Let's see if I've got this right then...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ted Silver
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Ted Silver

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Hi,

I'm new to GTD and have just read the book and browsed the forums. I agree with much of what Allen teaches, but I'm not quite sure how practical his system really is.. perhaps I don't quite get it yet?

From what I understood, a typical GTD-style day would revolve around getting through hard-edged items and completing anything which has to be done that day before working through your action lists to get active projects and commitments moving forward as well as other smaller tasks.

However, what I don't find clear is how you work through your action lists. I understand Allen's suggestion for determining where to start off with your action lists but to me it seems this system is only effective at moving lots of small projects and commitments forward, while the larger (and usually higher-priority!) projects lag behind due to a lack of sufficient and focused attention -- some projects require you to spend hours (whether at one time or on a regularly basis) or even days on just that one project. How does the GTD system deal with this?

Perhaps I missed it during my first read, but I don't remember any mention of incorporating routine tasks somehow to ensure that the "big rocks" are in place and get done. Are we suggested to schedule appointments with ourselves to focus on selected projects during our daily review procedure?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Ted
 
Yes, schedule an appt with yourself, and put it in your hard landscape. Just don't go overboard and overschedule things you would LIKE to do, but don't do!

In my personal opinion, the great thing about GTD is once you understand it, then you can creatively customize it and apply in in a way that makes sense for YOU.

So try what he suggests, but if it doesn't work for you, then try something else.
Frankly, i do not use the entire system, but am religious with CERTAIN PARTS of it. Well, maybe i do use the entire system, but not exactly by the book.

Just try it, test it, adapt it, customize it.
Hey, when you buy a car, we want to customize it.
We certainly need to customize something for our individual MIND.

Coz
 
It's impossible to move a *project* forward, except by a series of smaller *actions.* At some point, either when you create the project or during your weekly review, you need to figure out what those actions are and put them on your lists.

If your action list has things like:
Call car dealer re: battery replacement
Call Mike re: sales meeting
Email Steve re: 2005 budget
Invade Albania

Then "Invade Albania" is a huge lump that is never going to get done. In order to actually carry out the invasion, you have to do a series of much smaller tasks:
Find Albania on map
Call Italian Ambassador re: flyover rights
Call SecDef re: Operation Dog Wag contingency plan
Email SecState re: plausible reasons for Albania invasion
and so forth.

Before GTD, my time management approach had two failure modes. Either I would get so wrapped up in trivia that the big stuff didn't get done, or the big stuff would consume all my attention for so long that the "trivia" would blow up into a crisis. By breaking both big and little things into chunks that are roughly the same size and complexity, I'm able to keep everything moving along.

Katherine
 
Why Albania?

kewms said:
Invade Albania

Then "Invade Albania" is a huge lump that is never going to get done. In order to actually carry out the invasion, you have to do a series of much smaller tasks:
Find Albania on map
Call Italian Ambassador re: flyover rights
Call SecDef re: Operation Dog Wag contingency plan
Email SecState re: plausible reasons for Albania invasion
and so forth.
Click to expand...

Could somebody explain me why as an example the "Invade Albania" project is sometimes chosen. Why Albania? I think there must be come cultural context that I do not know.

Besides, is it politically correct to use the name of the existing country? I wouldn't be happy if the example would be to "Conquer Poland".

TesTeq
 
In North America, Albania seems to stand for "some backward and bankrupt place no one knows anything about".
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/al.html

When i grew up we would say "Timbuktu".

I think in NA we can joke about wars of invasion as it didn't happen to us 5 years ago.

To be politically correct, you can always Blame Canada, and use that as an example. Canadians won't complain, they will just be happy you mentioned them. So just say...you are going to Invade Canada.

ok, your first Project is to set up a "Free Trade" deal...then they lose their sovereignty over their natural resources, then a good Next Action is "create excuse to block imports from Canada", etc.

Coz

TesTeq said:
Could somebody explain me why as an example the "Invade Albania" project is sometimes chosen. Why Albania? I think there must be come cultural context that I do not know.

TesTeq
Click to expand...
 
TesTeq said:
Could somebody explain me why as an example the "Invade Albania" project is sometimes chosen. Why Albania? I think there must be come cultural context that I do not know.
TesTeq
Click to expand...

I used it because of the movie "Wag the Dog," in which a US President fakes the invasion of Albania in order to distract attention from a scandal at home.

Katherine
 
Coz:
Thanks for the historical up-date.
Until I read your post, I had forgotten that somewhere over the past 57 years I had replaced "Tibuktu" with "Albania" when referrring to a backwater place.

I believe the first time I heard "Albania" in that context was when "People Express" started flying on the US East coast. It was strictly a no-frills air carrier. There were no reservations - you lined up for a boarding pass on a first-come-first served basis, paid for your ticket in-flight, and brought your own snacks. The pilot, co-pilot, & flight attendants were usually standing at the bottom of the stairs to check your bags, unless you were one of the 50% who carried everything in your backpack. I saved a lot of $ flying People Express to & from the New York area, but early on we began calling it "Air Albania".
 
completely on the "off" topic

Just had to comment! I thought I was the only one in the world who had ever used People Express in the early 80's to and from NYC...so much alone am I when I refer to it that I was convinced that it was just a dream. I loved paying $20 bucks to go from NY to DC. I loved waiting in the belly of the airport for the double doors to swing open and someone run through shouting, "plane's here"! I loved raising my hand to do a head count when the amount of money didn't match boarding passes.

Anyway, GTD rocks...you can't just think your way through it...you have to do it. Once you start, I mean really just do it, everything falls into place and the fog of "what am I forgetting about" is lifted.
 
Invade Mars vs. Conquer Mars

Hmmm, I see "invade mars" more as a sub-project or high level next action at the launch pad level and "conquer mars" as the ultimate goal from the 184,800,000,000 foot level (ie 35MM miles b/w earth & mars). ;)
 
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