How to reduce distractions and stress

C

Chocolate Factory

Registered
I have long tried to implement something like GTD, but I am always so stressed out and busy with my daily workload and I never find the time to actually implement it.
I read the book a long time ago and I've recently also started listening to the audiobook. So I feel I understand the basic principles.
But where I struggle is actually implementing the system. I find the book way too abstract. I understand that it's a methodology, but what I'm looking for is something more hands on, like: "Ok, here's you do it with this tool. Get started with this and once you've got the hang of it, you can try adapting it to your own needs."

The biggest issue for me is that I am a business owner under a massive workload.
Or, actually the workload probably isn't even the issue, but it's the distractions.
Emails, chat messages from at least 4-5 different messaging platforms, phone calls, people talking to me in person. I feel I never get anything done and that I'm always behind. I get stressed out by unread emails (I also always mark them as unread again, which of course only makes things worse).
The distractions absolutely kill my productivity, I can almost never really concentrate on a task, except late at night. So I also always put off tasks that require concentration and rather work on tasks that I can solve quickly, even if they are less important or urgent, just to feel a sense of accomplishment.

I'm not sure if GTD can help with this. I guess the answer is probably yes, but I've still not been able to implement it.
I've been thinking about just buying one of the Udemy courses and getting to it, but I'm not sure if that's really the answer.

I feel I need a general approach to how I can handle distractions.
When one of my employees asks me a question over chat, I always feel the need to reply right away because I'm worried they'll otherwise be stuck with their work, we won't be able to make the client happy etc.
The same with clients, who also often communicate over chat - I get the notification and then immediately have to assess if it's something important and how to react. I actually usually try to just respond right away just to get it out of the way, so it doesn't become yet another thing I have to keep track of and try not to forget.

With email, it's especially difficult because they're rarely something I just need to reply to.
I would usually have to talk to different people (arrange a meeting, discuss, maybe send an email etc.) before I can reply to the emails. So those emails would usually actually become projects in themselves, so I wouldn't even know where to start with them. Do I just add a project "Reply to email from Bob from June 7" and then create next actions like "Ask Alice when we can have the report for Bob ready?" - or actually, something more realistic might be: "Call for a meeting with the team to discuss the report for Bob" - answering Bob's question when the report will be ready might take several meetings. And there may be more questions in that email than just "Hey, when will the report be ready?"

I'm feeling so stressed out and overwhelmed that I just don't know where to start.
The general advice seems to be "Just read the book and implement the system the way that fits your needs", but that is way too vague for me.
At my current stress levels I need SIMPLE solutions just to get started, I don't have the mental capacity to figure out some creative approach.

Maybe someone can resonate with this and has found a way out.
Would also be happy to pay for a course or so, if it really helps. I just really have to fix this.
I'm under constant stress and always scared I'll forget something, I find myself procrastinating and just feel I get very little done, despite working pretty much 24/7 - simply because all the distractions keep me from ever reaching a state of "deep work". I'm just constantly switching between 5-minute tasks, never doing anything properly, and then actually not even billing clients for my time because I find it impossible to keep track of the little "3 minutes here", "4 minutes there" stuff...

Just where can I get started to get out of this mess? I can't be the first person struggling with this.
I want to hire someone to reduce my workload, but before that, I feel that I have to get more organized myself, so I have a system in place, and don't just dump the whole mess on someone else.

And I actually don't even think the workload is the problem, it's the distractions that create the stress... When I was in a different time zone (9h difference or so), it was amazing because there was almost no overlap with my team and clients. I'd spend maybe an hour a day going over my emails, replying to everyone, then I'd have the rest of the day to myself. And then they'd reply back while I was asleep. It was pure bliss. I'd like to get back to something like that...
 
Here's my recommended plan/tips, I hope they help and take it with a grain salt.


Decide What Make Sense For Current Reality

Before you implement a system, I think it pays to clarify and decide on a couple of things ahead of time:

  • What is the primary form of your work (digital, analog, hybrid, travel, etc.)?
  • What kind of tools do you prefer to work with (digital, analog, or a mixed combination)?
  • How much time do you have to get an initial system implementation setup? Are there major deliverables or fires at the moment that can't wait?
    • e.g. you are launching a new product on Friday and it's Tuesday and the product is not ready. Don't even bother with a GTD system right now; instead focus all energy on the issue at hand because your mind is completely devoted to it anyway (set the system up AFTER the crisis has passed, good or bad).

These decisions shouldn't be agonized over or considered permanent. They are merely initial starting points and should be fairly intuitive. You know what you prefer (or have an idea) and you know your general environment for the work you do.

These decisions will guide you to what tools and kind of system you would best be served by / should setup. Generally, if you prefer using a particular medium but you work is all in another, you might find that you'll use the system more if you prefer it but you will be slightly more inefficient. That's a good tradeoff because not wanting to use the system is the most common way people fall off of the proverbial GTD wagon.

Focus on keeping your system simple and super straightforward (you would be surprised how far you can get with tools like Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets and a couple of filters or even a few Microsoft Word/Google Docs files), at least initially. You can and will tweak it as time goes on.

Planning & Preparing To Setup

Next, you going to do a few quick things ahead of time before you start implementing a system:

  1. Determine/Get your tools that you want to use (i.e. physical tools, digital apps, etc.).
  2. Draft a small list of inboxes for your initial mind sweep (I find this helps limit the scope of the initial mind sweep capture and avoid getting blocked/stuck in "capture hell" by trying to find absolutely everything right at the start)
  3. Schedule an entire day or weekend to invest in setting up your system. The more time the better but no more than 2 days is really needed.
  4. Set clear expectations with everyone that you usually work with that you will be unavailable/OOO during the scheduled time.
    • Set an out-of-office auto-reply to emails as well (pro-tip: redirect folks to anyone else who may be able to help them instead)
    • Give yourself permission to NOT respond to absolutely anything during the scheduled time. Know and accept that issues will come up during that time that just have to let go of them. Building up a muscle necessitates some initial pain but it gets easier over time
    • Find a secluded space or place to set your system up (ideally away from others that may distract you). Let anyone else in that space know that you are not to be disturbed no matter what
  5. If at all possible, try to install any software or applications ahead of time. Purchase any physical tools well ahead of time too (account for shipping delays and so forth).

Setting Up & Implementing Your System

Cardinal Rule Supreme Prime Directive: DO NOT WORK ON ANYTHING WHILE SETTING UP THE SYSTEM!

Do NOT get side tracked, derailed, or otherwise when setting up the system. Do NOT start doing the work, no matter how "quick", "easy", "simple", or "important" it seems to be. Ignore the 2 minute guideline for the system setup, that guideline does not apply for initial setup. Unless it is literally life or death of you or your immediate family, it can wait.

At all times during system setup, obey and follow the cardinal rule.

During the time you have scheduled to implement your system, I would recommend the following steps/tips:

  1. Make sure you do a sync/refresh of all of your email accounts, chat apps, phone messages, etc. THEN disconnect the Internet/Wi-Fi, turn off your phone, close your door, etc. Close any tabs, games, and all other apps on your computer. Get rid of all distractions for the ENTIRE duration of the system setup.
  2. Begin by processing all of the contents from each inbox you made a list for earlier
  3. Capture anything that comes to mind while setting up and implementing the system but only process it immediately if you feel it helps to do so (otherwise process/organize them after you finish going through your prior list of inboxes)
  4. As you process the inputs from all of those inboxes, start to organizing things accordingly in organic structures that make sense to what you need/will help you (use the GTD book as a jumping off point but don't feel constrained by it).
  5. Once you get a first pass done of processing and organizing all of the contents (incl. anything newly captured) (usually the next day), take a moment a do a review to re-organize anything that no longer makes sense now that you have a full inventory in front of you.
  6. Usually, most folks have an absolute boat load of stuff they now need to renegotiate. Review your lists to find those items and make next actions to renegotiate them with their primary stakeholder on the very next business day.
    • If you are the primary stakeholder, move them to your someday / maybe list
  7. Review your lists a final time to make sure they're clear, well organized, and realistic. Odds are really good there's probably a few things that could still be moved to someday / maybe or decided upon as "Nope, not doing".

Using Your System

Once you have that initial system setup, congratulations! That's the easy part done. Now onto the hard part, getting current because remember we've isolated ourselves away from the rest of the universe ... life was still marching on. We now have some new things to process in our inboxes (pro-tip: you may find that keeping that prior little list of inboxes around really helps as a sort of checklist). Go ahead and begin doing the standard 5 stages of GTD at that point (incl. 2 minute guideline). There should be very little, comparatively, and many of them are likely going to be "File away for reference, re-negotiating that with Person X tomorrow".

The first week is usually the hardest because old habits die hard, but you will need to keep on top of the system and periodically update it as new things come in. You are probably going to be spending a fair bit of time shifting work around, delegating tasks, deferring projects, and canceling things you are no longer committed to.

At the end of the week, again, shut off the world for 2 hours and do a full weekly review. Make sure your system is current and in-sync.

Iterating On & Refining Your System

At this point, you will have a basic system going that you will need to keep up on. You will likely need to do more extended and more frequent mind sweeps in the near future but eventually they should become much smaller and less intense.

You will also need to occasionally step back and refine the system as things progress and what worked before might no longer make sense given new information, new tasks, new commitments, etc. That's perfectly fine and expected. The best systems are organic and flexible not rigid and dogmatic.


That is a rough outline of a process I would recommend to folks in similar situations. I don't claim it is the answer, it is perfect, or that it will work for you. It's a starting point though. Take it with a grain of salt. It's not infallible or bulletproof, it may miss things or cause some initial pain/uncomfortability, try to bear with it as you get a hold of things.

Keep in mind, you will need to be flexible and iterate on your system as you understand more and see your full inventory. Don't be afraid to decide "Hey, I thought X was a good way to organize these. Turns out, that doesn't help me. Let's do Y instead".

Best of luck!
 
I have not read the entire posts here yet, but taking a course would definitely make things more clear for you. The cheapest option is the self-paced on-demand version. There, you will be guided through the steps in the methodology, and you are assigned tasks which will result in having set up your own GTD system!

The course can be found on Crucial Learning's website.
 
Thanks for your replies!

While I think implementing GTD would certainly help, I don't think it's sufficient.
I constantly have to switch contexts, there are constant interruptions during my day, which creates a lot of stress.
With a good GTD system, I would probably be less stressed because I wouldn't have to worry about forgetting things all the time (which does happen at the moment). But I can't imagine it would solve the problem with the interruptions.

I wake up and check my email. There usually aren't any important new emails during the night, it's mostly spam.
I go to the office and on the way there, there are already some messages from my team, like: "Hey, I'm working on X, but I am stuck because client A still hasn't fixed that thing we are waiting for"
So I have to reach out to client A and ask them for the status on that thing.
Then I get another chat message from a different team member: "Hey, what would you like me to do about Y? We want to publish it now, just waiting for this one answer from you"
In the meantime, I have received two emails from a client with answers I asked about the day before (which I have to forward to my team with additional explanations), as well as another email where the client asks me for a cost estimate. I have to forward this request to my team and ask them to prepare a quote.
I get to the office, get a cup of coffee and sit down just in time for my first Teams meeting with a client. We go through some things, I take notes, and then later I'l have to convert the notes into proper sentences and then send them to my team (who may then have new questions for me).
During the meeting, client A has sent me a chat message: "Hey, sorry, about that, it should be fixed now!"
So I have to tell my team they should be able to proceed now. They are happy and preparing rolling out the update.
I get email notifications informing me about the changes they have made, which I have to check.
Just as we are about to go live with the changes, client A messages me again: "Oh, we found a new bug!"
I have to discuss this with my team, maybe it's easy to fix, so we can still include it in the update we're about to roll out.
Meanwhile, about 15 new email notifications about changes I have to review have popped in.
As well as another email from a client who has tested the latest release and would like some things to be changed.
And then a few more chat messages and another email from one of my employees with a list of 10-20 questions.
To answer these questions, I have to email three different people and also set up another meeting with somone else.
Some of the questions, however, I could answer right away, if I had the time to do so.
But at this point, my phone rings, and it's a family member who "just has a quick question". The call ends up taking 40 minutes.
I am now starving because it's 3pm and I haven't even had lunch. So I just rush out to buy some food, get back, and scroll through social media on my phone as I eat.
Then I have to get back to my PC for the next meeting, during which more emails and text messages tick in.
Luckily at some point, this dies down, so I manage to somehow process most of it before I leave the office exhausted at 8pm, only to rush home, eat something very quickly and then head to the gym.

That's a rather typical day and I'm not sure if having nicely sorted lists would help with this.
I need some way to reduce the interruptions, batch stuff together. Something like spending 1h on client A in the morning and 1h in the afternoon, checking email only twice per day, disabling notifications for messenger applications, etc.
But I just don't know where to start.
 
Chocolate Factory said:
I have long tried to implement something like GTD, but I am always so stressed out and busy with my daily workload and I never find the time to actually implement it.
I read the book a long time ago and I've recently also started listening to the audiobook. So I feel I understand the basic principles.
But where I struggle is actually implementing the system. I find the book way too abstract. I understand that it's a methodology, but what I'm looking for is something more hands on, like: "Ok, here's you do it with this tool. Get started with this and once you've got the hang of it, you can try adapting it to your own needs."

The biggest issue for me is that I am a business owner under a massive workload.
Or, actually the workload probably isn't even the issue, but it's the distractions.
Emails, chat messages from at least 4-5 different messaging platforms, phone calls, people talking to me in person. I feel I never get anything done and that I'm always behind. I get stressed out by unread emails (I also always mark them as unread again, which of course only makes things worse).
The distractions absolutely kill my productivity, I can almost never really concentrate on a task, except late at night. So I also always put off tasks that require concentration and rather work on tasks that I can solve quickly, even if they are less important or urgent, just to feel a sense of accomplishment.

I'm not sure if GTD can help with this. I guess the answer is probably yes, but I've still not been able to implement it.
I've been thinking about just buying one of the Udemy courses and getting to it, but I'm not sure if that's really the answer.

I feel I need a general approach to how I can handle distractions.
When one of my employees asks me a question over chat, I always feel the need to reply right away because I'm worried they'll otherwise be stuck with their work, we won't be able to make the client happy etc.
The same with clients, who also often communicate over chat - I get the notification and then immediately have to assess if it's something important and how to react. I actually usually try to just respond right away just to get it out of the way, so it doesn't become yet another thing I have to keep track of and try not to forget.

With email, it's especially difficult because they're rarely something I just need to reply to.
I would usually have to talk to different people (arrange a meeting, discuss, maybe send an email etc.) before I can reply to the emails. So those emails would usually actually become projects in themselves, so I wouldn't even know where to start with them. Do I just add a project "Reply to email from Bob from June 7" and then create next actions like "Ask Alice when we can have the report for Bob ready?" - or actually, something more realistic might be: "Call for a meeting with the team to discuss the report for Bob" - answering Bob's question when the report will be ready might take several meetings. And there may be more questions in that email than just "Hey, when will the report be ready?"

I'm feeling so stressed out and overwhelmed that I just don't know where to start.
The general advice seems to be "Just read the book and implement the system the way that fits your needs", but that is way too vague for me.
At my current stress levels I need SIMPLE solutions just to get started, I don't have the mental capacity to figure out some creative approach.

Maybe someone can resonate with this and has found a way out.
Would also be happy to pay for a course or so, if it really helps. I just really have to fix this.
I'm under constant stress and always scared I'll forget something, I find myself procrastinating and just feel I get very little done, despite working pretty much 24/7 - simply because all the distractions keep me from ever reaching a state of "deep work". I'm just constantly switching between 5-minute tasks, never doing anything properly, and then actually not even billing clients for my time because I find it impossible to keep track of the little "3 minutes here", "4 minutes there" stuff...

Just where can I get started to get out of this mess? I can't be the first person struggling with this.
I want to hire someone to reduce my workload, but before that, I feel that I have to get more organized myself, so I have a system in place, and don't just dump the whole mess on someone else.

And I actually don't even think the workload is the problem, it's the distractions that create the stress... When I was in a different time zone (9h difference or so), it was amazing because there was almost no overlap with my team and clients. I'd spend maybe an hour a day going over my emails, replying to everyone, then I'd have the rest of the day to myself. And then they'd reply back while I was asleep. It was pure bliss. I'd like to get back to something like that...
Click to expand...
It sounds to me like you have identified the problem as being one of interruptions and distractions, so you need to take control of your time.

My suggestion is to nominate and authorise a trusted person to make (some) decisions for you, be that a PA or second in command.

Then turn off all notifications on all devices, and set auto replies saying you are in meetings all day and will only be checking messages at 11am and 3pm, but if it’s urgent to contact the authorised person.

This does two things; firstly it makes the sender determine if they think there’s a sense of urgency, and secondly your trusted person can then review it and decide if it’s justified interrupting you.

Then shut your office door and make it clear to all employees that you are not to be disturbed, but they can contact your trusted person if they feel they need input.

Initially you will want to meet regularly with your trusted person to make sure that things are working out and to change anything that isn’t, but eventually you will trust them and have your time back without worrying about what’s going on in the outside world.

How frequently you do this is up to you. You might want to experiment with once a week or go full steam ahead and do it every day for the first couple of weeks until you feel comfortable with it.

If you need to hire someone to be your trusted person then don’t wait until you are organised, get them in to help you organise so they understand your business and workload.
 
I don't think that would help:

1. There is no trusted person. There is currently only me who can handle this stuff. I'm planning to hire someone to help me, but then they would be in the same situation.

2. There is (with few exceptions) no "deep work" that I have to spend time on. If I could block out all the distractions/interruptions, there would be almost no work left. The interruptions are what the actual work is.

3. I'm not sure about the workload. I have felt extremely overworked for a long time now, but when I started actually tracking everything, it came down to 4-5 hours of work per day on average (though I have to say that tracking is difficult when you have lots of 5-minute tasks).
But I still feel that the workload itself is manageable for me, but I have to reduce the interruptions.
Sometimes when I'm unavailable for half a day for a reason, I can catch up with all my work for that day in just an hour or so in the evening.

So, yes, I would have to somehow only check email/messages a certain number of times per day maybe, but I manage different clients, so I feel there should maybe be different fixed times for different clients, etc.
I would really love to discuss this as part of a coaching or course, with someone who has experience helping people like me...
 
Thanks for the additional information. That definitely helps. I agree that while setting up and implementing a GTD System would help, your problems seem auxiliary to not having a system already.

I would take a look back at the example of a typical day you provided. There's a few observations and questions I would pose back to you:

  • Is there a reason you are the point person on all of these items/for all of these teams?
  • How many teams and individuals either need you to sign-off on their work or have to go through you to get unblocked?
  • How experienced and trustworthy are the individuals that you immediately work with or that report to you?
  • Are there persons on each team who you feel are leaders or ready to step into a leadership role (or take on the responsibilities)?

Looking at your example day, what I am seeing as the overarching symptom here is that you are the primary bottleneck for a large portion of other people's work. A lot of people are coming to you with their problems and expecting you to solve them for them. You are seen as the "go-to" person and people know it so they leverage you like crazy. Some might call it the bus factor problem.

Another observation is that a lot of the work you are doing seems like the kind of work that can be delegated to a trusted member of each team (perhaps a team lead or department head). Delegation is usually the biggest stumbling block to most management professionals at all levels. The root reason why most struggle to delegate is usually "trust".

That's the crux of the issues I am seeing at least: needing to delegate more and therefore trust certain people to make the decisions on many things that you can't / don't need to be in the room for.

There's a lot of advice out there on delegation and how to get better at doing it. I won't rehash all of it other than it's a gradual process whereby you build up trust with certain people. Suffice it to say that, yes, delegating carries risk but not doing so carries even more risk. At some point, you have to let go of things to give yourself the time and space to focus on the bigger picture work as well as to allow your team to grow on their own.

A couple of notes about delegating:

  • Set clear expectations with each person you delegate to. Be direct, simple, and straightforward. Put it in writing on a shared document and make sure they understand what's being asked of them.
  • Give them full control over the work being delegated, including command and control decision making power. If they're going to be doing the work then they're responsible enough to decide how it gets done, with what budget, and what decisions about it to make.
  • Follow-up with each person you delegate to in a reasonable time-frame (don't micromanage but don't wait more than a few days at first). Once you really build up trust, you will know who and how often to follow-up with.
  • Don't reverse delegate by taking something back. If the person is struggling, be a sounding board, prompt them to ask you questions on ideas/how to approach problems, be a coach/mentor to them. Above all though, don't do the work for them or give them the answer.
  • Only get involved for true crisis or emergencies. Either by reinforcing your delegate (i.e. if the client/external force is being a blocker) or by knowing that the person to delegated to can't handle the work given to them (i.e. you need to find someone else or start making some hard choices about staffing).

You mention you are in a lot of meetings, on a lot of emails, and getting a few calls. Here's my only question: do you really need to be?

This is usually another sign of needing to delegate more and take yourself out of the equation as the decider. If you don't absolutely need to be at a meeting, don't attend it. Especially if there is someone already attending whom you have delegated most of the responsibility to.

If you need to be in a meeting, be ruthless about time and simply drop if it goes over (people will get the hint). If the meeting is not driving towards actions and resolution: either steer it back on track or simply stop the meeting to reset the tone/expectations. I let folks know that by saying something like

"Hey, looks like there is still more information gathering and analysis to do here. We're going in circles, I am going to drop and we can schedule a continuation another day."
Click to expand...
For any further meetings on the subject, only attend if there is a written agenda already.

Otherwise, you can usually say something like:
"Great discussion. Let's pick a direction and move forward. (To the person running the meeting: ) I will expect an email with a list of decisions and actions on this by end of the day today/tomorrow/this week (whatever is appropriate)".
Click to expand...
Sometimes a little forced public direction setting can help reinforce that the delegate is in charge and subtly remind him/her that they need to be doing a better job / not wasting your time.

A lot of times folks get into analysis paralysis mode and the entire activity needs to be time gated and then we just move forward as best we know how.

For emails and other avenues of communication, I would recommend to try to route those to other folks if at all possible (hint, the person you delegated it to), especially if you find it's stuff where you aren't the only person who can do it. Try to also be less of the answer board to people and more of the coaching guiding them to think on their own and self-solve problems without needing to go to you.

Overall, avoid being concerned with minor decisions and day-to-day activities and focus on setting the direction / vision for others to then execute on with their teams.

Hope that helps.
 
What about having designated times set aside each day where employees and clients can interrupt you or message you or call you? You can be on Teams/chat/email, etc. and anyone can pop in. Call them office hours. Then block off other times where you are unavailable to everyone and can do more deep work.

I fear that unless you make a major change to your availability for others, you cannot be more available for yourself.

Cheers,
Stephen
 
Chocolate Factory said:
I have long tried to implement something like GTD, but I am always so stressed out and busy with my daily workload and I never find the time to actually implement it.
I read the book a long time ago and I've recently also started listening to the audiobook. So I feel I understand the basic principles.
But where I struggle is actually implementing the system. I find the book way too abstract. I understand that it's a methodology, but what I'm looking for is something more hands on, like: "Ok, here's you do it with this tool. Get started with this and once you've got the hang of it, you can try adapting it to your own needs."

The biggest issue for me is that I am a business owner under a massive workload.
Or, actually the workload probably isn't even the issue, but it's the distractions.
Emails, chat messages from at least 4-5 different messaging platforms, phone calls, people talking to me in person. I feel I never get anything done and that I'm always behind. I get stressed out by unread emails (I also always mark them as unread again, which of course only makes things worse).
The distractions absolutely kill my productivity, I can almost never really concentrate on a task, except late at night. So I also always put off tasks that require concentration and rather work on tasks that I can solve quickly, even if they are less important or urgent, just to feel a sense of accomplishment.

I'm not sure if GTD can help with this. I guess the answer is probably yes, but I've still not been able to implement it.
I've been thinking about just buying one of the Udemy courses and getting to it, but I'm not sure if that's really the answer.

I feel I need a general approach to how I can handle distractions.
When one of my employees asks me a question over chat, I always feel the need to reply right away because I'm worried they'll otherwise be stuck with their work, we won't be able to make the client happy etc.
The same with clients, who also often communicate over chat - I get the notification and then immediately have to assess if it's something important and how to react. I actually usually try to just respond right away just to get it out of the way, so it doesn't become yet another thing I have to keep track of and try not to forget.

With email, it's especially difficult because they're rarely something I just need to reply to.
I would usually have to talk to different people (arrange a meeting, discuss, maybe send an email etc.) before I can reply to the emails. So those emails would usually actually become projects in themselves, so I wouldn't even know where to start with them. Do I just add a project "Reply to email from Bob from June 7" and then create next actions like "Ask Alice when we can have the report for Bob ready?" - or actually, something more realistic might be: "Call for a meeting with the team to discuss the report for Bob" - answering Bob's question when the report will be ready might take several meetings. And there may be more questions in that email than just "Hey, when will the report be ready?"

I'm feeling so stressed out and overwhelmed that I just don't know where to start.
The general advice seems to be "Just read the book and implement the system the way that fits your needs", but that is way too vague for me.
At my current stress levels I need SIMPLE solutions just to get started, I don't have the mental capacity to figure out some creative approach.

Maybe someone can resonate with this and has found a way out.
Would also be happy to pay for a course or so, if it really helps. I just really have to fix this.
I'm under constant stress and always scared I'll forget something, I find myself procrastinating and just feel I get very little done, despite working pretty much 24/7 - simply because all the distractions keep me from ever reaching a state of "deep work". I'm just constantly switching between 5-minute tasks, never doing anything properly, and then actually not even billing clients for my time because I find it impossible to keep track of the little "3 minutes here", "4 minutes there" stuff...

Just where can I get started to get out of this mess? I can't be the first person struggling with this.
I want to hire someone to reduce my workload, but before that, I feel that I have to get more organized myself, so I have a system in place, and don't just dump the whole mess on someone else.

And I actually don't even think the workload is the problem, it's the distractions that create the stress... When I was in a different time zone (9h difference or so), it was amazing because there was almost no overlap with my team and clients. I'd spend maybe an hour a day going over my emails, replying to everyone, then I'd have the rest of the day to myself. And then they'd reply back while I was asleep. It was pure bliss. I'd like to get back to something like that...
Click to expand...
@Chocolate Factory,

Respectfully beginning with I literally feel your pain and offer the following in the hopes of relieving it to at least to the smallest degree

Here some possible GTD 'aspirin':

1. ONE trusted tool . . . suggesting a 99¢ Spiral Notebook that you might already have in inventory . . . spiral because it can remain open on a flat surface when need be

2. Do a Mind-Sweep unless you have already done so . . . or do it even have if the prior Mind-Sweep is unavailable

3. Rewrite and Strike-Though Mind-Sweep items to Project and individualized Contexts list on their own individual pages (@Home, @Calls, @Agenda, @Online, @Errands, etc. ) while the unmarked items remaining from the Mind-Sweep list, at least for now, can be deemed as a Someday/Maybe list until the next Weekly Review

While this might be less than your GTD system aspirations desire . . . you will have at least corralled what has your attention into ONE extrinsic trusted tool for starters

Hope that offers at least some help

As you see GTD fit. . . .
 
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Chocolate Factory said:
I don't think that would help:

1. There is no trusted person. There is currently only me who can handle this stuff. I'm planning to hire someone to help me, but then they would be in the same situation.

2. There is (with few exceptions) no "deep work" that I have to spend time on. If I could block out all the distractions/interruptions, there would be almost no work left. The interruptions are what the actual work is.

3. I'm not sure about the workload. I have felt extremely overworked for a long time now, but when I started actually tracking everything, it came down to 4-5 hours of work per day on average (though I have to say that tracking is difficult when you have lots of 5-minute tasks).
But I still feel that the workload itself is manageable for me, but I have to reduce the interruptions.
Sometimes when I'm unavailable for half a day for a reason, I can catch up with all my work for that day in just an hour or so in the evening.

So, yes, I would have to somehow only check email/messages a certain number of times per day maybe, but I manage different clients, so I feel there should maybe be different fixed times for different clients, etc.
I would really love to discuss this as part of a coaching or course, with someone who has experience helping people like me...
Click to expand...
Okay try this tomorrow. When you get in check all your messages for new work. Then turn off all notifications, set Fetch New Email to manual, and mute your phone.

Rattle off ten 5 minute tasks, grab a drink at the end and check what new messages have come in within the last hour.

Repeat throughout the day, meetings allowing.
 
I suggest to reduce the distractors slowly and step by step starting with communication apps – just because it's a quick way of communicating doesn't mean it's effective.

Consider redefining your professional role cause it sounds like too many hats on – business owner, CEO, account manger, project manager etc.

Just be aware that there are managers who will be glad if they can solve those kind of problems in your behalf and they will do it effortlessly – because this is what they are best at.
 
I'll be a bit brutal. You need to hire someone as a PA, you need to stop being the Everything Guy, you need to not be reacting to everything immediately and you need to learn to delegate stat.
What happens to your business if you drop dead from exhaustion?!
But I still feel that the workload itself is manageable for me, but I have to reduce the interruptions.
Click to expand...
Yes you do. I think there's something here for you to dig into - you know what you need to do. Why are you resisting it?

If you go down the road of a PA, and I would strongly recommend it, you could then implement GTD as a mini-team. I'd then strongly suggest rolling it out throughout your business. You have a business right now of highly dependent people all looking to you. That is not sustainable in the medium to long term. You need to empower your teams to stand on their own feet.
 
I don’t know what your budget is for solving this problem, or whether hiring an assistant would help you. You have some bad personal habits you need to overcome, and you have been training your clients to expect a rapid response to every inquiry, and teaching your employees to rely on you instead of the other way around. Take the case of a client inquiring when a report will be ready. If you are not the person responsible for writing the report, you are the wrong person to ask. That person should have been identified already, and the email from Bob can be forwarded to them for an answer. You should be getting regular updates from the responisble person in any case. Even if you have no project management structure in place, it shouldn’t take more than a minute to write an email polling the relevant people for a consensus finish date estimate. Follow the GTD playbook: Two minute action to write the email, then waiting for replies, draft answer when replies received and go from there. It’s supposed to be fast and easy.
 
Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it!
I could really relate to that sentence from Derek Silvers: "I felt like I might as well just show up to work and sit on a chair in the hallway, just answering employees’ questions, full-time."
That's pretty much my job today.

Let me explain our business model in a bit more detail:
- We offer IT consulting services in high-cost markets, where English is not the local language
- In these markets, supply of top talent is very limited
- Our concept is to hire globally (to avoid supply issues, get better value for money), but still have everyone who interacts with the clients be local, so they can communicate in their local language
- Also, everyone interacting with the clients should be really, really, really good at what they're doing
- The client-facing people can then each manage a larger, global team behind the scenes, communicating in English
- Right now, I am the only one in such a client-facing position, but I am planning to hire

So, yes, the client-facing staff will always be a kind of bottleneck, but that's by design.
I don't want other team members communicating with the clients directly (with very few exceptions) because it would put us in a very different segment, the quality would lower etc.
As of today, we can delivery a quality most other companies cannot match, or at only 2-3x our prices.

Yes, I absolutely have to hire other people and delegate, but I want to do that once I have reached my capacity.
Right now, I still don't think it's the workload that's the problem. I thought it was, but when I started actually tracking my time, I realized that, on average, I only work 4-5 hours a day.
But the days are still super stressful because they are so unpredicatable and there are so many interruptions.

For example, unread emails stress me out. I get email notifications about code changes that my team have made. It's important that I check them, but it's not time critical. And I often get 3-4 emails about the same change (not sure how to reduce this number). Once I get to it, it takes me perhaps 30 seconds to have a look and decide that it's fine. So the work itself isn't a problem, but when I'm in the middle of something else and I get 3-4 emails about this change, or I see that I have 27 unread emails (when there were 0 in the morning), it stresses me out.

There is almost never anything really critically urgent where people can't work. They need answers from me, yes, but they would usually be able to just work on something else in the meantime.

Meetings aren't an issue either. I personally hate meetings with a vengeance, but we are currently working on a huge software project, where lots of questions come up all the time. Like: "What does this price field mean? How does the client use it? Why can the value sometimes be negative?"
In the beginning, I tried to do this all over email, but it took me AGES. I could spend a whole day just writing a single email to the client, because I'd have to include screenshots and write everything in proper sentences.
I then realized that it was better to just have 2 meetings with my team per week (Monday, Wednesday) and 2 meetings with the client (Tuesday, Thursday), and just collect all questions in the meetings with my team and ask the client directly. This way, I only had to write down the answers (as notes), so I could forward them to the team. That cut down the time spent on this process drastically.

All our clients are super nice. I don't even think they expect immediate replies (though they have of course gotten used to this).
I'm sure they would be happy to work with whatever new process we implement.

Anyway, long story short: I don't think this is a delegation issue per se because the way our business is set up, only a limited number of people should ever be speaking to clients, and these people should also review the work of the rest of the team. That is a natural bottleneck, but if one such person can manage a team of 10 others, then it will still scale.
Also, in the future, I may start hiring more local roles (for example, graphics designers), who will then also be able to talk to the clients directly.

But I don't think we're at that point yet, I feel that my productivity is simply much lower than it could be.
So I don't see hiring someone to help me as a good option yet. Hiring someone with my skillset would be extremely expensive (think $200k+ per year), so I'd want them to be productive and not waste half of their days, like I am doing right now.
So I feel I should first implement a system/process that works well (for example, move clients to a ticketing system instead of chat messages? Maybe have two quick 30-minute meetings every day where people can ask questions, instead of 20 chat messages spread across the day? Or maybe just mute notifications and only check them 2-3 times per day?) - and only then, when I feel I've increased my productivity, I'd like to hire someone to take over some of my work.
That way, there will already be a system that will work well.
If I just hire someone now to take over my work, I'm worried that they would just get just as stressed out as me and then quit. The context switching is extremely exhausting. If it was just one project, it would be fine, but when you have to juggle 3-4 different projects all the time, it gets exhausting for your mind really fast.

I don't know if that makes sense?
 
There is a lot in your message, so I decided to apply the GTD workflow to help me answer. First I asked "What is this?". I went through the message, summarising and rewording and ending up with a concise list of things to process. One thing stood out:

When I was in a different time zone (9h difference or so), it was amazing because there was almost no overlap with my team and clients. I'd spend maybe an hour a day going over my emails, replying to everyone, then I'd have the rest of the day to myself. And then they'd reply back while I was asleep. It was pure bliss. I'd like to get back to something like that...
Click to expand...

This sounds to me like a vision of how you want your life to be. It's not a goal you want to achieve one day, but a statement of what you want the balance in your life to be like that will last for years, maybe until you retire. I keep my Vision horizon on a 3 x 5 index card, stored in my paper filing system.

This vision will help inform processing the rest of the problems in your list.

I am going to encourage you to take 4 large pieces of paper (eg A4), and write the headings "Projects", "Next Actions", "Waiting For" and "Someday/Maybe" on each. It might seem overly simplistic but I am going to use these to address all of your points. This can be the start of a fledgeling GTD system on paper. You can expand it or use a digital tool later if you want to.

GTD book is too abstract. Wants instructions that explain how to use a tool.

What is this? A problem you were having with setting up GTD, along with a solution.
Is it actionable? Yes.

Four solutions come to mind:
- Try using one of the GTD setup guides for a tool that attracts you. They are relatively inexpensive and might help you make sense of the book.
- Book onto a course.
- Go with a paper system. The book describes exactly how to set up a paper system
- Hire a coach.

Choose the one that you feel will help you make the biggest progress to your goal. Does one align better with the vision above than another?

Stressed out by unread emails and marking emails read again which makes things worse.

What is this? A habit causing a vicious cycle of stress.
Project: Install a different habit for processing email.
Next Action: Follow this checklist next time you are processing email:

Touch each email only once.
- If it is trash, delete it.
- If it is informational with no action necessary, archive it.
- If the answer is "No", reply immediately and archive it.
- If it is truly quick to deal with, reply and archive.
- If it can be delegated, do so and write it on you "Waiting For list", and archive the email.
- If it is more complex, write down the desired outcome on Projects, the very next action on Next Actions. Consider replying saying that you'll get back to them and archive the email.
- If it cannot be actioned just now, write it on Someday/Maybe and archive the email.

If you get into the habit of doing this, and trust the lists you make, you will spend less time re-reading email and know that you have not missed anything. People will get quick replies to emails, even if they are a promise to get back to them.

This checklist approximates the GTD workflow diagram. It is how commitments get onto your lists and how you avoid working from your inbox.

4-5 messaging platforms, phone, talking in person, email.

What is this? An aspect of your work life that you are not happy with.
Is it Actionable? Yes.

What is your desired outcome? I would actually encourage you to define communication standards on an organisational level. Choose a small number of communication channels that you use together and define how they are to be used and under which circumstances.

This is one that I have sorted out for myself by defining clear communication channels. I am a company of one. For work, I use email for almost everything and phone calls if it is urgent. For personal stuff, it's WhatsApp and phone calls. Like email, I touch each message only once.

When taking on a new client, I explain that all communication is to be via email and I will reply the next day at the latest. If there is an emergency, then I am available over phone.

This allows me to check email on my schedule and I know that if a client really needs help urgently, then they will call me. The key here is communicating what my standards are and following through with my promises.


I feel here is where my real advice stops. The rest is mostly a consequence of installing the above habits as a partial GTD system

Feel the need to reply immediately, or it will impact clients.

Your staff probably have other work they can be getting on with. However, if you define different communication channels for normal vs emergency then you can empower your staff to make that call for you.

Usually respond to clients immediately to avoid tracking or risking forgetting

Have a simple system for tracking that you really use and trust. I mean rally simple, like four pieces of paper as above. Then you can track with minimal overhead, reply to your clients acknowledging that you will take action, and archive the email with confidence.

Some emails require more than just a reply. For example needing a meeting or presumably some other work. Should these be a project?

Yes, these should be a project, One sentence on the Project List, one action on the Next Actions list.

All the distractions keep me from ever reaching a state of "deep work".
Tasks that require concentration have to be put off till late at night.

What are these this? Problems in your work life.
Is it actionable? Yes.

I think that reducing your communication channels and explaining to staff and clients the timeline for responses will help. I think another part is to check the communication channels on a schedule. This will give you blocks of time for concentrating on other tasks.

Project: Have a schedule for checking communications:
Next Action: Communicate to staff and clients timelines for responses.

I find myself procrastinating and just feel I get very little done

What is this? Difficulty choosing action in the moment.
Is it actionable? Yes.

You should have a list of your commitments on your Project List and a list of next steps (one for each project) on your Next Actions list. There is a GTD model that helps you choose what to do, even when you don't feel like doing anything.

Next action: Look up the four criteria model for choosing actions in the moment. (in the GTD book)
Project: Install the habit of using the 4 criteria model to choose what to do, especially when procrastinating.

working pretty much 24/7

- What is this? Your current reality. It is antithetical to the vision you outlined.
- Is it actionable? Up to you.

If actionable, you could define an end to the work day and install a ritual (like walking around the block) to reinforce it.

More likely, if "not yet actionable" put it on the Someday/Maybe list to reflect on every so often. I hope that installing a proper system will allow you to stop working 24/7.

Constantly switching between 5-minute tasks, never doing anything properly, and then actually not even billing clients for my time because I find it impossible to keep track of the little "3 minutes here", "4 minutes there"

What is this? A reality of your work organisation that prevents you from tracking time effectively.
Is it actionable? It might be better actionable when you are working from your action list rather than your email

Put it on Someday/Maybe and review in a week.

Want to hire someone to reduce my workload, but feel I need to be more organised first.

What is this? A desire to grow your organisation and change the nature of your own work.
Is it actionable? Not yet -- by your own assessment.

Put it on Someday/Maybe. It sounds like you have budget to hire someone though. You could consider using some of this budget for your own GTD course or coaching. You could get a lot of coaching for one month of employee salary!

Under constant stress and always scared will forget something

What is this? An anxiety over your work system.
Is it actionable? No, or not yet.

I strongly believe that installing some of the habits above will help you to alleviate this anxiety. I would put it on your Someday/Maybe to reflect on in a month or two. You might decide that the anxiety has gone, or you might decide that you need to do something else in addition or instead.
 
I agree with @cfoley’s detailed breakdown of the issues in play, there is one thing I would like to also emphasize: GTD is not dogmatic, it is pragmatic and experimental. You should not be making decisions about how to be more productive, you should be trying simple things and seeing how they work for you. You must avoid paralysis by analysis. Try alternative approaches to every aspect of your work you find problematic, and use what works best. Steady improvement will see you through.
 
cfoley said:
There is a lot in your message, so I decided to apply the GTD workflow to help me answer. First I asked "What is this?". I went through the message, summarising and rewording and ending up with a concise list of things to process. One thing stood out:



This sounds to me like a vision of how you want your life to be. It's not a goal you want to achieve one day, but a statement of what you want the balance in your life to be like that will last for years, maybe until you retire. I keep my Vision horizon on a 3 x 5 index card, stored in my paper filing system.

This vision will help inform processing the rest of the problems in your list.

I am going to encourage you to take 4 large pieces of paper (eg A4), and write the headings "Projects", "Next Actions", "Waiting For" and "Someday/Maybe" on each. It might seem overly simplistic but I am going to use these to address all of your points. This can be the start of a fledgeling GTD system on paper. You can expand it or use a digital tool later if you want to.

GTD book is too abstract. Wants instructions that explain how to use a tool.

What is this? A problem you were having with setting up GTD, along with a solution.
Is it actionable? Yes.

Four solutions come to mind:
- Try using one of the GTD setup guides for a tool that attracts you. They are relatively inexpensive and might help you make sense of the book.
- Book onto a course.
- Go with a paper system. The book describes exactly how to set up a paper system
- Hire a coach.

Choose the one that you feel will help you make the biggest progress to your goal. Does one align better with the vision above than another?

Stressed out by unread emails and marking emails read again which makes things worse.

What is this? A habit causing a vicious cycle of stress.
Project: Install a different habit for processing email.
Next Action: Follow this checklist next time you are processing email:

Touch each email only once.
- If it is trash, delete it.
- If it is informational with no action necessary, archive it.
- If the answer is "No", reply immediately and archive it.
- If it is truly quick to deal with, reply and archive.
- If it can be delegated, do so and write it on you "Waiting For list", and archive the email.
- If it is more complex, write down the desired outcome on Projects, the very next action on Next Actions. Consider replying saying that you'll get back to them and archive the email.
- If it cannot be actioned just now, write it on Someday/Maybe and archive the email.

If you get into the habit of doing this, and trust the lists you make, you will spend less time re-reading email and know that you have not missed anything. People will get quick replies to emails, even if they are a promise to get back to them.

This checklist approximates the GTD workflow diagram. It is how commitments get onto your lists and how you avoid working from your inbox.

4-5 messaging platforms, phone, talking in person, email.

What is this? An aspect of your work life that you are not happy with.
Is it Actionable? Yes.

What is your desired outcome? I would actually encourage you to define communication standards on an organisational level. Choose a small number of communication channels that you use together and define how they are to be used and under which circumstances.

This is one that I have sorted out for myself by defining clear communication channels. I am a company of one. For work, I use email for almost everything and phone calls if it is urgent. For personal stuff, it's WhatsApp and phone calls. Like email, I touch each message only once.

When taking on a new client, I explain that all communication is to be via email and I will reply the next day at the latest. If there is an emergency, then I am available over phone.

This allows me to check email on my schedule and I know that if a client really needs help urgently, then they will call me. The key here is communicating what my standards are and following through with my promises.


I feel here is where my real advice stops. The rest is mostly a consequence of installing the above habits as a partial GTD system

Feel the need to reply immediately, or it will impact clients.

Your staff probably have other work they can be getting on with. However, if you define different communication channels for normal vs emergency then you can empower your staff to make that call for you.

Usually respond to clients immediately to avoid tracking or risking forgetting

Have a simple system for tracking that you really use and trust. I mean rally simple, like four pieces of paper as above. Then you can track with minimal overhead, reply to your clients acknowledging that you will take action, and archive the email with confidence.

Some emails require more than just a reply. For example needing a meeting or presumably some other work. Should these be a project?

Yes, these should be a project, One sentence on the Project List, one action on the Next Actions list.

All the distractions keep me from ever reaching a state of "deep work".
Tasks that require concentration have to be put off till late at night.

What are these this? Problems in your work life.
Is it actionable? Yes.

I think that reducing your communication channels and explaining to staff and clients the timeline for responses will help. I think another part is to check the communication channels on a schedule. This will give you blocks of time for concentrating on other tasks.

Project: Have a schedule for checking communications:
Next Action: Communicate to staff and clients timelines for responses.

I find myself procrastinating and just feel I get very little done

What is this? Difficulty choosing action in the moment.
Is it actionable? Yes.

You should have a list of your commitments on your Project List and a list of next steps (one for each project) on your Next Actions list. There is a GTD model that helps you choose what to do, even when you don't feel like doing anything.

Next action: Look up the four criteria model for choosing actions in the moment. (in the GTD book)
Project: Install the habit of using the 4 criteria model to choose what to do, especially when procrastinating.

working pretty much 24/7

- What is this? Your current reality. It is antithetical to the vision you outlined.
- Is it actionable? Up to you.

If actionable, you could define an end to the work day and install a ritual (like walking around the block) to reinforce it.

More likely, if "not yet actionable" put it on the Someday/Maybe list to reflect on every so often. I hope that installing a proper system will allow you to stop working 24/7.

Constantly switching between 5-minute tasks, never doing anything properly, and then actually not even billing clients for my time because I find it impossible to keep track of the little "3 minutes here", "4 minutes there"

What is this? A reality of your work organisation that prevents you from tracking time effectively.
Is it actionable? It might be better actionable when you are working from your action list rather than your email

Put it on Someday/Maybe and review in a week.

Want to hire someone to reduce my workload, but feel I need to be more organised first.

What is this? A desire to grow your organisation and change the nature of your own work.
Is it actionable? Not yet -- by your own assessment.

Put it on Someday/Maybe. It sounds like you have budget to hire someone though. You could consider using some of this budget for your own GTD course or coaching. You could get a lot of coaching for one month of employee salary!

Under constant stress and always scared will forget something

What is this? An anxiety over your work system.
Is it actionable? No, or not yet.

I strongly believe that installing some of the habits above will help you to alleviate this anxiety. I would put it on your Someday/Maybe to reflect on in a month or two. You might decide that the anxiety has gone, or you might decide that you need to do something else in addition or instead.
Click to expand...
@cfoley,

Very nice . . . very GTD black belt
 
You need to decide what you aren't going to do. GTD is just the natural way the mind accomplishes things. For example, I am answering this post. I could be doing several other things on my @computer list. I've chosen not to. There are many first steps you could take. My guess is you haven't clarified any of your projects or decided if any of your next actions are just two minute items that can just be done with. Me the first thing I would do is delete a bunch of emails. And then go through and delete a bunch more. That is the first step. If you need to hire an assistant. Hire one. But if you wait til you are organized it may never happen. That's like cleaning the house before the cleaning people show up. Just remember all you can do is all you can do. And GTD is all about context not urgency. There are a bunch of next baby steps, but start deleting emails.
 
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