I did it! I got that inbox empty at last!

M

monkeyjava

0
Hi folks,

I've been reading the book and lurking here for a while, and I finally implemented GTD as best I could. Last night I got my inbox to empty. It was really difficult to take the plunge, and my system is probably not complete and is definitely not pretty, but I'm on my way. I'm more the creative than practical type, and a hardcore procrastinator, so it was all kind of intimidating. One thing that really helped me was to make up as many reference files as possible before processing time. Once I started processing I was able to file most everything very quickly and only had to make a couple of new files. I got down through the stack a lot faster than I thought I would. Anyway, I would like to thank all of you for the inspiring and informative posts that helped me get here.

M
 
That's great!

Doesn't it feel good? As for your system being incomplete, I doubt anyone can say theirs is complete--you have to do it long enough to find out what works best for you.

Welcome to the club. We procrastinators oughta get together one of these days.
 
Inbox to empty

Congratulations, Monkeyjava.

I similarly find it difficult getting my inbox to empty, and am encouraged by your efforts! My main enemies, other than the usual procrastination, are that I have too many inboxes, and that they seem to get filled faster than I can empty them. You've inspired me to start a new thread, to see if other GTD-ers have any suggestions.
 
When first learning about GTD, my incorrect assumption was that an empty inbox meant everything in the inbox was handled. Once I got past that roadblock and learned that it simply meant that everything is moved to its proper place in a secure system that I could trust to bring it back around at the appropriate time, it became easy to implement and fairly easy to keep in shape for all my inboxes.
 
Thanks everyone! It does feel good, really good. I'm at a very critical juncture in my life, and having a system I can trust is no small thing. Learning to break projects into actions is one of the most valuable skills I think I've ever learned. Even though I'm an IT Manager by day, I've built my GTD system totally out of analog components. I'm having a lot of fun working with it, and it's a great place to focus when things are getting tough emotionally. To get myself unstuck at one point, I focused on something DA said in the book "All you really need are lists and files" and to myself I'd think: "Hell, I can make lists and files!"
 
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