What causes list 'Numbness'?

G

gtdstudente

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Fellow GTDers,

Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences as to what causes them List/System 'Numbness'?

Or for that GTD matter; prevents 'Numbness'?

Thank you
 
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  1. When you know that your list is incomplete and specially the newer, presumably more pressing items aren't in there.
  2. Irrelevant stuff that should better be on SdMb… have you ever worked directly from SdMb? It's a cool tactic for use on a calmer day.
  3. Too many recurring items that you actually do on autopilot. Use explicit checklists. Allow yourself to also just be… doing… some… things…
 
René Lie said:
Yep, that can be an issue, too...

I try to utilize the Someday/Maybe list(s) to avoid this, knowing that I'll get back to these items on my next weekly review!
Click to expand...
Nice GTD technique for making what is most concerning . . . most current and fresh

Thank you very much
 
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gtdstudente said:
Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences as to what causes them List/System 'Numbness'?

Or for that GTD matter; prevents 'Numbness'?
Click to expand...
For me, the causes are -
  • anything that makes information on the list difficult to absorb such as length of list or key aspects of a task being obscure
  • items staying too long on the list
To address the first, provided all the items really need to be there, then I might split a long list into two or more lists. For example, my waiting-for list became difficult to review because it was too long. I realised I mostly review work and non-work items at different times, so I separated these and now have two much shorter lists that are easier to review. If I don't want to split the list, then I can add a signifier so I can search for items for easily. For example, I added to my current-projects list a column to hold a one-letter signifier representing Area of Focus. Now, if I want to see how many gardening projects are on the list, I can quickly skim for G in this column.

To address the second cause, I have a rule that items mustn't stay on the list too long. A paper system is really helpful here, because I don't want to keep a page in my planner if it is full and most of the items have been completed. So I transfer incomplete items to a new page. This gives me an opportunity to think about why an item hasn't been completed. I often reword it to clarify the action, sometimes I realise it is a project, so move it from Next Actions to Projects, and sometimes I decide it's not worth doing so it just gets thrown away on the sheet.
 
gtdstudente said:
Fellow GTDers,

Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences as to what causes them List/System 'Numbness'?

Or for that GTD matter; prevents 'Numbness'?

Thank you
Click to expand...
I find looking at my lists in different ways helps to overcome this.

I am one of those people who always links their next actions to a project. I then group my projects by areas of responsibility. This enables me to check all the next actions by areas of responsibility rather than by context which is the classic way of doing it.

For instance, I can look at all the next actions within the marketing area of responsibility, and see everything that’s in there. I can further drill down by context within that list.

During the weekly review, I will look at the long list of all my next actions. I can then sort this list by start date, due date, creation date, date modified, context, alphabetically, or project.

I find that doing it this way you see things differently (it’s unfamiliar) and can often highlight drag points within your system.
 
In a way this question sort of answers itself.

It's possible to consider a list, but most of the time that isn't what I actually want to do. What I want to do is consider an item on the list. All the other items on the list just get in the way of that, to a greater or lesser extent.

This is yet another advantage to having an entire sheet of paper (it could be an index card, but I have more blank sheets of paper at hand, most of the time) for each individual item. I can open a folder, take out an item, close the folder, and just stare at it in isolation until I have no choice but to engage with it. Or admit defeat.
 
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