3 ms·
I used the GTD approach for many years, but one of the main problems was that I couldn't always maintain the weekly review and consistently stick with the syste
by mercer 12y ago
I used the GTD approach for many years, but one of the main problems was that I couldn't always maintain the weekly review and consistently stick with the system. And in GTD world, that's very bad.
At first I thought this mainly had to do with my own lack of discipline, but now I think it's mainly because GTD just doesn't work for every kind of task, project, or occupation.
The main problem, I think, is that GTD assumes:
1. that you can always cut up a task into smaller actions
2. that you can do a next action in one sitting, and
3. that having 'stuff' in your head is bad.
I've found that for some things this applies, and in those cases one might use GTD. But for many other things these three items don't apply, and then GTD can actually be counter-productive.
For example, a creative task might not be doable in one sitting, but it might also not be concrete enough to split up into smaller next actions. Furthermore, for a lot of creative stuff it might actually be very useful to have it 'hanging around' in your head as 'stuff'.
Basically, I found that there's an inverse correlation between the effectiveness of GTD and the amount of creativity needed for a task.
I've settled on Mark Forster's AutoFocus (Final Version) (as mentioned elsewhere here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8629066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8629066) for most of my current stuff, as it's more organic and more fitting to what I do now. If I were to have more managerial-type work I might switch back to GTD though.
(and of course there are many principles from GTD that are useful to me even if I don't use the full system)
- codyb 12y agoI started doing five year plans. Each five year plan I break into sizable chunks. And each chunk I break into single daily goals. Each individual goal lasts a month, and every day I try to achieve my goal. Since it's only one thing a day it's hard not to. And it's habit forming because of the month long period per individual goal. Right now my five year plan is to stabilize all areas of my life (finances, living situations, self). I'm starting with self, and my first individual goal is getting out of bed the first time I wake up. So far so good. And since theres no restrictions on what I do otherwise I get a ton of things done in the morning but I never feel stressed if, for instance, I don't get around to studying all the French I'd like to. Somethings which are a bit more time intensive like keeping a journal I make alternate tasks. So instead of just keeping a journal, every day I'd make it a point to either write in a journal, record my dreams, or write down all of the fool things I've done in a day (on the recommendation of Dale Carnegie who found the idea from Benjamin Franklin). This gives me a bit more liberty, dreams tend to be recorded in the morning, journals can be written in anytime, and the introspection of a day takes place in the evening. Then if I go out and party I don't need to feel stressed about breaking a goal when I wake up in the morning. It's simple. It's easy. It's positive habit forming. And it feels great.
- fluidcruft 12y agoHow long have you been doing this?
- codyb 12y agoNot long enough yet but a few months now and I'm sticking to it which is pretty good. It also keeps that five year plan in mind even though each individual day never feels stressed by some looming goal.