Where to Reach Out For Help?

[Carmelo]

I've just started it this year with Omnifocus. My biggest challenges are as follows:

-Any personal task that I do everyday seems really clumsy in GTD. I took that out and put it in a habit building app. This leads me to a secondary challenge in that after 30 years I'm getting really tired of using the computer, but paper doesn't seem to be any more effective. This makes me question whether or not I'm motivated truly to do what I'm talking about doing. Would love some advice on that.

-When I dump a lot of things to 'in', I don't know if I should dump 'Work on Garden' or if I should dump 'Plant Jujube', 'Toss compost' - set to repeat, 'Bring in new wood chips' etc.... It's tempting to just put everything, but then that really causes a problem. That problem is that when the inbox has all those loose items, when you go to organize it you hit a lot of jams. You'll start to organize it one way then it will all turn into a big mess because your priorities changed during organizing, or you realized that it needs to be broader or narrower in scope.

Those are my two BIGGEST challenges and I do WISH I had someone to talk to about them.

I tried it once last year and I didn't get very far with it. I had to clarify in my mind why and this is what I came up with. Then there is the issue of that once you get everything put up it feels like it's so much to deal with that it robs energy to DO. I also don't like reviewing things every two or three weeks and just seeing that I have nothing to do on them. It kind of makes me dwell on inaction or how much I have to do in the future.

I came on to this site to see if I could email or discuss this with anyone.

Does anyone have any advice for this? Thank you kindly

 

[Cpu_Modern]

I've just started it this year with Omnifocus. My biggest challenges are as follows:

-Any personal task that I do everyday seems really clumsy in GTD. I took that out and put it in a habit building app. This leads me to a secondary challenge in that after 30 years I'm getting really tired of using the computer, but paper doesn't seem to be any more effective. This makes me question whether or not I'm motivated truly to do what I'm talking about doing. Would love some advice on that.

Well, the paper version of the "habit building app" is surely the Tickler File. My suggestion would be to get serious about the (paper) Tickler and stick to it for a while. You cannot know if something is something for you, if you do not even stick with it for say two months or so. Half a week is no serious trial. So, don't be harsh on yourself an give yourself the time that is needed.

-When I dump a lot of things to 'in', I don't know if I should dump 'Work on Garden' or if I should dump 'Plant Jujube', 'Toss compost' - set to repeat, 'Bring in new wood chips' etc.... It's tempting to just put everything, but then that really causes a problem. That problem is that when the inbox has all those loose items, when you go to organize it you hit a lot of jams. You'll start to organize it one way then it will all turn into a big mess because your priorities changed during organizing, or you realized that it needs to be broader or narrower in scope.

First of all, you should put in everything. That's half of the point of GTD, to have a system ready with "everything."

When you have a lot of stuff in your inbox, naturally processing and organizing that stuff takes some time. You have to make that happen. Take the time you need. In the end it's worth it.

How to organize it?

This depends on how you want to work your work. When you process an item, you have to think about how you want to fulfil that commitment. Not just create some Next Actions nilly-willy.

Let's look at it with the examples you have given. You want to work on your garden, okay. But before you create Projects, Areas of Focus and all that, think about how you want to work on your garden.

Do you want to develop a routine of working every morning in the garden? Do you want to spend your Saturdays in your garden? When do you want to spent time thinking about your gardening endeavours?

You first have to clarify this for you, before you can create the corresponding action items.

If this is too much at one go, consider to toss all that stuff into one folder and create a project "clarify gardening work" or some such.

Those are my two BIGGEST challenges and I do WISH I had someone to talk to about them.

If you want, we can skype. PM me if you wish.

Then there is the issue of that once you get everything put up it feels like it's so much to deal with that it robs energy to DO.

This could be very well be your subconsious telling you that you are overcommitted. Which is very common. It is also common that people see this for the first time when they start GTD. The solution is to make hard decisions about what you can and can't do now and put the rest in Someday / Maybe list(s).

It is also a sign that you are unclear about your bigger life goals. You know, the big stuff, the gold medals of your life so to speak.

I also don't like reviewing things every two or three weeks and just seeing that I have nothing to do on them. It kind of makes me dwell on inaction or how much I have to do in the future.

I am unclear on what you could mean with that. Can you clarify this for me, please?

 

[TesTeq]

-Any personal task that I do everyday seems really clumsy in GTD. I took that out and put it in a habit building app. This leads me to a secondary challenge in that after 30 years I'm getting really tired of using the computer, but paper doesn't seem to be any more effective. This makes me question whether or not I'm motivated truly to do what I'm talking about doing. Would love some advice on that.

Yes, I agree. If I am not truly motivated to do something I just let it go. There are millions of things that I will not do in my life so it doesn't really matter if I add some more undone tasks...

 

[Oogiem]

Does anyone have any advice for this? Thank you kindly

I posted a very long set of ideas in the other thread where you put this same question. Might take a look there, but if you'd prefer, I can try to move the post to this thread so it's all in one place.
Or maybe the moderators can do it.

 

[mcogilvie]

I think maybe the simplest thing is to pick one area of your life and start there. Suppose Gardening is an area of focus for you. Do you have an idea of what that part of your life looks like? Dump it all out, on paper to start. Are there things that require more than one next action? Those are your projects for gardening. Are there projects you can’t or won’t start yet? Some of these will have future start dates (“In the fall, I will...”). Others may be someday/maybe. Each active project should have at least one next action, something you could do right away. Maybe some of the things you wrote on paper are next actions for projects. There will also be single next actions that are not part of a project, and some of these will be recurring. Omnifocus has places for all of this stuff. What about what’s left on the paper? Chances are these are possible future actions. In order to get moving, I would file this project support material somewhere to possibly come back to later, and start on the work you have before you. Letting go of partial planning in favor of clear outcomes and next actions can be very hard, but it’s very rewarding.