Still having trouble with 2 out of 5

F

furashgf

0
Of the 5 GTD workflow steps, I continue to have trouble with Doing and Organizing.

Regarding "organizing", I never seem to get to doing the mind-map/brainstorm/outline for the 30%-40% of my projects that need it. I save it for my weekly review, but then it eats up hours of time and I never finish the review. I'm able to come up with at least one next action, but...

Regarding doing, while I have no trouble collecting, I'll often just do a task (that starts out small) that comes to mind or is a result of a recent interruption rather than working from my lists and only my lists (that's what you're supposed to do, right?).

Any positive suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Next Action: Brainstorm Project xxx

Don't use the Weekly Review for this - either put it on your Next Action list in the apprioriate context or even schedule a brainstorming session in your Calendar.
 
Brainstorm - maybe you should limit your brainstorming to 30 minutes per project or less to cover all the projects?

Doing - always start with action list. If anything comes to mind just add it to the list. :)
 
Working off-list

I think it's fine to do something not on your list. The Great and Venerable DA himself has an example of this in GTD. The point is, while you're doing it, you know what is on those lists, so you know what you're postponing to work on this new thing.

I agree that mindmapping or brainstorming and the weekly review are two quite different things. You might find that setting a timer helps with the mindmapping. You can have an NA along the lines of "brainstorm project X for 15 minutes" and then set a timer for it. The timer is very helpful to focus your energy and to keep the noodling from consuming your entire day.
 
When I idnetify a new project, but dont have time (or energy) to think about how to carry it out, I add the proejct to the project list, and the next action becomes to "consider how to do .....".

planning/mind-maping/brainstorming in itself is a next action.
 
preliminary project development

When I am very short on time, and triaging my inbox, I will quickly capture a NA to the effect of :

"Develop project : I have succesfully achieved....."
 
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