Please send tips to GTD while caring for a baby

[Macaronie]

Hi! I had a good paper-based system going for GTD which was working well for me for several years - and then I had my baby.. We’re 10 months on now, still on maternity leave for the moment, and I would really love to get back into GTD again so that I can make the most of those sudden fleeting moments where I have my hands free. I’m essentially holding everything in my head atm and that’s not really working for me (especially with the brain fog…)

I’ve given up the paper based system because I can’t keep it close by enough anymore, and switched to Nirvana on my phone as I can read & write one-handed and it’s almost always in my pocket. I’ve also changed most of my contexts (eg. “nap-trapped” is one).

However I think my main difficulty is finding the time (and mental clarity) to do the clarify step, which means I don’t really trust my action lists, and I end up mostly reverting to what’s most on my mind in that moment. Same goes for the (~weekly) review: I can’t find the time and energy anymore to do this and my lists get out of date really quickly.

When I do have an hour or so where I theoretically have the option to clarify items in my inbox or do part of a weekly review, that time inevitably gets filled with house chores or sleep.

It feels like I’m too busy to GTD but that seems wrong! I don’t know how parents do it.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I would love to hear any tips, tricks and advice, especially from anyone who has been/is the primary carer for an infant, on how to keep going with GTD?

 

[schmeggahead]

I have not been a parent so the nearest thing I can compare it to is being a critical care giver to my wife in multiple instances in the aftermath of a medical emergency or critical surgery and recovery.

In those instances, we received followup procedures (medication timing, physical therapy activities, bandage changes, emptying drains). During her first sleep time, I setup logs to track these items in a simple tablet near where those activities were to be done.

In those situations, almost all of the work was self evident or on those lists.
Managing these activities requires very light use of GTD techniques. It is more like the life of our grandparents that David talks about in the book - their work was self evident and didn't need to be defined.

Most of what I captured went into someday maybe - there just wasn't space to do anything more. When something came to mind and it was not related to the current situation financially or medically, it largely went on the back burner meaning into someday maybe.

The weekly review was really focused on my wife's health and the running of our household, so it was very focused and brief.

As for the brain fog, I have experienced a version of that. It limits the amount of clarifying I could do and very severely limited it.
I had to take a hatchet to what I wrote down, tossing out most of it and clarifying only items relevant to today or the near term.

As to how parents do it - parents are the luckiest people on the planet.
It's got to be amazing and like anything valuable, can seem impossible until it isn't.

Hope this helps,
Clayton.

You are the authority in your own life, not I.
- Gary Zukav

 

[mcogilvie]

Hi! I had a good paper-based system going for GTD which was working well for me for several years - and then I had my baby.. We’re 10 months on now, still on maternity leave for the moment, and I would really love to get back into GTD again so that I can make the most of those sudden fleeting moments where I have my hands free. I’m essentially holding everything in my head atm and that’s not really working for me (especially with the brain fog…)

I’ve given up the paper based system because I can’t keep it close by enough anymore, and switched to Nirvana on my phone as I can read & write one-handed and it’s almost always in my pocket. I’ve also changed most of my contexts (eg. “nap-trapped” is one).

However I think my main difficulty is finding the time (and mental clarity) to do the clarify step, which means I don’t really trust my action lists, and I end up mostly reverting to what’s most on my mind in that moment. Same goes for the (~weekly) review: I can’t find the time and energy anymore to do this and my lists get out of date really quickly.

When I do have an hour or so where I theoretically have the option to clarify items in my inbox or do part of a weekly review, that time inevitably gets filled with house chores or sleep.

It feels like I’m too busy to GTD but that seems wrong! I don’t know how parents do it.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I would love to hear any tips, tricks and advice, especially from anyone who has been/is the primary carer for an infant, on how to keep going with GTD?

All GTD practitioners understand that collection can happen anytime and anywhere but some think that clarifying can be done all at once for a large and diverse collection of inputs. Sometimes that works, but not always. If it’s not clear what the next action is, David Allen suggests adding a process action, such as “Clarify next actions on issue”. What is not immediately clear may become clearer later, perhaps in a moment of insight. This practice is in line with the view of next actions as bookmarks, telling you where you left off on a desired outcome. Many times the only thing I do on a project is clarify what I intend to do, and that is real progress. As a parent and grandparent, I know how much time and energy a baby takes. Give yourself grace, and don’t be afraid to use your someday/maybe list to postpone things which are of secondary importance right now.

 

[DavidAllen]

I worked one-on-one a while ago with a very sophisticated professional couple in London, and after she had a baby, the best thing they did was set up a mini-office near where the baby spent most of their time (that was their living room). That way she could do work at a version of her regular workspace, with the baby in view, close to her. Seemed to work very well.

 

[gtd solo-studente]

Logistics for Easy: Audio, Physical, Visual

It only takes a second for an irreversibly regrettable mishap . . . especially when food [Anchovies, Hard Candies, Nuts, Peanut Butter, Sardines, etc.] and extrinsic water are other aspects to multiple contexts

Whose responsible at all times to avoid after the fact parents saying to each other:
"I thought you were watching the baby" . . . know of a baby drowning under such lines of ambiguous responsibility

The closer the baby is to caregiver the better, healthier, and safer

Thus is consistent with the above,
It is easier for the parent/caregiver to bring the baby into one's familiar context instead of bringing oneself into the baby's less familiar context

As one sees GTD fit. . . .

 

[cfoley]

I worked one-on-one a while ago with a very sophisticated professional couple in London, and after she had a baby, the best thing they did was set up a mini-office near where the baby spent most of their time (that was their living room). That way she could do work at a version of her regular workspace, with the baby in view, close to her. Seemed to work very well.

Oh, that's interesting. My son is 5 months old and I bought a laptop so that I could hang out with my partner and baby while I worked. I don't know why I didn't think of getting a portable version of the rest of my setup too.