Is GTD a flawed?

Witilty87

Registered
One of the things that helped me with GTD "implementation" was to realize that items on my @NA lists are simply reminders and nothing more.

Like a previous poster mentiond, GTD doesn't give you any more work than you already had; simply, it just makes you aware of everything that you've already comitted to. If, after doing something like a mindsweep, you feel overwhelmed you should ask yourself if you've overcomitted.

It's funny; what really hit the nail on the head for me was when recently I had a glitch w/my palm where all of the items on my task list got deleted. This did two things:

1). Made me realize, now that I had everything written down and out of my head, how dependent I actually was on the system.
2). Made me realize how much more stressful it was trying to think of and remember all of the the things that I comitted to rather than having it written down somewhere and out of my head.

Realize that no system is going to do your work for you. I found the FC system to be even more frustrating. I'd spend 15-30 minutes each morning "planning" my day, creating my "A, B, C, 1-2-3" list only to go into the office and have my boss completely turn things upside down. Their "just say no" approach to overcomittment isn't really functional in the real world. At the end of the day, I'd have to spend another 15-30 minutes feeling guilty that I didn't get through my list, and "forwarding" every thing that I didn't get to that day. This doesn't happen with GTD Liteblue . My comittments are there, and if I can get to them I get to them. If I don't I don't; if I don't, they're still there reminding me that I have an open loop out there (I don't have to waste any of my "Psychic RAM" trying to keep tabs on them).

One thing that I will concede with the system that I've had trouble with is installing a sense of urgency to my @NA's. There is nothing, other than my own internal "doorkeeper" to tell me if one item is more important than another. Oftentimes, there will be things that I don't want to do that are important; it's too easy to say "no".
 
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Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
One thing that I will concede with the system that I've had trouble with is installing a sense of urgency to my @NA's. There is nothing, other than my own internal "doorkeeper" to tell me if one item is more important than another. Oftentimes, there will be things that I don't want to do that are important; it's too easy to say "no".
This is where the weekly review comes in and is so important. Look at your projects and actions and decide what is really important for you to do. Go up the Horizons to gain this clarity. If you need protected time to work on actions or particular projects (here it comes....guess this won't be a surprise), create time blocks on your calendar for focused work. Just be very strategic about adding blocks to your hard landscape. Honor those blocks like a doctor's appointment. Now, things will change (welcome to 2020), so be ready to renegotiate. This isn't failure on your part to renegotiate -- this is advanced thinking.

Let me know if I can be of help. I am here to serve. :)
 

Wilson Ng

Registered
I'm using my task manager (OmniFocus) to act as my Source of Truth to remember all the things that needs to be done. Most of my repeating tasks have alarms to remind me when to do something. I look at my task manager as a restaurant "menu" with tasks to choose from. I choose 3-5 tasks and 1 Big Rock project to work on tomorrow. I write my selection down in my BuJo and go home.

When I return to work tomorrow, I can immediately get into the game and start working on my selected tasks. Narrowing the choices down the day before has relieved my stress levels to large degree. I do leave buffer to deal with the daily minutiae that comes with the day. Incoming requests, wife calling, kids calling, and customer orders will fill out my day. As @Longstreet said, I do schedule time blocks that I preserve as if it were a real appointment. This scheduled time block is needed for me to get to work on my BuJo tasks. If I don't honor the time block/appointment then I may as well toss out my BuJo.

This is my "advanced thinking" or advanced planning method. I'll never work from my task manager. There are too many choices that haven't been narrowed down to a chosen few. Instead, I work from my BuJo which acts as the game day playbook. I think of myself as a sports coach. See what the schedule looks like tomorrow or the new few days. Draw up a game plan before the game. On game day, execute the plan. Adjust the game plan during the game. The game ball can bounce your way or another. Mid-game adjustments will be needed but we try to stick to as much of the game plan as possible. If I can get a few of my tasks completed by the end of day, I'd consider it a victory. At the very least, the single Most Important Task (MIT) should be done.

I experimented with using my task manager with a BuJo to form a working team here:

 
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