Another Ah-hah GTD moment...

Longstreet

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
Well, my quest to work with daily focus lists in my hybrid of GTD and DIT continues. However, this morning I received another one of those GTD moments where David Allen's teachings really come into play. So I created my daily focus list of what I really, really wanted to get done today. These actions were taken from my next actions list. I started off the day...and then things started happening. Two of my graduate students show up at my door with experimental and project design issues that needed to be discussed immediately. While I was talking with them, I received 10 emails, all of which contained issues that needed addressing as soon as possible as well. Then two phone calls from collaborators from other universities on grant issues. None of these could be planned, or prevented as I do extensive planning on all of my projects. This is just my life sometimes with a large lab group and several NIH grants. Some days, I can create a focus list and work diligently all day with minimal interruptions and really match the closed list approach. Then there are days like today where the flexibility of GTD comes in well for me.

Just thought I would share my experiences...

All the best,
-Longstreet
 
But...how did it turn out??

Are you saying the little focused list worked for you in this case? Did you get the little list done in addition to attending to all the other interruptions?

Although the "interruptions" so seem to be the nature of your work itself.

Michele
 
Yes, it did work to some extent...

Hi MicheleC,

To some extent, it did work -- I got some of the closed list items done, but I had some I did not. I did not have any scheduled meetings this morning (that does not happen much either), so I thought I could get more done on a focused list. Sometimes I feel as if there is a light that goes off somewhere notifying people that the professor is trying to perform focused work, so let's see how we can disrupt that process. I may have to limit my focused list to only three things each day -- my big rocks or most important tasks as termed in ZTD -- and feel good about completing those. Perhaps I just was too ambitious in what I thought I could accomplish.

Best regards,
-Longstreet
 
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