Can too much fun cause resistance to lists?

C

cfoley

0
I just wanted to share a realisation that I had.

GTD recommends choosing a task based on either gut instinct or by narrowing the list down by context, time, energy and priority.

Sometimes I go for a different option and choose whatever action looks the most fun, but this isn't one of the options recommended by GTD and I think I have spotted a reason why it can be a bad idea. If you consistently choose things from your lists that you feel like doing the most, then eventually all that will be left are actions that you feel some obligation towards but that you don't really want to do. I think that this can cause resistance to doing anything from the list at all.

Conversely, the other methods have a bugger chance of mixing the fun tasks in with the less fun ones causing less resistance to the list overall.

What do you think? Does this resonate with you?
 
I think everyone may be a bit different. I have a tendency to intersperse relatively quick and easy actions between bigger actions requiring more time and concentration. I have to pay attention to getting actions in the middle done.
 
cfoley said:
I just wanted to share a realisation that I had.

GTD recommends choosing a task based on either gut instinct or by narrowing the list down by context, time, energy and priority.

Sometimes I go for a different option and choose whatever action looks the most fun, but this isn't one of the options recommended by GTD and I think I have spotted a reason why it can be a bad idea. If you consistently choose things from your lists that you feel like doing the most, then eventually all that will be left are actions that you feel some obligation towards but that you don't really want to do. I think that this can cause resistance to doing anything from the list at all.

Conversely, the other methods have a bugger chance of mixing the fun tasks in with the less fun ones causing less resistance to the list overall.

What do you think? Does this resonate with you?
Click to expand...
David Allen says that you should do the tasks you feel like doing, because eventually, the things that really need to get done will become the things you'll feel like doing.... (says nothing about the 'fun' part, though....)

Also, the 'priority' part of the limiting criteria also suggests that we should choose the action that gives the highest pay-off. Fun is a pay-off as good as any in my book!
 
It sounds logical.

However there are some proven cognitive strategies that help you maintain your self-control and self-motivation – I would suggest this approach first.
 
cfoley said:
I just wanted to share a realisation that I had.

GTD recommends choosing a task based on either gut instinct or by narrowing the list down by context, time, energy and priority.

Sometimes I go for a different option and choose whatever action looks the most fun, but this isn't one of the options recommended by GTD and I think I have spotted a reason why it can be a bad idea. If you consistently choose things from your lists that you feel like doing the most, then eventually all that will be left are actions that you feel some obligation towards but that you don't really want to do. I think that this can cause resistance to doing anything from the list at all.

Conversely, the other methods have a bugger chance of mixing the fun tasks in with the less fun ones causing less resistance to the list overall.

What do you think? Does this resonate with you?
Click to expand...
@cfoley

Very much resonates . . . clever/strategic way to facilitate appropriate engagement

With all due respect, perhaps as @Lucas W. might have been kindly implying perhaps to some degree ?

As such, giving oneself 'high-fives', laughter, cart-wheels, etc. after doing something from the list can be a easy way of adding some 'dopamine' support in order to want to return to the list for more; a healthy/productive way to utilize one's emotions in a productive manner to reduce any list angst ?

Approaching one's list is a dreaded manner / snarly face is going to result a very unfinished list(s) ?

Loosen up with laughter . . . its GTD . . . GwD . . . Giddy when Done . . . LOL

Thank you very much sir
 
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cfoley said:
I just wanted to share a realisation that I had.

GTD recommends choosing a task based on either gut instinct or by narrowing the list down by context, time, energy and priority.

Sometimes I go for a different option and choose whatever action looks the most fun, but this isn't one of the options recommended by GTD and I think I have spotted a reason why it can be a bad idea. If you consistently choose things from your lists that you feel like doing the most, then eventually all that will be left are actions that you feel some obligation towards but that you don't really want to do. I think that this can cause resistance to doing anything from the list at all.

Conversely, the other methods have a bugger chance of mixing the fun tasks in with the less fun ones causing less resistance to the list overall.

What do you think? Does this resonate with you?
Click to expand...

The saying "too much of a good thing can be bad you" comes to mind. It's the ability for us to gain the wisdom to think for tomorrow rather than today, by focusing on the things that are strategically important versus immediately satisfying. Delayed gratification is the phrase, specifically.

David always says to choose the thing that will give you the biggest payoff. The trick is to understand that the payoff may not come for decades (e.g. health, wealth, family, and purpose). I really like the phrase from David Ramsey, all other things aside, about "living like nobody else so you can live like nobody else". That really does ring true in our choices every day: going to the gym versus sitting on the couch watching TV, eating a healthy meal versus junk food, choosing to save and invest every chance we get versus partying it away, etc.

One of the tricks I use to make sure I am picking the right things on my lists, not the easy ones, is to re-frame them in terms of pain. "How much pain will this cause me if I don't do this, and particularly sooner than later?" Waiting until the 11th hour, pulling all nighters, and cramming is great when you are 15 ... not so much when you are 50. Even if the work I do is not actually ever used or extrinsically valuable, it does relieve pressure and stress to know "it's taken care of" and "I learned something from doing it" (even if it's just the intrinsic value of building up that muscle). "Never put off to tomorrow what can be done today".

The late Randy Pausch gave a great example of how putting something off until the last minutes can exponentially increase stress since it's so much easier for the smallest inconvenience to destroy you (i.e. a key person is out on vacation/sick, the server crashes, your computer/printer/etc. breaks).

I will end with one of my favorite proverbs (not sure where it originated): "Wisdom is planting trees whose fruit you will never taste".
 
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@Matt_M

Habituate what is: best, most strategic, ect. into what is the the easiest, most fun, satisfying etc. and that which is counterproductive, self-sabotaging, etc. into the most difficult?

One of the best uses of the emotions?

"Escapism", like many 'addictions', is a futile attempt to escape from one's confusion . . . as original sin has it, we are all born with darkened intellects and weaker wills ? All exemptions please, please come forward

While being respectful and without being too glib . . . perhaps it was Seneca who said [correction most welcomed]:
"the only problem is the one between our ears"

As others have said further: The only way out is through
 
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