Experiencing Friction with GTD After One Month – Seeking Workflow Optimization Advice

[fooddude]

Okay, thanks for clarifying! And just so you know, I never thought you were implying GTD causes "mind like mush" or anything negative about the system itself. Any perceived criticism in my previous posts was entirely self-directed as I figure out my own process.

Also if your project list is long, do a someday/maybe list. Mine is just like project list. A list of what done looks like items. They are either more than one year out or just dreams. During my weekly review I check this list to see if anything excites me to move to project list.

 

[achieve]

Also if your project list is long, do a someday/maybe list. Mine is just like project list. A list of what done looks like items. They are either more than one year out or just dreams. During my weekly review I check this list to see if anything excites me to move to project list.

I would say that you are a person and not a robot. If your energy is too low to engage in the work, then don't engage in the work. If your energy is too low to define the work, then don't define the work. A low energy list can be a useful idea. However, if you are always pushing yourself to do more when you are drained, that seems like a recipe for burnout to me.

I have noticed patterns in my energy, so I choose to do certain kinds of work at certain times of the day. It works most of the time, but some days are outliers, so I adjust accordingly.

I have not tried this next part systematically, but I expect that experimenting with diet, exercise and schedule would be a healthier approach to energy management.

Reflecting on cfoley & dtj & &Tom_Hagen & fooddude's advice, I've realized that if I find something I can do, know how to do it, and it promises a fun or somewhat valuable outcome, I tend to do it regardless of my fatigue. However, I usually don't assess whether its value aligns with my core values (I actually value my health greatly) or consider other more important tasks I should be doing. This often leads me to push through these initially appealing but ultimately lower-value things, which ironically makes it harder to tackle complex, important tasks, leading to distraction.

The key, as you suggested, is to postpone those low-value materials, move them to a "someday/maybe" list—and prioritize rest. Even a 15-minute nap can make a huge difference in regaining focus for challenging work.

For instance, I woke up at 4 AM today excited to research an AI model setup, something low-priority for my main goals. Instead of just doing it despite being tired, I put it on my "someday/maybe" list and went back to sleep. It felt great to protect my rest, and I'm really thankful for your advices.

 

[FocusGuy]

The key, as you suggested, is to postpone those low-value materials, move them to a "someday/maybe" list—and prioritize rest. Even a 15-minute nap can make a huge difference in regaining focus for challenging work.

The someday may be list is for me one of the most powerfull tool of GTD. At the beginning my way was to make long list and then sort. Then I decided to split this list in some core list like ideas and so on. I realised later I had to many items (including my others GTD list) now I make a serious sort on what I keep or not according to my Horizons. This was made my GTD system efficient and fast.

 

[dtj]

It's truly amazing how easy it is for even the smartest and most intentional person, to totally whiff it on considering the opportunity cost for a task or situation. In the heat of battle, you're so focused, eyes forward, on the task to consider either should you be doing it, or what better use could be made of your resources. I was musing over the consideration as to whether this problem is an evolutionary adaptation that allowed humans to move up the ranks. If homo sapiens were more inclined to shirk their current task to chase the bright and shiny, we may have died out long ago.

 

[fooddude]

Reflecting on cfoley & dtj & &Tom_Hagen & fooddude's advice, I've realized that if I find something I can do, know how to do it, and it promises a fun or somewhat valuable outcome, I tend to do it regardless of my fatigue. However, I usually don't assess whether its value aligns with my core values (I actually value my health greatly) or consider other more important tasks I should be doing. This often leads me to push through these initially appealing but ultimately lower-value things, which ironically makes it harder to tackle complex, important tasks, leading to distraction.

The key, as you suggested, is to postpone those low-value materials, move them to a "someday/maybe" list—and prioritize rest. Even a 15-minute nap can make a huge difference in regaining focus for challenging work.

For instance, I woke up at 4 AM today excited to research an AI model setup, something low-priority for my main goals. Instead of just doing it despite being tired, I put it on my "someday/maybe" list and went back to sleep. It felt great to protect my rest, and I'm really thankful for your advices.

I don’t “prioritize” anything I just do the next actions in contexts. For example, if I’m at my computer I can do all my @computer actions. They are all from different projects. But I’m glad the someday/maybe list worked. It takes it off your mind until you are really ready to act on it.

 

[achieve]

I don’t “prioritize” anything I just do the next actions in contexts. For example, if I’m at my computer I can do all my @computer actions. They are all from different projects. But I’m glad the someday/maybe list worked. It takes it off your mind until you are really ready to act on it.

I get it, and that's perfectly aligned with David Allen's philosophy of context-based next actions rather than traditional prioritizing.
I was just trying to say that in my specific example, I ended up "prioritizing" rest more, haha.

 

[achieve]

It's truly amazing how easy it is for even the smartest and most intentional person, to totally whiff it on considering the opportunity cost for a task or situation. In the heat of battle, you're so focused, eyes forward, on the task to consider either should you be doing it, or what better use could be made of your resources. I was musing over the consideration as to whether this problem is an evolutionary adaptation that allowed humans to move up the ranks. If homo sapiens were more inclined to shirk their current task to chase the bright and shiny, we may have died out long ago.

Wow, you've taken the discussion about our tendency to get tunnel vision on a current task to a whole new level.
I agree, it does feel like it could be a part of human nature.

 

[mcogilvie]

It's truly amazing how easy it is for even the smartest and most intentional person, to totally whiff it on considering the opportunity cost for a task or situation. In the heat of battle, you're so focused, eyes forward, on the task to consider either should you be doing it, or what better use could be made of your resources. I was musing over the consideration as to whether this problem is an evolutionary adaptation that allowed humans to move up the ranks. If homo sapiens were more inclined to shirk their current task to chase the bright and shiny, we may have died out long ago.

You’re implicitly assuming that the population is approximately uniform and different from, say, other mammals. It’s likely a distribution, shaped by nature and nurture, with different traits favored in different situations. The gene pool is both deep and big, and is shaped in ways difficult to foresee.

 

[dtj]

You’re implicitly assuming that the population is approximately uniform and different from, say, other mammals. It’s likely a distribution, shaped by nature and nurture, with different traits favored in different situations. The gene pool is both deep and big, and is shaped in ways difficult to foresee.

Not assuming that at all. Distinctly different phenotype can adopt similar “software”, adopting to radically different “hardware” and sometimes resolve at similar adaptations. Example cat have the “predator lock” (can’t recall what its called), whereas chickens, likely other birds, have something similar, but having significantly less “hardware” to work with. And that focus and adaptation would likely make them early adopters of GTD, if but for opposable thumbs, and writing, and paper making skills.

 

[mcogilvie]

Not assuming that at all. Distinctly different phenotype can adopt similar “software”, adopting to radically different “hardware” and sometimes resolve at similar adaptations. Example cat have the “predator lock” (can’t recall what its called), whereas chickens, likely other birds, have something similar, but having significantly less “hardware” to work with. And that focus and adaptation would likely make them early adopters of GTD, if but for opposable thumbs, and writing, and paper making skills.

Sorry,, I may not have been clear. I meant variation within the human race.

 

[schmeggahead]

I meant variation within the human race.

A fascinating read on this topic:

A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes by Adam Rutherford. (read by the Author on Audible)
Clayton.