Getting out of the scary place.

A

apinaud

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Sorry for the long post.

A post about Hard Work and also one that came sometime ago about the scary place hit me today good.

I lost my job before 4 of July (great way to celebrate!) and sadly I need to say that I got into a little depression, that get me to forget about everything, No more collecting, processing, or anything. I get into bed at night, in the couch in the day. I start looking for a new job in a really slow pace, then I read this post... and something about this post hit me, this is not the end of the world, I am a hard worker, I am always been, then I got my shoes, get my palm and check my lists... that was scary, I had more than a week (12 Days) without touch my system, was like start again...

After 4 hours set up, yes pile of bills, papers, a dirty house, and a really patient wife who do not say nothing for 12 days, I start to make my lists again...

The thing I like the most about GTD is that appears to a be a simple solution to your problems, when in reality is a complicated system, that requires time, dedication, hard work, and constancy to work.

I have been in my knees many times, this is just another, but the big difference is that I have experience before the great state of peace that GTD can bring to your life. Right now everything is a mess, but is getting into my lists, I am happy to discover GTD, but at scary as my system is today, I think there are two keys for GTD: (One somebody remember us in their signature here in the forum) YOU ARE NOT DOING GTD IF YOU DO NOT DO WEEKLY REVIEW and second THERE IS NO EASY GTD, YOU NEED TO WORK HARD AND BE CONSTANT.

I am right now in that scary place, after you implement GTD and keep your system, try to improve, and more importantly get things done, you lose everything, the good thing is that this is like a bad hair cut, the hair growth again, and also my system can growth again, born from the ashes.

Takes a lot of time and dedication to set up our GTD systems, and only 12 days to destroy everything, that for me is an amazing thing to discover,
I am so sorry this post has a lot of personal content, but I was in the need to express my feelings to somebody. I do not think GTD is for everybody, sadly requires a lot of hard work, constancy. It is hard to set the system, requires a lot of constant work to keep the system, but the result is priceless. I can associate GTD to my Bachelor degree or my Masters… a lot of constant work, pain, but the results are priceless.

I am as I tell resetting my system; get everything into the system, setting up my inboxes again… is like get a new computer, you want to put everything in the right order, and takes an infinite amount of time, but you want to finish soon in order to start using the new toy…

I think GTD has a lot of good things, is difficult to do, as everything that is worth in your life, and now I think I can say that GTD is a system that let you create control in where you receive information, how you classify your information in order to be able to use it in the most effective manner and let you concentrate in small chunks of action in order to do great things and get an incredible amount of things done…

But, in order to do real GTD you need also certain amount of ingredients…
1.- A weekly Review
2.- Control you inboxes
3.- Work hard and be constant with the system
4.- Trust your system.

Sorry for this long message but I was in need to talk to somebody.

Have a nice day!, now is my time to get things done!
 
Good luck!

I was the one writing about hard work. I see you have right attitude. You see the meaning of my post was that I think many belives that GTD runs easy wit just a little effort. That is a big mistake.

Of course you can produce results with less effort with GTD than without GTD. But to get real benefits of GTD you need discipline, hard constant work with GTD.

Good luck in finding a new job.

Bill J - Hard working martial artis from Sweden
 
That scary place

I am very familiar with that place. I spent 13 months there. I can tell you that I still kept up my system the whole time. I didn't use my Palm as my sole tool to track my job search. I had a file folder with printouts for each company that I applied to. I still used my calendar to track interviews, etc. And I spent a bit of time trying to figure out where to go next.

In some ways, it is the perfect time to play around with GTD. It's very easy to recreate everything into a completely new system. It's a great time to practice all those habits till they become second nature, like weekly reviews and do-able Next Actions. It's a good time for looking at all the levels of your life. It's a good time to do some of those things you wanted to try that you didn't have time for. In my case, I joined Toastmasters, which really was helpful with handling interview questions.

There are so many times that the big scary place you are in seems depressing. You have to rise above that depression if you ever hope to get out. You have to stay focused on being positive and you have to view everything you can in a positive light. If nothing else, you might never have this much time to spend with your family again.

I wish you the best of luck on your job search--I know you'll find a good one soon!
 
As you are the "GTD-enabled :D person" your chances to find a good job a much higher than average. Wish you luck!
TesTeq
 
The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. (David Allen, Ready for Anything, p. 4)

GTD does not prevent bad things from happening. It does help you deal with them better.
 
Sadly I agree, what I was trying to expose is that the system require really hard work, because all that you need to work to create the system, put it in place and make it happen can be destroy if you do not keep your attention in the system.

There is no way to avoid certain things, but I need to agree that after my initial wrong decision, now is getting better, even looks like more people is looking for give jobs than weeks before, that I think is really good. Anyways, the original message had 2 ideas, first one I was in need to talk... second idea... expose my discoveries about GTD.
 
The thing I like the most about GTD is that appears to a be a simple solution to your problems, when in reality is a complicated system, that requires time, dedication, hard work, and constancy to work.
Click to expand...

It took a lot more time, dedication, hard work to run my system before I found GTD.

In addition, I had a lot more stress, a lot more mistakes, a lot more missed deadlines/appointments, a lot less sleep, .... it goes on.

Good luck with the job hunt!
 
The GTD method of organizing and doing is hard work.

But sometimes the organizing portion of GTD is so hard for some people that they get too wrapped up in method. Here are some examples:

Should I use my Treo600 to write this note?
Should I subdivide my categories into Work/Home/Bathroom/Shower?
I think I'll spend two hours deciding on which Avery label to use for my file folders.
Maybe I'll just tinker with this new Palm application that allows hyperlinking, project coding, vertical filtering, etc. for the day.

I've seen a lot of people in my workplace who are major tinkerers in Time Management. They gain the title of TM "Guru" for about a month. Then -- like clockwork -- it's noted that their productivity is -- in essence -- zilch, especially since they have to spend hours after work actually doing some.

I use GTD a bit, just enough to fit my work-style and keep on top of things. But I try to avoid the rigamarole of getting lost in the method.

I'm not saying that you lost your job in early July because of this; but you should always consider the possibility that you're overorganizing and -- perhaps -- underproducing. It happens to all of us at some point, especially those of us who are gadgetfreaks. I've seen lots of over-organizers come and go in the last 5 years; at our company, their habits and immediate gung-ho attitude are already recognized as signals that a recently inflated balloon is going to pop soon.

Today I have the day off and have decided to make my first post. A big question to ask yourself is how many posts have you made in forums like these during work hours? A few? Many? The majority? If the latter is your answer, then it's time to take a look at the numerous temptations to tinker that are plaguing you.

Whenever I get the temptation to tinker, I just look at one of the V.P.'s I work with. He always carries a single, 8.5x11 leather-bound notepad. He uses a <$10.00 desk calendar and -- I swear -- I've never seen him late for a single appointment or unprepared. And, to boot, I think he accomplishes more than anyone in the office; when he's there, he works. And at 5pm on the nose, he leaves. Precision in motion, and he leads from the front.

I think that -- more than anything ... even GTD -- it's important to have good, close-at-hand examples of time managers that we can emulate. It's o.k. to idolize folks like Tony Robbins, David Allen, et. al. But their jobs are to actually think about and create methods for others to follow. The rest of us don't really have jobs like that. Quite often, the best examples are right under our collective noses; and if we simply ask them, they'll often give some good advice. Every single time I've asked for some, I've received just about the same response: Keep it simple. And get it done.
 
You Hit My Nail Right On The Head

I've been struggling with overtinkering and obsessive compulsive organizing for my entire life. I setup a system that is functional and productive and because it's not perfect or there are challenges within, the grass quickly becomes greener on the other side and I completely overhaul the whole system. I get so caught up in the method and the perfect system and the wanting of a system that can do everything all contained in one place, that ultimately I only get 1/4 to 1/2 of the work done that I could be doing. And, I know that if I stick to the system that works, simplify it, and not shoot for perfection, I will definitely get 110% of the work done and consistently.

It's like much of what us earth people struggle with in life, we get scared to make mistakes or fail or drop the ball, and as a result of that fear, we try to avoid it so much that we rapidly bring it right into our world.

This is a great transformation for me, thank you so much. Tom
 
I've been guilty of overorganizing as well. I've tried out different systems, thinking that they were the "magic bullet" that was going to make things easier for me. It wasn't until I decided to take the best parts (for me) and combine them that I saw the best results.

My organizer used to have a ton of different types of pages, organized all different ways. After finally stopping, taking a deep breath, and thinking about what I *really* use did I come up with the best setup. (For those who are curious: Calendar, Tasks, Data - alphabetical list of information, Notes - just a place to write down notes from meetings, ideas, etc., Contacts) This has simplified the organizer and made it more effective for me.
 
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