Bleeding in War...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Youngwas
  • Start date Start date
Y

Youngwas

Guest
I read GTD over a year ago and applied it "where I could". I too was getting back up after a layoff and applying GTD helped get things in perspective. I can see now that I hadn't really gone the whole nine yards - I didn't have to, I could wing it. Or so I thought.

I was recently appointed to a leadership position with all the challenges that I have been looking for. But I have discovered that as the demands on my time have exponentially increased I really need the GTD disciplines. Yet I find myself "Bleeding in War", in spite of my knowldge of GTD. Is it that I hadn't sweated enough in peacetime?

Until taking on this recent role it was possible to over organize - but now with so many more reporting staff and so many more projects on, I NEED to apply GTD in a whole new way. Its no longer a path to take my workload down; its how I can keep my wheels from falling off. I am learning right now, the hard way, that I can't sustain my effectiveness as a manager, consultant, husband and father if I am up at 5am and working (in bed) until 11pm. I've ended up going through the motions for at least part of the week and everyone else suffers - the very people I am meant to be contributing to have to prop me up because I lost my mojo.

So this rant is a testimonial - a declaration that I'm back on the GTD wagon. (About to be) applying it on a whole new level. (As soon as I get off line and considering the five other things I was going to do today (Saturday), work out where to start.
 
Congratulations

Congratulations and good luck. I know I'm just getting into all the wonderful aspects, and I'm seeing the benefits of what can happen when I get that organized.
 
Part of life

Youngwas,

I went through the very sorts of things that you were describing over the last couple of years, and I think that much of it is completely normal. Managing people and major projects is extremely different from the work that earns such promotions. It is entirely normal, if horribly unnatural feeling, to need to completely revamp your planning systems to handle such a change. The system that is perfect for one stage of your career may be inadequate or even innappropriate for another stage of your career.

In the end, all you can do anyway is adapt. Relaxing and adapting is more fun than panicking and adapting, so I recommend relaxing too. :)

David
 
Remember the Pareto Principle: you most likely generate 80% of your effectiveness from 20% of the things you do. So figure out what those most-effective 20% of your things are and make damn sure you do them! The rest of the things you do in your remaining 80% just aren't that important by comparison.

Prioritization? Heresy! Forget I said anything. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top