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Write down ideas... I'm very skeptical that this would work, because I have ideas about all kinds of topics all the time. My list would be so crowded and mixed

Write down ideas... I'm very skeptical that this would work, because I have ideas about all kinds of topics all the time. My list would be so crowded and mixed that it would be hard to prioritize anything. At the end I would see on paper that there is too much stuff going on in my head, something that I already know...

miguelrochefort 9y ago
Capturing ideas is only the first step. You then organize them, based on time, context, or horizons of focus (Runway, 10,000', 20,000', 30,000', 40,000', 50,000'). Review regularly.
aequitas 9y ago
I get bugged with ideas during work constantly, mostly feature creep, sometimes good bugs. But almost always they don't require direct action at that point. When I write these down and they go out of my head so I can focus on my tasks again. I was able to adopt this behaviour after going Full Getting Things Done for a few months. My mind learned to trust that if I write something down, I will stumble upon it later and it no longer has to worry about it at that point. Although I'm cheating it a little bit I have a lot less going on at the same time (until my mind doesn't trust me anymore).
lloeki 9y ago
> At the end I would see on paper that there is too much stuff going on in my head, something that I already know... The point is that you get it out of your head, and let it go, to focus on the task at hand. The fact that this physically accumulates outside of your head, is just a side effect, and just points out that you can't do everything, and so you have to let go of some task or idea, maybe for today, maybe forever. I used to use GTD, but nowadays I mostly just use the "capture" part, a.k.a LET IT GO OUT OF MY SYSTEM DAMMIT. The remaining steps just sort themselves out as things are falling into very different buckets: a. very general life goals (non actionable by themselves due to their large scale, virtual nature, and can only be achieved by habit as well as internalising what I truly want, but certainly not with reminders), b. whatever I fancy doing when I happen to have some free time (for which I may go back to a quickly jotted draft of step 1, and since I'm in the mood for it, well, I just do it), c. very concrete errands and other mundane tasks.
zentiggr 9y ago
If lots of creative bits floating around in your head works for you, and doesn't distract from accomplishing the day to day things, then all good. The thing I've seen most about "GTD doesn't work!" feelings is the assumption that 'doing GTD' is all or nothing. "record everything and become task robot" is one extreme. The core idea is "use something other than your mind to keep track of the core things you want to be reminded of later, and the stress of 'what was that thought again?' can go away." If you get to a point of not worrying about what might have fallen between the cracks, you've got enough of a system and I call that 'working'. My "GTD" system doesn't look anything at all like DA explains it, but the concepts were enough to push me in the right direction and find what works to keep that worry at bay.

miguelrochefort 9y ago

Capturing ideas is only the first step. You then organize them, based on time, context, or horizons of focus (Runway, 10,000', 20,000', 30,000', 40,000', 50,000'). Review regularly.

aequitas 9y ago

I get bugged with ideas during work constantly, mostly feature creep, sometimes good bugs. But almost always they don't require direct action at that point. When I write these down and they go out of my head so I can focus on my tasks again. I was able to adopt this behaviour after going Full Getting Things Done for a few months. My mind learned to trust that if I write something down, I will stumble upon it later and it no longer has to worry about it at that point. Although I'm cheating it a little bit I have a lot less going on at the same time (until my mind doesn't trust me anymore).

lloeki 9y ago

> At the end I would see on paper that there is too much stuff going on in my head, something that I already know... The point is that you get it out of your head, and let it go, to focus on the task at hand. The fact that this physically accumulates outside of your head, is just a side effect, and just points out that you can't do everything, and so you have to let go of some task or idea, maybe for today, maybe forever. I used to use GTD, but nowadays I mostly just use the "capture" part, a.k.a LET IT GO OUT OF MY SYSTEM DAMMIT. The remaining steps just sort themselves out as things are falling into very different buckets: a. very general life goals (non actionable by themselves due to their large scale, virtual nature, and can only be achieved by habit as well as internalising what I truly want, but certainly not with reminders), b. whatever I fancy doing when I happen to have some free time (for which I may go back to a quickly jotted draft of step 1, and since I'm in the mood for it, well, I just do it), c. very concrete errands and other mundane tasks.

zentiggr 9y ago

If lots of creative bits floating around in your head works for you, and doesn't distract from accomplishing the day to day things, then all good. The thing I've seen most about "GTD doesn't work!" feelings is the assumption that 'doing GTD' is all or nothing. "record everything and become task robot" is one extreme. The core idea is "use something other than your mind to keep track of the core things you want to be reminded of later, and the stress of 'what was that thought again?' can go away." If you get to a point of not worrying about what might have fallen between the cracks, you've got enough of a system and I call that 'working'. My "GTD" system doesn't look anything at all like DA explains it, but the concepts were enough to push me in the right direction and find what works to keep that worry at bay.