GTD Mastery: using a journal

B

Bertie..

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Hi, I've been using GTD for a while and have stumbled across the GTD Mastery List.

I'm keen to find out what other people write in their GTD Review Journal (steps 24 & 25), where the mastery list says:

"24. For the first 6 months of implementing my GTD system, and often thereafter as needed, I keep a GTD journal in which I write a "how'd I do?" update nightly. "

Any help greatly appreciated.

Bertie..
 
Dear Journal,
I know you must be angry with me because as always I didn't get done nothing. Mum says if I don't stop this, I have to return to a daily todo-list. I feel so sad about this and I have headaches because I drunk to much fancy of them drinks my college buddies (and everyone else at digg) think are awesome. But I have to drink since I want to be an artist, an actor, a best-selling author, a rock-star and every thing else. Maybe giving up GTD altogether is a good thing since I am just shuffling lists all day. Before GTD I newer knew I was procrastinating which felt better, albeit a little dizzy. I would give up GTD and just do some work like just doing something from a schedule but I like my collection of Moulescines too much. I am meshed in this but I know, I just know, someday maybe I will read that one blog post about that cool extra-list plan I could maintain with the new iPhoneGTApp that frees me of all this an sets me free to show the world who I really am and what I deserve.
 
Here's what the GTD-specific parts of my journal consisted of:

1. To record the specific things I struggled to understand. Examples: "How should I track recurring projects", "When does project support material become reference material", "What's so bad about folder hierarchies in my email archive", "What makes a project 'active' versus 'someday/maybe'" I would write the question, then continue to write something of a schizophrenic conversation with myself outlining the possible approaches and the pros and cons of each.

2. To scold myself: "I didn't do a weekly review last week. I suck. Need to do better next week"

3. To help identify open loops: "I didn't get anything done that was on my lists today. I was busy, but I completely ignored my lists. Why wasn't that stuff recorded somewhere? Is there something else I should add to my project list?"

4. To validate whether GTD is right for me: "I feel overwhelmed by all the stuff on my lists. This is a terrible system... but I guess all this stuff was in my world before I wrote it down; it's just that now it's all out in front of me. Maybe it's not so bad after all"

Looking back on my journal from my first several months of GTD, it was mostly these four topics repeated over and over again.
 
jknecht;58874 said:
Looking back on my journal from my first several months of GTD, it was mostly these four topics repeated over and over again.
Click to expand...

And that's the real value of a journal. To pick up reoccurring patterns and worries that otherwise might absorb your mind's time and effort. With that info, you can basically answer a few questions (or purposely choose to defer until more info is accumulated), and it's all off your mind.
 
GTD Mastery?!?!?!

Somehow I had never heard of this list. I'm grateful to OP for bringing up a question about it because now this list is in my hot little hands.

JohnV474
 
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