The brain really isnt for holding ideas/shores

[Gideon]

I knew what i wanted to do, got to the bank, made a payment, and 2hours later just remembered I wanted to change my address. Argh. Slipped! Wonder which part of GTD would have avoided this because I just got so side tracked trying to make the payment i forgot the other task.

Maybe if i had a check list to tick off that would have saved me having to go to the bank again

 

[Oogiem]

Wonder which part of GTD would have avoided this because I just got so side tracked trying to make the payment i forgot the other task.

I handle this by having next actions in errands and right now I have several all at the bank. Deposit checks for farm, deposit ditch checks, get new CD interest rate etc. So when I am in town that is the context I am in and I can see all the things I needed to do at once. My problem is sometimes I forget to look at my lists ;-)

 

[Gideon]

I know exactly what you mean! i was feeling lazy! There i was thinking its only two things and i still forgot! David Allen was def right, Brain's not for holding ideas

 

[CoffinDodger]

I've said this before to people for years, even before doing GTD, but it paraphrases nicely into GTD:

Keeping your system completely clear and complete IS lazy, because it minimises the amount of work you and your brain need to do later.

Keeping your system uncomplete and out of date means you are NOT lazy (a really hard worker) because you must prefer hard work for you and your brain to do later.

I'm sure I've heard David saying the same thing on some audio or video somewhere.

About to start my weekly review - Gawd I'm feeling lazy today

 

[lolajl]

Maybe if i had a check list to tick off that would have saved me having to go to the bank again

If you were using something like OF for iPhone, I think you would be able to reduce chances of that happening. Someday I'll get an iTouch (or iTablet if rumors are true?) and I'll definitely get OF for iPhone so I can sync with OF.

 

[cojo]

I use "Agendas" for this. I create an "Agenda" for each errand I have to run.

Therefore, if I need to make a deposit, get something notarized, and change my address at the bank, under @ errands I write:

"HSBC bank"

and under "Agendas" I have a "Bank" page that includes all the actions I will need to take there.

Works well for me.

 

[Kunle]

lol interesting psychology CD

lolajl i have OF but i'm not a mac user so i can't sync with a PC. But i use IMEX to synch my tasks and i have @contexts, works quite well. Just have to work it and not think it will work me

cojo that's interesting, I do something similar with tickler system. I drop reminders telling me to check my capture buckets. Give me 'control'. Like your idea

 

[RoninTDK]

david allen says he's "...the laziest guy on the planet. I'm so lazy I invented a system so I don't ever need to have a thought twice"

Funny, however I think both DA and CD lack one word in their definition of lazy that seperates it from the real definition. being lazy is not "wanting to do as little effort as possible" but "wanting to do as little effort as possible right now". Some students are very familiar with this. You're too lazy to study while in the back of your head you know damn well that doing a half-ass job now, means with almost a 100% certainty that you'll have to do it all over again at some point in the future. Because you have to pass the course someday. but someday is so far away. Or as someone so finely put it once: "hard work pays off in the future. Being lazy pays off right now" ;-)

 

[dusanv]

Actually, I think DA is trying to say that he is "lazy" is the sense that he wants to spend as little effort as possible on doing unproductive work of memorizing and rethinking what to do -- so it's an irony, I suppose he considers himself lazy for repetitive, stupid tasks, with such laziness enabling him to do even more of the meaningful, interesting and productive work.

Dusan

 

[CoffinDodger]

@Ronin

I like what you say - that is much closer to how I feel about it and I'll probably use your words again myself in the future Kelly Forrister also just posted some words in GTD times today which I thought explained it well

Just plain lazy

Wanting to do as little effort as possible right now, at the cost of repetetive work later on and not getting everything done you want to

GTD lazy

"[Put] the least amount of effort and attention you can into maintaining your system while getting the things done you want to get done" - KF

 

[djc2008]

Same thing happens to me

I knew what i wanted to do, got to the bank, made a payment, and 2hours later just remembered I wanted to change my address. Argh. Slipped! Wonder which part of GTD would have avoided this because I just got so side tracked trying to make the payment i forgot the other task.

Maybe if i had a check list to tick off that would have saved me having to go to the bank again

Indeed, I have slipped in a similar way. Just yesterday, I went to the local pharmacy to buy bandaids and cough drops. I forgot to pick up my prescription that I had renewed a few days ago...

Why did this happen and what would I do differently in the future?

1) Although I wrote down that I needed to buy bandaids and cough drops (@errand - pick up bandaids and cough drops at CVS, I did not / forgot to write down picking up the RX on my next action list

Lesson learned: As tempting as it is to simply remember, always write it down to get it out of your head and to err on the side of caution in terms of capturing in your next action list

2) Since there were only 2 things I needed to buy, I did not bother to look at my list (which was on my Blackberry). It felt obvious what I needed to buy. However, if I had looked at my list and had written the RX in the first place, I would have seen all the items I needed to pick up

Lesson learned: Always take that extra few seconds to look at your list - don't assume you have remembered every item even though it is a short list of 2-3 items!

In summary, I had a couple of minor "failure modes" and lessons learned that I need to continue to get into the habit to prevent this from happening again in the future.

David