Work from your context lists. Why would you have reminders for projects? You have a list of projects and the very next action on a context list. when you are at that context look at your list. If you are at your office, you can't possibly vacuum your living room rug. So why would you have some sort of reminder pop up for that task or project? However, anything that has to be done at a certain day or time should go on your calendar. That would be the only time I might have a next action on a list and the item on my calendar. For example, my wife needs something from the store that has to be picked up today. It is an all day appointment because it just has to be done today. If I had a client meeting at 10 it would be on my calendar at 10 today. Even then I don't have reminders set on my calendar app. In fact the only notifications I have set are incoming calls and messages. And please turn off your email notifications. At one point I had an auto response to let people know I check email periodically. If it is urgent please call or text. It cut down on the "urgent" emails I received.
Experiencing Friction with GTD After One Month – Seeking Workflow Optimization Advice
- Thread starter achieve
- Start date
When you say “reminders” do you mean “actions”? I’m not clear on why you would have a lot of reminders.
I think the key to managing overload ...or when your input exceeds your capacity to process...is to examine what is getting in to your system and what you do with it.
I've set up filters to push things into email folders. For example, I have a filter for anything I'm copied on (cc). While those emails may be important they are rarely critical. I will process them, but after I've tackled those emails directed to me as the primary recepient (To). I've got a separate filter for the emails I blind copy to me (bcc). Lots of those are essentially "waiting fors". They will also get processed but only when I get time like during my weekly review during particularly busy weeks.
Having said that, I still prefer email inputs over almost any other method. Because my system is almost exclusively digital, I set up email delivery for my bills, reports and requests. I find that it is much easier to push these things into the appropriate folders in my digital system (I've set up systems for that inside of Evernote).
Also, don't feel bad when you have low energy. Everyone has to go through those phases (at least I do). when that happens I try to identify low energy tasks. Sometimes a change of location has helped me. When the weather cooperates, I like to leave my home office and work from the patio. Fresh air always rejuvenates me.
In one of my interviews with David Allen we discussed what to do when there is too much to do. You might find it helpful.
youtu.be
Dave
I've set up filters to push things into email folders. For example, I have a filter for anything I'm copied on (cc). While those emails may be important they are rarely critical. I will process them, but after I've tackled those emails directed to me as the primary recepient (To). I've got a separate filter for the emails I blind copy to me (bcc). Lots of those are essentially "waiting fors". They will also get processed but only when I get time like during my weekly review during particularly busy weeks.
Having said that, I still prefer email inputs over almost any other method. Because my system is almost exclusively digital, I set up email delivery for my bills, reports and requests. I find that it is much easier to push these things into the appropriate folders in my digital system (I've set up systems for that inside of Evernote).
Also, don't feel bad when you have low energy. Everyone has to go through those phases (at least I do). when that happens I try to identify low energy tasks. Sometimes a change of location has helped me. When the weather cooperates, I like to leave my home office and work from the patio. Fresh air always rejuvenates me.
In one of my interviews with David Allen we discussed what to do when there is too much to do. You might find it helpful.
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
youtu.be
Dave
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience so openly — what you’re going through is extremely common among people who’ve just started implementing GTD more seriously. And it’s a great sign that you’re noticing these tensions; they show you’re engaging at the right level.
One insight from me that might be helpful:
Many new practitioners initially have a hard time fully clicking with what David Allen calls the Three-Fold Nature of Work — especially the part about consciously allocating time to “define work” (organizing, clarifying, reviewing), and not just “doing” work or “doing work as it shows up.”
For years, most of us have been conditioned to stay almost exclusively in “doing mode,” reacting to tasks as they appear, even if that doing wasn’t actually moving us meaningfully toward any desired outcomes. As your collection muscle strengthens (which it clearly has!), your system surfaces everything — and it’s normal to feel temporarily overwhelmed. It’s not that GTD is creating more work — it’s just exposing all the work that was always there but previously hidden in mental clutter.
A few thoughts on your specific struggles:
• Collect > Process Imbalance:
This is often a sign that it’s time to shift energy upwards — to strengthen the clarifying and organizing habits even more. Sometimes it’s not about processing everything daily, but about building a sustainable rhythm: maybe an emergency mini-clarifying pass at day’s end, plus deeper processing during a Weekly Review. Also, it’s okay to admit that some “captured” items are no longer relevant or can be deferred/sidelined.
• Energy Drain and Low Motivation:
It helps to keep a “Low Energy” context list — easy wins you can tackle when you’re fatigued (e.g., “browse ideas for vacation” or “clear 5 emails”). Also, recognize that real rest is as legitimate an action as any task. Planning for meaningful recovery is absolutely part of GTD.
• Externally Assigned Tasks and Resentment:
When a new request comes in, treating it as just another input to clarify objectively (“What is this? What’s the next action?”) can create a bit of emotional distance. It’s not about the person, it’s about the item. And if it truly doesn’t belong to you, GTD also gives you tools to renegotiate commitments. « Getting rid of the monkey on your shoulders »
• Handling Urgent Fire Drills:
Fire drills are part of life. Ideally, you capture them too — but in truly urgent situations, it’s okay to act first and record later. GTD is flexible, not rigid. After the storm, it’s important to realign by re-trusting your lists and your Weekly Review.
Bottom line: you’re not doing GTD wrong — you’re facing the natural growing pains that come with building real self-management capacity. Stick with it, and it’ll pay off.
Happy to dive deeper into any of these if it would help!
Stefan Godo
GTD Connect
1. once you learn a skill (in this case Capturing) you tend to overdo it. because it is is easy... Just remember when you learned to bike.
2. if you do not have a "goal", everything feels like an opportunity. Which you do not want to miss. FOMO kicks in.
Solution:
1. short term: (over)using Someday/Maybe (will make Clarifying easier on many items) - obviously an extremely overfilled S/M list if not reviewed with some reasonable frequence might creep in and again "require attention"
2. long term: Get to know your higher horizons - which is an iterative process:
a) ask yourself which input channel/Inbox brings you what "stuff" (whit what frequency) that really required ACTION on your side (you learn your current preferences actual commitments
b) write down/draw your areas of focus/longer term goals/vision - there are good questions in the relevant chapters of the book(s)
(this will help you filter/eliminate excessive capturing)
3. Technical:
check whether there is any duplicity in your capturing (most frequently people are doing screenshots of "important, "not to forget" stuff, even if those are in other inboxes as well)
Yes, you're right. I did mean "actions". Sorry for not making it clear.
I think your reply is concise, humorous and practically valuable. Thank you. In my previous reply to FocusGuy, I also endorsed the approach of quickly sorting things out on a piece of paper.
Yes, I couldn't agree more. It's essential to keep the GTD framework, which, of course, requires learning and practice, while adapting it to the actual circumstances of our daily lives.
Although I haven't mastered its application yet, I can see that once it is applied proficiently, it won't be complicated.
Thank you so much for your reply!
The metaphor of learning to ride a bike is really apt!
I noticed that in previous responses from others, the Someday/Maybe list was also mentioned. I've already moved some items from my Next Actions List into it, and it has indeed brought me a great sense of relief.
What you referred to as "higher horizons" is something I really need to think more about. In the past two days, following the content of other previous posts, I've been more focused on creating my Next Actions List starting from the project list, rather than being inclined to passively receive tasks and write them in the inbox. This also makes me feel much better.
When I say “reminders” I actually mean “actions”, Sorry for not making it clear.
In other words, there are items in the action lists of some projects that I won't be working on currently, and they need to be moved to a place where I won't see them, like the Someday/Maybe list. I understand what you said, and it's also mentioned in the book. But thanks for elaborating on it again.
Got it!
Yes, I make my actions lists as short as I can. Moving things to someday/maybe, setting a future start date, lots of filtering, etc.
Yeah just put the very next action on your context list. No others. You can only do the very next action. And you don't want reminders on any of your next actions. You can only do them where you can do them. You can "do" two or three or finish, but if you stop and have not completed the project, put the very next action on your context list. Some day may be is for project type items that you've chosen to postpone or just haven't really decided to do them soon.
Last edited:
Thank you for your answer!I think the key to managing overload ...or when your input exceeds your capacity to process...is to examine what is getting in to your system and what you do with it.
I've set up filters to push things into email folders. For example, I have a filter for anything I'm copied on (cc). While those emails may be important they are rarely critical. I will process them, but after I've tackled those emails directed to me as the primary recepient (To). I've got a separate filter for the emails I blind copy to me (bcc). Lots of those are essentially "waiting fors". They will also get processed but only when I get time like during my weekly review during particularly busy weeks.
Having said that, I still prefer email inputs over almost any other method. Because my system is almost exclusively digital, I set up email delivery for my bills, reports and requests. I find that it is much easier to push these things into the appropriate folders in my digital system (I've set up systems for that inside of Evernote).
Also, don't feel bad when you have low energy. Everyone has to go through those phases (at least I do). when that happens I try to identify low energy tasks. Sometimes a change of location has helped me. When the weather cooperates, I like to leave my home office and work from the patio. Fresh air always rejuvenates me.
In one of my interviews with David Allen we discussed what to do when there is too much to do. You might find it helpful.
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
Dave
Actually, to be honest, I often find myself doing some insignificant things according to my will instead of fully following the Getting Things Done method. If I had fully adopted GTD, perhaps my inbox and action list would have been emptied long ago. At the same time, my energy is limited, so I often need to recover, and I think this may have created a certain negative cycle.
Also, thank you for recommending this video. I have watched it, and I think the above content in it is really good. I'd like to excerpt a statement from David Allen in the video:
"You need to train yourself to think about outcomes and actions. You need to train yourself to recognize what's got your attention, why it has your attention, what you need to think about and decide, and then organize it so that it no longer distracts you and so that you can get it done."
So if i have a project I'll use the one i just finished that was on my project list for a while.
Project list entry: Plant Rhododendrons for Melissa.
Next action: @Melissa note- Where would you like these planted.
When I got an answer I put @Errands- Lowes buy rhododendrons. They didn't have them. Out of season.
@Waiting for note Lowes to get Rhododendrons.
Last week @computer-check to see if lowes has plants. This is the only time I had two next actions for this project on a list.
@Errands- Lowes buy plants.
Then @Home- Plant rhododendrons.
Project is deleted. and all completed next actions deleted when complete. I only ever have the very next action on my list.
I could have easily bought the plants come home and planted them right then (2 actions done) and be done but I didn't do it that way.
I only have 8. and 3 are Agendas.
@Computer- anything i can do computer wise. Internet etc. Can be at phone or laptop. If you are in two places during the day you might want to have contexts for each place. If there are only things you can do in those places. You don't need to see things you can't possibly do. That is a drain.
@Phone- things I can only do on phone. Calls and texts.
@Home
@Errands
@Waiting for.
then my agendas. Example of my @Computer list. They are the very next actions for a project on my project list.
Please don't make it so complicated. You want to work on your projects not your system.
Well yes. That is why you put the very next action on a context list. I may be wrong but it seems like you are saying you try to put all your next actions associated with a project somewhere. I don't. I have a list of projects and the very next action on my context list. So I only see the next action. And don't miss your weekly review. That is so important to the whole system. I would say the people who have the hardest time with GTD are the ones who don't do one. Hope this helps.
You responded to Fooddude, but I'm going to respond anyway.
Of course, OmniFocus (what I use for my personal tasks) supports all this juggling. Not all systems support those things that easily. But I (laboriously) got a fair bit of it to work in a Trello-like interface that's my best choice at work.
For example, I'm raising seedlings in a more ambitious way than usual this year, but most of the completed actions (get plug trays, get pelleted seed for this, get vermiculite for that, blah blah) just get checked off and vanish. The stuff I might want to remember for reference--when I planted something, and how, for example, so that if it's a success I know to repeat it--I log in my garden notes. Those notes are nowhere near my action lists.
Future actions often go into lists that I regard as project support material. For example, I have a "countdown until last frost date" list that I've been consulting every week. The action to consult it is in my active lists (as an automatically repeating action, so when I check it off it disappears for a week.) And if the list gives me an action (I can plant nasturtiums!) then I'll add that to my current actions.
But that means that the list, which could have dozens of items, is out of my face until the items are relevant.
I would not be able to work this way. When I'm looking for something to do, I want to see nothing but tasks. And, narrowing further, nothing but tasks that I could actually do now. If the tasks take up more than one phone screen, or more than a third of a computer screen, there are too many for me, and the excess needs to go away somehow. (Someday/Maybe, future start date, group like with like and then put those in a list and create a single task that refers to that list, etc.)
Of course, OmniFocus (what I use for my personal tasks) supports all this juggling. Not all systems support those things that easily. But I (laboriously) got a fair bit of it to work in a Trello-like interface that's my best choice at work.
That's not just normal, it's....well, it would be abnormal for it to NOT be true. Although if you mean that a project has two (or three, or five) very separate threads of actions, my strategy for that is usually to divide it into multiple projects.
You could put what you really do need to remember somewhere other than your "what do I do now?" list. Where to put that information depends on the project and what you might want the information for.
For example, I'm raising seedlings in a more ambitious way than usual this year, but most of the completed actions (get plug trays, get pelleted seed for this, get vermiculite for that, blah blah) just get checked off and vanish. The stuff I might want to remember for reference--when I planted something, and how, for example, so that if it's a success I know to repeat it--I log in my garden notes. Those notes are nowhere near my action lists.
Future actions often go into lists that I regard as project support material. For example, I have a "countdown until last frost date" list that I've been consulting every week. The action to consult it is in my active lists (as an automatically repeating action, so when I check it off it disappears for a week.) And if the list gives me an action (I can plant nasturtiums!) then I'll add that to my current actions.
But that means that the list, which could have dozens of items, is out of my face until the items are relevant.
I think(?) you may have mentioned times when you're short on energy? I always make sure there are some low-energy, low-thought, low-stress actions in my current action list, even if those aren't a particular high priority. I know that there are lots of times when I will not be working at my best capacity, so I may as well be prepared to get something done, rather than nothing. I regard that as a context.
Thank you for providing such a detailed operation case.
It requires some effort to break down the tasks in a project and write them into these different action lists from time to time according to the progress of the tasks.I see this is in line with the requirement of GTD which is to write down the things for which the next step has been clearly defined.
I haven't written them down so much at present, so I've realized the gap between you and me in this regard, and I will work harder.
In addition, the way of only showing the next action reminds me of the task prompt system in RPG (Role-Playing Game) games. It seems that GTD is actually a manual version of the task prompt system in games. Moreover, in most games, the task list won't change just because you arrive at a certain place, but the action list we delineate according to the contextual situation can help us achieve this.
Last edited:
LOL,thank for your respond! You've pointed out my two problems. I was indeed a bit silly with these two issues.You responded to Fooddude, but I'm going to respond anyway.
I would not be able to work this way. When I'm looking for something to do, I want to see nothing but tasks. And, narrowing further, nothing but tasks that I could actually do now. If the tasks take up more than one phone screen, or more than a third of a computer screen, there are too many for me, and the excess needs to go away somehow. (Someday/Maybe, future start date, group like with like and then put those in a list and create a single task that refers to that list, etc.)
Of course, OmniFocus (what I use for my personal tasks) supports all this juggling. Not all systems support those things that easily. But I (laboriously) got a fair bit of it to work in a Trello-like interface that's my best choice at work.
That's not just normal, it's....well, it would be abnormal for it to NOT be true. Although if you mean that a project has two (or three, or five) very separate threads of actions, my strategy for that is usually to divide it into multiple projects.
You could put what you really do need to remember somewhere other than your "what do I do now?" list. Where to put that information depends on the project and what you might want the information for.
For example, I'm raising seedlings in a more ambitious way than usual this year, but most of the completed actions (get plug trays, get pelleted seed for this, get vermiculite for that, blah blah) just get checked off and vanish. The stuff I might want to remember for reference--when I planted something, and how, for example, so that if it's a success I know to repeat it--I log in my garden notes. Those notes are nowhere near my action lists.
Future actions often go into lists that I regard as project support material. For example, I have a "countdown until last frost date" list that I've been consulting every week. The action to consult it is in my active lists (as an automatically repeating action, so when I check it off it disappears for a week.) And if the list gives me an action (I can plant nasturtiums!) then I'll add that to my current actions.
But that means that the list, which could have dozens of items, is out of my face until the items are relevant.
I think(?) you may have mentioned times when you're short on energy? I always make sure there are some low-energy, low-thought, low-stress actions in my current action list, even if those aren't a particular high priority. I know that there are lots of times when I will not be working at my best capacity, so I may as well be prepared to get something done, rather than nothing. I regard that as a context.
One is that during the execution of a Project, it's common sense that some tasks will be completed while others remain unfinished. Currently, what I may need to do is also to divide it into multiple projects.
The second is that I may have been a bit self-contradictory. Besides work and commuting, I mentioned a context where I lack energy myself. In fact, this shows that I haven't reasonably defined this as a kind of context, and I think it's very valuable that you pointed this out.
After listening to your and Fooddude's opinions, I changed my own action list today.
I tried my best to keep it in the most streamlined state, that is, only showing the current one task.
Although it's not as easy to use and automated as OmniFocus for the markdown file I'm using to achieve this, I'm still handling tasks by only writing down the current one task. This has played a great role in improving efficiency.
I agree it's better to put the things to be remembered elsewhere as notes.
dtj
Registered
I do this by creating a context for that, namely "@braindead", with tasks that can be handled when energy is no where to be found. Stuff that doesn't require brain power to achieve, like tagging photos. That way I can put points on the board and avoid the lure of simple stuff when my energy is high.
Remember you can only do next actions not projects. And I don’t write them all down in one place. I only write down the very next action. In my example I could have written in @Melissa agenda ask where she wants them planted. I could have gone to the store bought them come home and planted them and the project would be done and deleted. I would have written only one next action. As it was I really did have to do all those steps because of how the project played out.