On Apr 26, 2005, at 11:03 AM, Andrew Garrett wrote:
> Before, I didn't used to do anything in particular. I had a vague
> sort of filing system, and a few thousand mails in my inbox.
> Now, I have a framework in which I can structure my tasks, making sure
> that the cracks are small enough that very little falls between them.
> I don't know if it's the perfect framework - what I do know is that
> it's good enough to help me get things done that I should get done.
Same here. Before, I didn't write things down, just remembered them.
And woke up at night, or had trouble sleeping, thinking about what I
had to do the next day.
Now, if only for the fact that I write down everything I have to do,
I'm way better off, and can handle my increasingly complex schedule
with ease.
Kirk
Author of: How to Do Everything with Mac OS X Panther
- - - - - -
Read my blog: Kirkville -- http://www.mcelhearn.com Musings, Opinion and Miscellanea, on Macs, iPods and more
Kirk McElhearn | Chemin de la Lauze | 05600 Guillestre | France
On Tue, Apr 26, 2005 at 01:58:42AM -0700, kevin...@gmail.com wrote:
> I have a question about GTD. What makes it better than whatever you
> used to do before you started GTD?
Well mostly I wrote everything down in my calender and did a lot of
things todo lists that could be quite long. Using GTD helps me get more
effective in more then one way. First just writing down things that pops
up in your head releaves you of a lot of pressure. And for example using
a @Phone list makes me more efficient as I know who to call and why when
I have time to use my phone etc. Each such list (@home, @work, @phone,
@internet etc) help me focus on one thing at a time but still handle a
lot of parallell projects in the same time.
I lost a bill, forgot a few commitments, missed emails every so often,
and volunteered to do too many things.
Now I have cut down the number of things I've volunteered to do, but
all of them are getting done. If you send me an email now, you might
get a terse reply saying essentially "I can't help you with that", but
you're going to get a reply, and if I say I'm going to do something,
it will be done in a timely manner, or I will tell you when I actually
decide I can't handle it, rather than find out months later that I
flaked on someone.
The most suprising thing is now much my family relations have
improved. I used to be HORRIBLE at things like "write sister" or "call
mom", but now that stuff happens effortlessly.
--Michael
On 4/26/05, kevin...@gmail.com <kevin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a question about GTD. What makes it better than whatever you
> used to do before you started GTD?
-- Michael Langford --- 404-386-0495
The people who get what they want in this world are the people who get
up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find
them, make them. --George Bernard Shaw
On 4/26/05, kevin...@gmail.com <kevin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a question about GTD. What makes it better than whatever you
> used to do before you started GTD?
Next Actions.
I knew things were getting out of hand in my work, and I picked up the
Franklin Planner I had neglected since my last job. I bought a
current refill and got started.
After a while, I got tired of writing the same list of things to do
each day, knowing that they wouldn't get done anytime soon. I was
writing "stuff," not actions, and the "stuff" never got finished. Breaking projects down into small, bite-sized "next actions" helped me
get moving on a variety of things.
Also, getting away from a calendar-based system was good for me -- I
don't have a lot of meetings or appointments, so a system organized by
tasks fits my job much better.
I'm much more on top of the "little things". So if someone is supposed to get back to me on something, I now will check back with them if they don't. And when I feel like crap, I can churn through lots of little things -- e-mails, phone calls, reading -- that all needed to happen eventually, but now I have them in front of me and remember to do them.
I always was OK on the big picture, so this is the biggest improvement. Oh yeah, my desk is clean now. I like that a lot.
Before: I put stuff on my in basket, which was my desk. The stacks piled high.
Every few weeks, I would make a big to-do of cleaning off the desk to
look for the stuff I needed to do, like pay the mortgage. My file
cabinet was stuffed with stuff in numerous folders, none of them
marked. When I needed to clean stuff off the desk, I shoved it into
the folders randomly. The thought of clearing the folders was a
fearful chore.
Now: Desk clean. In basket empty. Folders alphabetized and free of clutter.
Stuff getting done.
On 4/26/05, kevin...@gmail.com <kevin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a question about GTD. What makes it better than whatever you
> used to do before you started GTD?
-- "One cannot but wonder at this constantly
recurring phrase 'getting something for nothing,'
as if it were the peculiar and perverse ambition
of disturbers of society. Except for our animal
outfit, practically all that we have is handed to
us gratis. Can the most complacent reactionary
flatter himself that he invented the art of writing
or the printing press, or discovered his religious,
economic and moral convictions, or any of the devices which supply him with meat and raiment
or any of the sources of such pleasures as he may derive from literature or the fine arts? In short, civilization is little else than getting something for
nothing."
--James Harvey Robinson,
historian, (1863-1936)
Before using the GTD method, I felt "scattered"; now, I have a
larger/wider view, so to speak. DA talks about it in his book as
altitude levels. I am much more aware of my commitments and am no
longer bogged down by details.
The project list and the weekly review are what made the biggest
difference to me.*
I keep the project list updated regularly and my weekly review
consists of making sure that I'm on track with my projects and making
sure that the next actions are captured on my context-sensitive todo
lists.
This has helped me to identify projects/to dos that I can give to
other people. It's helped me move projects to my someday/maybe list
and, thus, out of my anxiety sphere. And it's helped make sure that I
know what I've decided not to do when something urgent comes up.
I'm not at the mind like water stage yet. But I'm getting there.
:mw
*Which, interestingly, is different from the answer I would have given
immediately after implementing. Then I would have said, the labels
and an alphabetical file system with no heirarchy.
Lots of 'how I've changed' answers here rather than 'why the system is good'. There are three elements to the GTD process that I find really valuable:
Coming to believe the point about 2 minute tasks -- do them now or not at all. Apart from the times when I'm rushing somewhere, I burn through all those 2 minute tasks, and if I find myself thinking 'not now' I ask myself if I'm ever going to do it. Also, when I identify tasks for a different context, if they're obviously less than 2 minutes, I flag them, and I do those first in the new context.
Sorting actions by context -- so I end up with lists of calls, and especially (I work with a lot of people) the big list of things I need to discuss with people, *sorted by person*. I still stuff this up sometimes -- I need to ask 8 people to fill in 360 degree feedback questionnaires, which I have as one action not 8, so when I saw my boss yesterday it wasn't on my @boss list so I'm going to have to bother him again about this relatively trivial thing.
being disciplined about next action. I am not implementing this system perfectly, but if something woolly is on the list I spend my tube journey considering that 'what is the very next physical action' question -- so when I'm at my desk, at work or home, I can just be getting on with the actions and not ruminating on how to do things.
|
