I just have too much thoughts. and they long for being communicated.
Anyway, I just picked up the GTD book by David, and I am half way on that thing. I can say I got the bulk picture of
his paradigm. but haven't get down to the nitty gritty.
I think the beautiful thing in this world is that we have different cultures, different places, and most important, different people.
I don't think there is and should be a single rule to rule over ever body. (Bible never try to rule over you, it's just a way you can hear and even comunicate with the one who create you.) Instead, we should use it to our advantage to unleash the great potential buried deeply in our soul.
Hold on, what are we all looking for? I assume you agree with me on the answer: happiness
I am a person often get too focused on the thing I was doing. and because of that, I always forget things.
and sometimes went too far to notice where I started. it's kind like a program invoke too many other methods and can't easily return to the first one that initiate all the work. I think GTD can help me to remember things that I encountered. so at least I have less chance to break a promise, thus getting more trusted, which in turn result in a happier life.
Importance is a major property of a thing, it may or may not change over time, but it would appear less important as time moves on, according to the famous forgetting curve, discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus.
For things do become less important, your natural brain would be good to go. But for things become more important or stay as important as they were. a to-do list comes in handy to get over such gap. Some people would say, if things stay as important as they were, I will be noticed if those things link back to the current satiation. That's right, but often you would find it's too late. If the Japanese government had jotted down the security risk of the nuclear power plant in their to-do list at the beginning, there wouldn't be such a tragedy.
Another interesting fact is that ...
Ok, before I call it a fact, let's do a simple test, please tell yourself what you were doing last time you plug yourself in the internet.
Holy Shit, I can't remember anything !!! Things that you once consider very important and get you totally immersed in now can't even be remembered.
This is the interesting fact I discovered.
Now, had you recorded them. you would know what you were doing. You may still agree that they are still important, but you just can't remember, or , They do become less important.
Am I suggesting you shouldn't do things that would become less important later on? No. Importance is one property, Experience with them is another. you have the right to enjoy them. Not just look for result.
One of the favorite quote in the book is: "when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging". This means taking advantage of where you are.
Shopping is a good example to further demonstrate this philosophy:
I think most of your shopping experience would fall in the following three fashions.
1. You have a list things to buy, you go directly for the things you need to buy.
2. Simply walk from entry to exit, pick up things that's in your list. Normally you would end up buying a list of things slightly different from the one you planed. Because you can't make a perfect list until you see them.
3. You don't have a list in advance. You just horse around in the store. You end up buying a bunch of things that you never thought you would need them. And you would also miss a bunch of things that you needed.
Which one you end up working with? Which one you wish you could follow?
You will find that this is smiliar to the second shopping behavior.
THINK IT! This is how you take advantage of where you are, your conscious mind didn't tell it. but it's true. and I think it is the most efficient and most creative way of doing things. if you didn't get it, imagine what would it be if you are sticking to your checklist and look for things in the order as listed. first of all, you are not wise enough to prepare a list that is geographically optimized to the actual store you are shopping at. thus, you have to go to the third floor and go back quickly to the first floor if the listed things happen to be in that order, and quite often, it is.
second, you wouldn't buy more than you planed. (good from money saving perspective and also good from distraction free perspective). but you haven't take new information into advantage, and you would be less inspired and thus having less creative ideas.
How about ad hoc purchasing? As far as creativity is concerned, you won't lose much, but you may lose your direction. This is kind of the attitude:"Just let everything go"
But GTD emphasize one principle: "Getting It All Out of Your Head, and getting things done", which I think is way too extreme. Yes, it helps freeing up the "RAM" for the things you are doing. which I think is good. But, human being is a spiritual being, not a machine, to just getting things done.
You are "designed" to feel it, think about it , long for it, and , sometimes, enjoy it, that's where happiness is coming from.
While, Let's just look at the below to-do list:
1. Make love with my lover.
2. Play guitar in the evening.
3. Have fun.
Oh, getting those out of your head would actually reduce your happiness. You ought not to betray your heart and forcefully forget those beautiful things until it falls in your next action.
"Hey, darling, here is my next action....."
Anyway, I just picked up the GTD book by David, and I am half way on that thing. I can say I got the bulk picture of
his paradigm. but haven't get down to the nitty gritty.
I think the beautiful thing in this world is that we have different cultures, different places, and most important, different people.
I don't think there is and should be a single rule to rule over ever body. (Bible never try to rule over you, it's just a way you can hear and even comunicate with the one who create you.) Instead, we should use it to our advantage to unleash the great potential buried deeply in our soul.
Hold on, what are we all looking for? I assume you agree with me on the answer: happiness
I am a person often get too focused on the thing I was doing. and because of that, I always forget things.
and sometimes went too far to notice where I started. it's kind like a program invoke too many other methods and can't easily return to the first one that initiate all the work. I think GTD can help me to remember things that I encountered. so at least I have less chance to break a promise, thus getting more trusted, which in turn result in a happier life.
Importance is a major property of a thing, it may or may not change over time, but it would appear less important as time moves on, according to the famous forgetting curve, discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus.
For things do become less important, your natural brain would be good to go. But for things become more important or stay as important as they were. a to-do list comes in handy to get over such gap. Some people would say, if things stay as important as they were, I will be noticed if those things link back to the current satiation. That's right, but often you would find it's too late. If the Japanese government had jotted down the security risk of the nuclear power plant in their to-do list at the beginning, there wouldn't be such a tragedy.
Another interesting fact is that ...
Ok, before I call it a fact, let's do a simple test, please tell yourself what you were doing last time you plug yourself in the internet.
Holy Shit, I can't remember anything !!! Things that you once consider very important and get you totally immersed in now can't even be remembered.
This is the interesting fact I discovered.
Now, had you recorded them. you would know what you were doing. You may still agree that they are still important, but you just can't remember, or , They do become less important.
Am I suggesting you shouldn't do things that would become less important later on? No. Importance is one property, Experience with them is another. you have the right to enjoy them. Not just look for result.
One of the favorite quote in the book is: "when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging". This means taking advantage of where you are.
Shopping is a good example to further demonstrate this philosophy:
I think most of your shopping experience would fall in the following three fashions.
1. You have a list things to buy, you go directly for the things you need to buy.
2. Simply walk from entry to exit, pick up things that's in your list. Normally you would end up buying a list of things slightly different from the one you planed. Because you can't make a perfect list until you see them.
3. You don't have a list in advance. You just horse around in the store. You end up buying a bunch of things that you never thought you would need them. And you would also miss a bunch of things that you needed.
Which one you end up working with? Which one you wish you could follow?
You will find that this is smiliar to the second shopping behavior.
THINK IT! This is how you take advantage of where you are, your conscious mind didn't tell it. but it's true. and I think it is the most efficient and most creative way of doing things. if you didn't get it, imagine what would it be if you are sticking to your checklist and look for things in the order as listed. first of all, you are not wise enough to prepare a list that is geographically optimized to the actual store you are shopping at. thus, you have to go to the third floor and go back quickly to the first floor if the listed things happen to be in that order, and quite often, it is.
second, you wouldn't buy more than you planed. (good from money saving perspective and also good from distraction free perspective). but you haven't take new information into advantage, and you would be less inspired and thus having less creative ideas.
How about ad hoc purchasing? As far as creativity is concerned, you won't lose much, but you may lose your direction. This is kind of the attitude:"Just let everything go"
But GTD emphasize one principle: "Getting It All Out of Your Head, and getting things done", which I think is way too extreme. Yes, it helps freeing up the "RAM" for the things you are doing. which I think is good. But, human being is a spiritual being, not a machine, to just getting things done.
You are "designed" to feel it, think about it , long for it, and , sometimes, enjoy it, that's where happiness is coming from.
While, Let's just look at the below to-do list:
1. Make love with my lover.
2. Play guitar in the evening.
3. Have fun.
Oh, getting those out of your head would actually reduce your happiness. You ought not to betray your heart and forcefully forget those beautiful things until it falls in your next action.
"Hey, darling, here is my next action....."
