Using GTD for the big things ?

[Anonymous]

Lurking through these forums and going through the book, I found this system very logical and effective. Having tried it in a half (or quarter) hearted manner , I have some success with minor things that I had been postponing for a couple of years (repair vacuum cleaner, send a couple of letters for change of address etc.) Not had majot success becuase i always skip the weekly review, but the major learning has been to differentiate between a project and next action.

Though these discussions have been going on in different ways, I wonder how many of the people have had major successes vs minor successes.
Examples of minor successed would be as detailed above while major successes would be such as "changing careers", changing jobs, increasing your income, buying a house , reduced timings at work, work-life balance etc.

How many people have integrated GTD into comlpex projects that typically are planned using a projecy management tool such as MS-Project and how did you link the project tasks to outlook.

Deepak

 

[Anonymous]

For me GTD has done that I have used time better, and have time to sit down and look at my goals list, goal leads to projects and NA. I have been told by my boss that he has seen that i have thing under control, and want me to take a new step in my company.

 

[spirithaven]

JUST BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE AND MOVED IN USING GTD METHOD

Hi!

I just had a major project completed (well mostly completed since I am still unpacking) but I just bought a house and moved using the GTD method.

The only times I had problems were from other people's delays!! I should teach my builder about GTD, I swear!!

It was great.....I am an extremely busy plant accountant and thanks to GTD it was like I was in more than one place at a time.

I got all the information to the lenders as soon as they asked for it.
I had my house insurance setup before I moved.
My appliances were bought 3 weeks in advance of the move.
I rented a storage unit and moved my very large book collection (almost 2000 books) ahead of time.
My utilities were arranged to be transfered in advance.
My friends all volunteered to help me move and DID!!
The weather even cooperated! It waited to rain until the day after I moved.
My mother came up and helped me clean the old apartment up and I am turning the keys over on time to management.

You can't beat GTD for keeping you on time and on track....<sigh> now if others would just start using it more.....
:roll:

My next major project...unpacking a la GTD and Flylady!!

 

[Anonymous]

New Job, Moved House, Got Married, First Child-in one year

Yes, GTD does work for the big things, mainly because "big things" are really lots of small next actions lumped together for a common porpose.

After reading GTD, I managed to get a new job, move house, get married and, God willing, we will have had a baby, all within the space of one year!

By nature I'm a terrible procrasinator; I will use every excuse not to do things. However, after reading GTD, I managed to get on top of my emails - a relatively "small thing" for some, but a major headache for me.

When I realised that I could get emails dealt with easily, I then moved on to a bigger thing - getting a new job. That turned out just to be a series of next actions - update CV; contact recruitment consultant; read recruitment adverts; attend interviews.

Moving house was just the same - something we had been meaning to do for ages, but just not got round to: call estate agents; put own house on market; visit properties; arrange loan; and so on. (And we had some building work done before we moved in, just to add to the lists of things to be done.)

Of course, not everything ran smoothly. As the furniture was being carried into the new house, my new boss called me to ask why I hadn't done something. Answer - it wasn't on my next actions list! So I spent the first evening in our new home working at my laptop.

Getting married: again, it was just a series of small steps.

First child: baby was planned, but there are some things you can't really plan for and turn into a next action - like the wonder of seeing your baby's heartbeat on a scan (After all, I am human, not just a processing machine!)

Our baby is due at the end of October, which will be almost exactly a year from getting the new job!

Having not done a lot for a long time, I seem to have made a huge leap forward in my life (and my wife's!) since reading GTD.

So, yes, GTD does work for the big things too, not just dealing with emails and in-trays.

I think I have found it particularly helpful in fighting that negative voice within me that says, "Don't do that - it will be so much trouble." Once you start breaking things down, taking them a step at a time, many of the problems seem to vanish. The problems that remain seem to be better defined and so easier to manage. The ill-defined fear that arranging a loan will be difficult, becomes "Ring X and remind him that he promised to call you today with a decision on the loan."

It's also a great confidence booster. Once you see that you can get things done, it becomes easier to decide to do other things, because you know that you can get them done; they won't just sit on a list for years making you feel guilty about not doing them.

(Sorry for any funny language in this - but I'm from London, and I'm not so good at the American English!) :wink:

RichR[/quote]

 

[Anonymous]

Resutls? A good process used in an incomplete or half-hearted manner is bound to yeild less than stellar results. Blame the user not the process.

We'll Mr. Jones, your triple bypass surgery went pretty well. Yeah, I only did two of the three, because I was a little tired today....and my wife's been on me about what shade of beige to paint the study....and with price of I don't know if get that Landrover on maybe another BMW.

Oh yeah, I didn't really feel like stitching you up...that big gaping hole in chest should close up eventually. Okay, I have ot run....2 o'clock tee time.