A
Anonymous
Guest
"Overwhelmed"
Ditto Cris.
First of all, I am new to GTD. I have read the GTD book twice and 52 principles once. I already had my own self developed system in place two years prior to GTD; GTD is putting a nice shine on a rough diamond.
You wanted to know how you could possibly keep from becoming overwhelmed with lists of hundreds of actions. You were okay by taking a handful of NA copies and putting them on another sheet if you understand these concepts:
What is most important to the NA section and the Project section?
1. It is there. There is a place that is defined and regulated where you can go to rest your mind (by adding to the list) or quench your thirst by drawing from the well a bucket of NA's.
2. It is there and it is not silent. Its not just a list; it is a well of mental considerations that will launch the next action.
3. It is regulated ("reviewed" consistently).
It is okay to take water from the well as long as you don't disturb these three constraints. If you take 4 or 5 items from the well -- take the first actions necessary to to get them moving-- don't just take the name, keyword, or subject. Don't use this "bucket" to collect NA's from any other well other than the well that GTD has built. In other words, use the bucket but only use it to draw from the NA well or Project well or Agenda well. You have to make sure that you rely on the NA well and the Project well.
You seemed to indicate that your weekly review is sometimes done weekly and sometimes every two weeks. This, to me, seems to be where the problem is. I do not see how you can put a review off for more than a week. And I do not see how you can dare to be inconsistent. I review every NA, WaitingOn, SomeDay, Project, Agenda, etc every Mon, Wed, and Fri come hell or high water. But, my items in these departments are very legible: keyword in left column and next action in right column. The two columns are not wide and are close together to facilitate speed reading.
Hope this helps
Deavers
Ditto Cris.
First of all, I am new to GTD. I have read the GTD book twice and 52 principles once. I already had my own self developed system in place two years prior to GTD; GTD is putting a nice shine on a rough diamond.
You wanted to know how you could possibly keep from becoming overwhelmed with lists of hundreds of actions. You were okay by taking a handful of NA copies and putting them on another sheet if you understand these concepts:
What is most important to the NA section and the Project section?
1. It is there. There is a place that is defined and regulated where you can go to rest your mind (by adding to the list) or quench your thirst by drawing from the well a bucket of NA's.
2. It is there and it is not silent. Its not just a list; it is a well of mental considerations that will launch the next action.
3. It is regulated ("reviewed" consistently).
It is okay to take water from the well as long as you don't disturb these three constraints. If you take 4 or 5 items from the well -- take the first actions necessary to to get them moving-- don't just take the name, keyword, or subject. Don't use this "bucket" to collect NA's from any other well other than the well that GTD has built. In other words, use the bucket but only use it to draw from the NA well or Project well or Agenda well. You have to make sure that you rely on the NA well and the Project well.
You seemed to indicate that your weekly review is sometimes done weekly and sometimes every two weeks. This, to me, seems to be where the problem is. I do not see how you can put a review off for more than a week. And I do not see how you can dare to be inconsistent. I review every NA, WaitingOn, SomeDay, Project, Agenda, etc every Mon, Wed, and Fri come hell or high water. But, my items in these departments are very legible: keyword in left column and next action in right column. The two columns are not wide and are close together to facilitate speed reading.
Hope this helps
Deavers
