Psychological resistance to doing GTD

[Travello]

Hi friends

My life is a mess. I really need to learn GTD.

I studied the book for the first time months ago. I've only done the weekly review two times. Just the thought of doing the weekly review makes me feel like it's such an effort so I procrastinate it.

How do I get over this?

Is it ok to put it on the calendar?

According to the book you only put appointments, day specific actions and day specific information on the calendar. The only category the weekly review could fall under is day specific actions (something you need to do). But do you really need to to the weekly review?

If it is not ok to to put it on the calendar then how do you keep a reminder about doing it?

Thanks

 

[Longstreet]

Hi friends

My life is a mess. I really need to learn GTD.

I studied the book for the first time months ago. I've only done the weekly review two times. Just the thought of doing the weekly review makes me feel like it's such an effort so I procrastinate it.

How do I get over this?

Is it ok to put it on the calendar?

According to the book you only put appointments, day specific actions and day specific information on the calendar. The only category the weekly review could fall under is day specific actions (something you need to do). But do you really need to to the weekly review?

If it is not ok to to put it on the calendar then how do you keep a reminder about doing it?

Thanks

Feel free to send me a personal message if you want more information about how I use the calendar in combination with my GTD practice.

 

[Gardener]

I think it's totally fine to put the weekly review on your calendar. Think of it as a meeting with yourself.

If the weekly review is a large effort, that may suggest that you should do some tweaking of your system. Maybe more items need to go to Someday/Maybe? Maybe you need to sort your Someday/Maybe into things you look at weekly and things you look at monthly or quarterly or yearly? There are a variety of other possible issues, but many people's biggest issue seems to be excessively long lists.

 

[TesTeq]

I studied the book for the first time months ago. I've only done the weekly review two times. Just the thought of doing the weekly review makes me feel like it's such an effort so I procrastinate it.

@DavidAllen sometimes says that the Weekly Review is like a shower or brushing your teeth. You don't have to do it but there are consequences. If you don't take showers and don't brush your teeth regulary your body is not clean and healthy. If you don't do the Weekly Review your mind is not clear. It is your decision if having a clear mind is worth this effort.

 

[bcmyers2112]

There's nothing wrong with scheduling your weekly review in your calendar, as long as you keep the resulting commitment you make with yourself.

 

[Longstreet]

There's nothing wrong with scheduling your weekly review in your calendar, as long as you keep the resulting commitment you make with yourself.

Agreed!

 

[MellowEnchant]

My weekly review is also scheduled on my calendar. In fact, I have two appointments. One on Saturday, to clean up my inboxes and get to 0 and one on Sunday to do the actual weekly review.

I was also procrastinating pretty hard on the weekly review until I made that split. Because sometimes it would take very long and my mental power would be used for getting my inbox to 0 I wasn't having that much fun doing the actual review. This way the weekly review is really fun for me and a thing I am looking forward to Maybe try it out this way if it seems overwhelming.

 

[KW7]

I'm writing in agreement with everyone here. Not because I have a special vote but so, hopefully, you can see most of us have dealt with the stress you are feeling. And survived!

Yes, put it on the calendar. This helps for 2 reasons --- 1) it shows its a priority and 2) you won't schedule anything else during that time. For me, the breakthrough was creating two Someday/Maybe lists as another poster said above. I have one for weekly (in Evernote, named "Someday-W") and one for monthly (Someday-M). The Monthly list is considerably longer and I only review it during the first week of the month. This saved me at least an hour in the weekly review process and lowered the barrier for me. Once I saw how helpful the process was, I was much more likely to get it done.I also have a checklist that I print and use for the Weekly Review. This helps quite a bit since you are likely to get interrupted and don't want to lose your place.

Another suggestion: keep a log each week when you do the review. I started doing this and each week I read the log first then write a few sentences about what is and isn't working and things I learned or tweaks to try. The first few weeks are something like "Oh my gosh! I can't believe this takes so long. Too many items, blah, blah, blah." But later, the tone changes after I had done it for 5 or 6 weeks. Still have problems from time to time or might even skip a week but seeing the progress written down reminds me that it's possible.

Good luck!

 

[Tombo]

Hi friends

My life is a mess. I really need to learn GTD.

I studied the book for the first time months ago. I've only done the weekly review two times. Just the thought of doing the weekly review makes me feel like it's such an effort so I procrastinate it.

How do I get over this?

Is it ok to put it on the calendar?

According to the book you only put appointments, day specific actions and day specific information on the calendar. The only category the weekly review could fall under is day specific actions (something you need to do). But do you really need to to the weekly review?

If it is not ok to to put it on the calendar then how do you keep a reminder about doing it?

Thanks

Hi travello
I’m in a similar situation trying to learn and implement gtd. Let me know if you want to exchange email so we can try a bounce ideas and rants off each other. I think it would help if we could reflect and journal our struggles and victories.

 

[John Ismyname]

Just the thought of doing the weekly review makes me feel like it's such an effort so I procrastinate it.

Is your weekly review the effort or do you not want to confront what you didn't do to establish order over the mess that your life is? Sorry, to sound so heavy-handed. I am not one to talk as my life was uncontrolled chaos. GTD has turned my life into controlled chaos; I got messes to do with too...we all do

I am not looking forward to doing my weekly review tomorrow as I am going to have to account to myself for a lot of shortcomings and admitting the controlled chaos that my life is. If I do not do my weekly reviews, my life reverts back to un-controlled chaos!

I "try" to do my weekly review on Friday afternoon. If this doesn't happen, it is the first item on my @ Saturday To-Do list, which I have as an appointment.

Is it ok to put it on the calendar?

yes, it's ok...if it works for you ! You don't need anyone's permission Per above, my Saturday To-Do list is a @ list AND a calendar appointment. if I don't do this stuff on Saturday, it does not get done. So I MUST make an appointment with myself. I give myself permission to reschedule this from Saturday morning to Saturday afternoon, or to evening. If it lapses to Sunday, it does not get done!

This may not be GTD proper but I don't care; it is JGSD - John Gets Things Done!

 

[Jackie Roemer]

Hi friends

My life is a mess. I really need to learn GTD.

I studied the book for the first time months ago. I've only done the weekly review two times. Just the thought of doing the weekly review makes me feel like it's such an effort so I procrastinate it.

How do I get over this?

Is it ok to put it on the calendar?

According to the book you only put appointments, day specific actions and day specific information on the calendar. The only category the weekly review could fall under is day specific actions (something you need to do). But do you really need to to the weekly review?

If it is not ok to to put it on the calendar then how do you keep a reminder about doing it?

Thanks

Hi friends

My life is a mess. I really need to learn GTD.

I studied the book for the first time months ago. I've only done the weekly review two times. Just the thought of doing the weekly review makes me feel like it's such an effort so I procrastinate it.

How do I get over this?

Is it ok to put it on the calendar?

According to the book you only put appointments, day specific actions and day specific information on the calendar. The only category the weekly review could fall under is day specific actions (something you need to do). But do you really need to to the weekly review?

If it is not ok to to put it on the calendar then how do you keep a reminder about doing it?

Thanks

Hello there, First, I will say I have read GTD 3 times, since 2013. Recently in 2019, I just finished listening to the audio book, on extra slow, repeating every time I did not apply the instructions to My issues as is. The best question for me is one Mr. Allen posed: What is happening right now, in the present. Pick the absolute easiest GTD thing to solve; whether it's a Calendar or whatever. The Weekly Review (for me) was a No-Go until for example, I had easy access to a File for Project Folders. Only then I was motivated to go through the tray of Stuff. There's a reason the Weekly review is not happening. for me, 1} No file for New Projects 2} Lists were just mscl lists and not @context lists. 3} I failed to make decisions about my Capture stuff because I was so familiar with my usual labels; Oh, that's just mom, I'll let that go. or, I can do that tomorrow right away, so no, not a project. Frankly speaking, for me, it took Allen's reminder; what's happening right now? to make me look at it. Hey, I'm sitting here with a busy life, still looking at a pile of empty folders, but I know what my next step is. It only took 6 years, but honestly, Nothing else worked. Ever.

 

[Jackie Roemer]

I'm writing in agreement with everyone here. Not because I have a special vote but so, hopefully, you can see most of us have dealt with the stress you are feeling. And survived!

Yes, put it on the calendar. This helps for 2 reasons --- 1) it shows its a priority and 2) you won't schedule anything else during that time. For me, the breakthrough was creating two Someday/Maybe lists as another poster said above. I have one for weekly (in Evernote, named "Someday-W") and one for monthly (Someday-M). The Monthly list is considerably longer and I only review it during the first week of the month. This saved me at least an hour in the weekly review process and lowered the barrier for me. Once I saw how helpful the process was, I was much more likely to get it done.I also have a checklist that I print and use for the Weekly Review. This helps quite a bit since you are likely to get interrupted and don't want to lose your place.

Another suggestion: keep a log each week when you do the review. I started doing this and each week I read the log first then write a few sentences about what is and isn't working and things I learned or tweaks to try. The first few weeks are something like "Oh my gosh! I can't believe this takes so long. Too many items, blah, blah, blah." But later, the tone changes after I had done it for 5 or 6 weeks. Still have problems from time to time or might even skip a week but seeing the progress written down reminds me that it's possible.

Good luck!

This is wonderful advice; After reading the book 3 times and audio 1, keeping a diary of where I'm at with GTD is like a special @context list devoted to the system. I do need that as I now have the moves but keep falling off that balance beam so to speak. I lose track of where I am on my journey with this. It worked in 2013 and it's working even better now. Love it still.