Covey

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Hi

I can really relate to Coveys Q1,2,3,4 matrix and I neglect not urgent but important issues far too much. Does anyone have a view on how to deal with this within the GTD model. I have been using GTD for about 4 months and I seem to fall down at the 'Do' phase i.e. I pick neglect the not urgent/important stuff.

I am a chronic procrastonator and have just bought 'The now habit' to try and sort this out. :roll:
 
Covey & Procrastination

I can relate somewhat. I was doing fairly well at the Q1234 philosophy but got so discouraged with the software that never worked that when I found David Allen I had the final aha in my approach. Alas I still after 5 years haven't been able to pull off & maintain a weekly review discipline & so I have a mind like mud.

Yea, I have the Now Habit from the library on my bookshelf where I keep current read/review.

In defense of my self though I have been able to secure a nice office room in my home that is now reasonably orderly & I still think for me the idea is to commit to a system, almost any one will do, that I trust. When I cross that bridge with a real victory I think I will have arrived.
 
SCHEDULE the important stuff into your hard landscape.

Dave
 
I think that this is where the weekly review can really help. As you are moving through the day, you want to be able to scan your next action lists and make quick decisions based upon time, energy, context and priority. But during your weekly review, it's time to step back and look at the larger picture. I try to identify the important but not urgent tasks that I need to get moving on. As Dave pointed out, these items may need to be scheduled into your hard landscape. Whether or not these items have an external deadline, if you have decided that they are important then you can decide to commit a specific period of time to addressing those next actions. You can plan time to work on a specific project or you can develop a routine where you set aside specific time slots to work on any project that is important but not urgent. If you don't engage in some amount of planning beyond simply listing out a series of next actions, then it's easier for important but not urgent next actions to get lost in the shuffle. I also find it helpful to keep a checklist of a few particularly important projects and/or next actions. This is useful when you are not sure when you will be able to work on something, but you want to be reminded of it when a block of time happens to open up (e.g., a meeting is canceled). If I were to simply scan my next action lists, these items might not jump out at me. Because I can review my checklist first, then I can be reminded to look for these on my context lists.
 
I'm in the throes of collecting and far from doing anything but a rudimentary review (I think I'm in a tunnel under the runway), but here's an idea anyway.

Why not schedule several two-hour sessions across a weekend and then give yourself the choice of one of them? If you don't do it from 9 to 11AM on Saturday, you can do it from 1 to 3, or do it Sunday morning from 7 to 9. Or whatever. The advantage to this is chiefly psychological, but whatever wins the day and doesn't kill, right?

GTD is like a health club membership. It provides the tools and the support and just about assures positive results, but only if you show up and plug yourself in.

Dammit.

-A
 
Re: Covey

neil0007 said:
I can really relate to Coveys Q1,2,3,4 matrix and I neglect not urgent but important issues far too much. Does anyone have a view on how to deal with this within the GTD model.
Click to expand...

No, not explicitly within the GTD model. Both Covey and GTD suggest weekly planning to help remind yourself of your priorities and to look at the bigger pictures of your life. With weekly reviews, GTD assumes that you will know intuitively what is most important in a given context and that you will do it.

I have been using GTD for about 4 months and I seem to fall down at the 'Do' phase i.e. I pick neglect the not urgent/important stuff.
Click to expand...

Of course, the GTD assumption that you will 'Do' doesn't always seem to hold. Even when I first read the book, when I got to the 'Do' phase of workflow, I thought, "If only it were that easy for me."

However, you will often hear the advice that the Weekly Review is the answer to this problem. I don't think it's been that simple for me: the Weekly Review hasn't always been sufficient to motivate me throughout the week, but I would agree that it is necessary. So if you're not taking the time to review weekly the big picture of your goals and how to achieve them, start now!

-andersons
 
Re: Covey

andersons said:
However, you will often hear the advice that the Weekly Review is the answer to this problem. I don't think it's been that simple for me: the Weekly Review hasn't always been sufficient to motivate me throughout the week...
Click to expand...

Good point. It's true that all the weekly reviews in the world won't help you if you never get down to doing. You can learn a lot of tips about how to deal with procrastination, but eventually it all comes down to just doing it.
 
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