetings – my options are limited by everyone’s availability, so I have to plan ahead.

In GTD terms, that means I usually have only a handful of active projects and maybe 15 next actions in Todoist – and I still only get a few of them done.

I’m not complaining, just curious how this works for others using GTD.
 
Lucas W. said:
Working as a manager, I’ve noticed that about 80% of my workweek is filled with routine tasks, meetings, or breaks. That leaves just 20% for everything else – which isn’t much – and I usually have to plan those tasks well in advance, no matter how much time or energy I’ll actually have then, because I might not get another chance to do them.

What I mean is that being able to pick a task based on context, time, or energy is a rare luxury, and planning my week ahead is pretty much a must.

I’m not complaining – it is what it is. But I’m curious to hear about your experiences.

Of course, I’m talking about my professional life here.

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@Lucas W.

Thank you for your GTD forum post

From your analysis as such, would you equate "Routines" with "Maintenance of 'Never' completed/perennial Projects" ?

Thank you very much
 
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I noticed something similar working in a software company a few years ago. Once I had got through the daily standup meeting, sprint planning meeting, sprint review meeting, sprint retrospective meeting, feature planning meetings, company meeting, town hall meeting, 1-2-1 meeting, and once I had done code reviews for my colleagues' work and answered my emails and dealt with customer support tickets, there was not much time left to do any feature development.

What happened next was the annual appraisals, part of which was declaring the new technologies and skills we would learn over the coming year. I negotiated with my line manager some time for this learning, and from that point on there was no time left in the week to do any useful work for that company.
 
Lucas W. said:
Working as a manager, I’ve noticed that about 80% of my workweek is filled with routine tasks, meetings, or breaks. That leaves just 20% for everything else – which isn’t much – and I usually have to plan those tasks well in advance, no matter how much time or energy I’ll actually have then, because I might not get another chance to do them.

What I mean is that being able to pick a task based on context, time, or energy is a rare luxury, and planning my week ahead is pretty much a must.

I’m not complaining – it is what it is. But I’m curious to hear about your experiences.

Of course, I’m talking about my professional life here.

View attachment 2366
Click to expand...
That really resonates. In many management roles the “discretionary” part of the week is so limited that flexibility feels like a luxury rather than the norm.

I’ve found it helps to reframe: the routine tasks and meetings are part of the job’s higher-level commitments, so instead of resenting them, I treat them as the core container that gives shape to the week. The remaining 20% then becomes precious, almost like oxygen—you plan it carefully, protect it where you can, and accept that you can’t always choose tasks based on energy or context in the moment.

Where GTD still helps me is in surfacing clarity quickly when that rare discretionary window appears. If I unexpectedly get a free 45 minutes, I don’t have to burn time wondering what’s most relevant now—the lists are already there.

So yes, advanced planning is unavoidable, but it’s also comforting to know that if conditions shift, I can still pivot without starting from scratch.

Are you satisfied with your workflows? Sometimes what feels like “just the nature of the job” is actually a defect in the way work streams are designed. A solid value stream mapping of your core processes can often reveal leaner, smarter ways of running things—and free up more of that scarce 20%. Have you also looked at injections of automation?
 
cfoley said:
I noticed something similar working in a software company a few years ago. Once I had got through the daily standup meeting, sprint planning meeting, sprint review meeting, sprint retrospective meeting, feature planning meetings, company meeting, town hall meeting, 1-2-1 meeting, and once I had done code reviews for my colleagues' work and answered my emails and dealt with customer support tickets, there was not much time left to do any feature development.

What happened next was the annual appraisals, part of which was declaring the new technologies and skills we would learn over the coming year. I negotiated with my line manager some time for this learning, and from that point on there was no time left in the week to do any useful work for that company.
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Yeah, meetings (and everything around them) can easily take over the whole week. I guess you must have turned down plenty along the way, and still the calendar kept filling up.

Hmm.. Your conclusion doesn’t sound too optimistic. Did you change jobs/roles? And did you also feel back then that without carefully planning your week you just wouldn’t be able to keep up?
 
FocusGuy said:
@Lucas W. Hello Lucas, what tool did you use for this, it's amazing ! I would be interested to make this experiment...
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I use an app called Sunsama – it’s a daily/weekly planning tool. It’s one of the few apps I’ve been able to connect with my work Outlook calendar.
But I’m not sure I’d recommend it to others – I think many people would find it a bit quirky and complicated. Plus, the subscription is relatively pricey (around $20/month).

Personally, I only use about 10% of its features, and if I hadn’t started using its first, much simpler version a few years ago, I’d probably find it overwhelming today.

A simpler app with similar functionality would be Ellie Planner.
 
gtd solo-studente said:
@Lucas W.

Thank you for your GTD forum post

From your analysis as such, would you equate "Routines" with "Maintenance of 'Never' completed Projects" ?

Thank you very much
Click to expand...

“Maintenance” definitely feels like the right word.

But I’ve always thought of projects as something that should eventually be completed.
I think what I really have are more like “next actions” that end up on my calendar, sometimes supported by checklists.
 
Y_Lherieau said:
That really resonates. In many management roles the “discretionary” part of the week is so limited that flexibility feels like a luxury rather than the norm.

I’ve found it helps to reframe: the routine tasks and meetings are part of the job’s higher-level commitments, so instead of resenting them, I treat them as the core container that gives shape to the week. The remaining 20% then becomes precious, almost like oxygen—you plan it carefully, protect it where you can, and accept that you can’t always choose tasks based on energy or context in the moment.

Where GTD still helps me is in surfacing clarity quickly when that rare discretionary window appears. If I unexpectedly get a free 45 minutes, I don’t have to burn time wondering what’s most relevant now—the lists are already there.

So yes, advanced planning is unavoidable, but it’s also comforting to know that if conditions shift, I can still pivot without starting from scratch.

Are you satisfied with your workflows? Sometimes what feels like “just the nature of the job” is actually a defect in the way work streams are designed. A solid value stream mapping of your core processes can often reveal leaner, smarter ways of running things—and free up more of that scarce 20%. Have you also looked at injections of automation?
Click to expand...

Spot on – perfectly put.

I have almost exactly the same experience and thoughts. For me, properly identifying the core processes is what determines which routines and meetings to commit to — and ultimately what results I should expect. I keep thinking about my workflow this way, trying to fine-tune it. And it’s not easy.

As for automation and technical stuff — I don’t really feel much friction there at the moment, so my focus is more on choosing the right processes and meetings in the first place.
 
Lucas W. said:
“Maintenance” definitely feels like the right word.

But I’ve always thought of projects as something that should eventually be completed.
I think what I really have are more like “next actions” that end up on my calendar, sometimes supported by checklists.
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@Lucas W.

In strategically addressing Discretionary allocation alongside life's 'Compulsories' / 'Maintenance' / 'Routines' through color coding

Perennial Project(s) are kept appropriately current through Chronic Next Action(s) via Calendar or Contexts with possible Checklist(s) ?

Unless more clearly expressed at some prior juncture, perhaps worthily fills a GTD gap for life's 'Compulsories' / 'Maintenance' / 'Routines' to enhance Mind Like Water ?

As anyone sees GTD fit. . . .
 
Lucas W. said:
Yeah, meetings (and everything around them) can easily take over the whole week. I guess you must have turned down plenty along the way, and still the calendar kept filling up.

Hmm.. Your conclusion doesn’t sound too optimistic. Did you change jobs/roles? And did you also feel back then that without carefully planning your week you just wouldn’t be able to keep up?
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Yes, I tried a number of things. The first successful one was blocking out two contiguous hours for focussed work each day. The second was making sure that two hour block was at a time of day when I normally have high energy. However, it was looking at my GTD lists and realising that nothing I considered important was getting done that caused me to start thinking about this deeply.

Ultimately, I left and started my own company. It was for unrelated reasons, but this experience informed some decisions that I made. First, I will not trade time for money. Instead, I charge for outcomes. This incentivises me to do work well and quickly, and removes the temptation to work slowly for more money.

I also attend few meetings. When I do attend, it is because I think I will either add or receive value. I will usually try to send the invitation. It gives me the opportunity to set the meeting time to 40 mins instead of an hour, or 20 mins instead of half an hour. I suppose that this makes me seem overly grumpy. I am always happy to have a phone call with a colleague or client to catch up one to one about a project, help if they are stuck, or just chat about life in general.
 
That's remind me what I lived when I was at an insurance company and didn't knew GTD (sadly)
It also resonate to what I live now.
I appreciate GTD for collecting all ly engagements and how I may make them possible or not in reality.
My main problem is the one everybody live currently, eg choosing the right thing to do at the right time. Rider Carroll explained that for each decision there is a price to pay which is the mental load and the confusion resulting from it. Also lot of event such as meeting and so on takes a lot of energy. I did not really solve the problem of acting with GTD (which is the most important for me isn't it ? ) Sometime like today I just font know what to engage now. And don't tell me about Horizons. They are set and it doesn't solve the problem. I guess sometime I just have too much on my plate and it is too difficult to defer. I need to work on this part. How do you solve this yourself ?
 
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FocusGuy said:
That's remind me what I lived when I was at an insurance company and didn't knew GTD (sadly)
It also resonate to what I live now.
I appreciate GTD for collecting all ly engagements and how I may make them possible or not in reality.
My main problem is the one everybody live currently, eg choosing the right thing to do at the right time. Rider Carroll explained that for each decision there is a price to pay which is the mental load and the confusion resulting from it. Also lot of event such as meeting and so on takes a lot of energy. I did not really solve the problem of acting with GTD (which is the most important for me isn't it ? ) Sometime like today I just font know what to engage now. And don't tell me about Horizons. They are set and it doesn't solve the problem. I guess sometime I just have too much on my plate and it is too difficult to defer. I need to work on this part. How do you solve this yourself ?
Click to expand...
I’ve lived that same “I just don’t know what to engage now” moment — lists in order, horizons clear, yet still stuck. What shifted it for me was layering GTD with the 12 Week Year mindset.

It’s almost like adopting an athlete’s approach. A pro athlete doesn’t wake up and pick training by intuition from a long menu of possible drills. If the prescription today is 8×400m intervals, that’s what gets done. Period. The tolerance for background noise is zero, because otherwise performance will be hindered at the next race.

Applying that frame to work and life changed things for me. Instead of staring at a complete inventory of everything I could do, I ask: what’s my equivalent of “today’s training prescription”? The 12WY narrows the focus, GTD keeps the capture/review system trustworthy, and together they reduce that paralyzing indecision in the moment.

GTD and 12WY work for me nicely hand in hand. I can’t set more than three 12WY objectives in a 12-week cycle, and I only allow myself two personal development commitments in that period. That’s what I keep in my “warehouse.” I’m close to my 40th 12WY cycle now, and I’ve learned that even setting three objectives per cycle is often having my eyes bigger than my stomach.
 
FocusGuy said:
I guess sometime I just have too much on my plate and it is too difficult to defer. I need to work on this part. How do you solve this yourself ?
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I would get tough with yourself about this. You either make a conscious decision to defer up front, or you make an implicit decision to defer every time you choose an action to do.
 
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