GTD, especially in the beginning, can often surface pre-existing stress that was hidden under various coping mechanisms.
The stress may be because, by using the tools of GTD that help us objectify what has our attention, we may discover that we are in one or more of these states:
- Overcommitted
- Out of control
- Focused on the wrong areas, for example what's important to others rather than what's important to us
- No idea what's important to us, rudderless
- Using busyness, crisis mode, conflict and latest-and-loudest to avoid the hard work of thinking and making clear decisions
- Struggling to choose between and leverage many great options (the stress of opportunity)
- Burnt out or temporarily unable to access creativity
- Confronting backlog, which may have a lot of volume or psychic baggage
If we find that these are true, GTD gives us the tools to unearth this truth and also to engage productively with it. It is our "stuff" and it was there all along, before GTD came along. It has been a weight around our ankles, an itch in the back of our mind, a vision of the future that nagged at us, a vague longing that haunted us.
Wishing you well with engaging with whatever is most real for you today!
"Welcome... to the real world"
"I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth."
- Morpheus, The Matrix (1999)
(5 second clip from movie)