Getting Things Done (GTD) - Cult or Awesome?

GTD people need more of:

Do you ever stop to consider the fact that one day not only will you be dead and everyone you know will be dead too, but that the planet will probably fall back into the sun and the entire universe w

I don't buy into the basic basic premise behind GTD that "stuff" that is in your mind that you haven't yet done is causing you untold psychological anxiety.

Oh it does for me, totally. Brains work and react differently etc.

but but Kenan, it really isn't complicated once it is all in place.

As for why I feel the need to track all the minutia in my life. It's part OCD, but I actually find it makes such tasks more interesting. It's like smoking pot while doing the dishes.

One day I would like to be able to capture every thought I have.

brain.xls

This should sufficiently infuriate most people on this thread

LOL@ "this image has been stolen from..."

Put it back on the server where it belongs right now!

It isn't, it's something most people learn in grammar school.

not a fair argument at all considering how much we now know about how school works and does not work - if school really worked for everyone and all the things people "learned" were actually learned and remembered and integrated into everyday lives, then fine, everyone should be getting As. the divide in grades/aptitudes is not all about how "smart" someone is, but how smart one is in school, how well someone works within that particular education system. all people/brains are different, as said above.

things like GTD while super obvious on some levels, does teach certain things in different ways, so while some people may have picked them up fine in elementary school, other people look at these newly organized & taught concepts and go "ohhhh" and get it and it makes their life happier in whatever way.

that said, i'm much more about finding your own way of organization/non-organization/shit-not-together-eff-you above all else, rather than trying to cram your life into a system that might not work for you (see school argument above, history of school as a destructive force for so many people), as long as you're happy with it whatever happy means to you

whoa HOW TO MAKE POCKET has just mitigated my caffeine buzz

people really link in to this network of software to track their life?

it occurs to me, this is prob doing just the usual stuff many of us do but suddenly it's been reframed in terms of 'productivity' and 'lifehacks' and 'task tracking' instead of 'surfing the internets' and 'f***ing around with web 2.0 software' and 'putting off stuff to do later'

I don't buy into the basic basic premise behind GTD that "stuff" that is in your mind that you haven't yet done is causing you untold psychological anxiety.

I buy it! I buy it completely. But I'm not buying this dude's book.

I can lend it to you once Jenny finishes reading it.

Honestly, the many many websites that talk about this stuff have been much more helpful than the book ever was.

srsly some of these hyper productive people i'm like.. 'i just don't believe you' i bet half of them are like the fashion bloggers who can't really even dress themselves (some of them can't)

well sure, grain of salt and all that.

Jeff's system appears complicated to me, too, but it makes him happy, he enjoys farting around with it, and it helps him, dare I say, get things done. This in turn creates a more egalitarian domestic partnership between us since it does not automatically fall to me, as the person with the better head for nit-picky details and commitments, to remember everything and dole out tasks and reminders accordingly, a role that I resent deeply as being very intrusive on my free time and my own thought processes. So in summary, I suggest you haterz all capture your judgments in your inbox and sort them into contextual actionable items during your weekly review. Or, to simplify it for you, stick it in your ear.

No domestic partnerships are egalitarian.

...creates a more egalitarian domestic partnership...

I am like Mr. Monkey. I have to use systems to break down tasks (at work, I'm much less organized in my personal life) or otherwise I'm like a deer in the headlights.

People learning and thinking in different ways non-shockah.

I think it can actually be counter-productive to rush to complete something off you list for the rush of Getting Things Done (TM).

Loads of (work) things I procrastinate over, and without much anxiety, because some things need time to take shape properly in your mind and make wider connections.

To clarify, I haven't read the book

HALLO, 99% OF THE FOLLOWERS OF GTD-THEMED WEBSITES!

I benefit well from making lists and scheduling tasks, but that's kind of common sense without using a "system" -- make a list, figure out what's important, and do tasks as time allows. By having a "system" it's like some 12 step program where the first step is to admit you have no control over your task-minding abilities and GTD is the higher power.

I have a coworker who apparently went to some short session on GTD with Outlook. He photocopied the info from it for the new guy, who I just found out yesterday still doesn't know how to make Outlook rules to file things in folders.

I like these Jeff and Jenny characters, do they have a newsletter?

Loads of (work) things I procrastinate over, and without much anxiety, because some things need time to take shape properly in your mind and make wider connections.

These go at the bottom of the list.

And yes some of us have no control over our task-minding abilities.

But from what I understand of it, it's more than just "make a list of the stuff you have to do". It's more of a systems-thinking approach, which involves breaking jobs down into their constituent tasks, which can then be approached in a more logical fashion if possible. It also seems to me that some of the objections to it seem to be based on the idea that it takes a long time to do, but as far as I understand it from Mister M (who clearly must be some sort of mindless disciple to it, given that he actually sprang for a copy of the book) there is a bit of a learning curve at first, but after that it becomes a normal part of your working day and saves you time overall.

Also, I resent the idea that anyone who looks about for a way to become more organized and more productive must necessarily be incredibly disorganized and non-productive to begin with. Just because you want to be better at something doesn't mean you were shit at it to start with.

You are right. Obv I have to a way to be organized and productive otherwise I'd never manage getting dressed and making breakfast in the mornings. It's just my natural systems are often deficient for our modern workaday world.

I'd also trust the dude's book a million times more than the websites, because he's selling one book or a seminar that basically gets you excited about making lists, whereas the sites are foisting software or trying to hook you into return visits for ad revenue.

For perspective, this is coming from me, someone who has that "deer in the headlights" look about being organized that Ms Misery mentions, owns the book, has tried some software systems (kinkless, that omnioutliner doc), and pretty much revels in disorganization and procrastination. This is good stuff, but it's a cult of being enthusiastic about... being organized.

I don't think I could ever be enthusiastic about it. I would just appreciate less stress.

lotta player hatin in this thread

lotta player hatin' in this thread on ILx

I benefit well from making lists and scheduling tasks, but that's kind of common sense without using a "system" -- make a list, figure out what's important, and do tasks as time allows. By having a "system" it's like some 12 step program where the first step is to admit you have no control over your task-minding abilities and GTD is the higher power.

qft

Since I'm an unmarried student working a Service Industry job, my setup is pretty uncomplicated.

(Sidebar: does "setup" un-ick it for you people? Jesus, the word "system" makes some of you go into conniption fits.)

It helps me keep track of internets stuff, blog entry ideas, story ideas, class assignments, errands to run, and phone calls to make. It's organized in such a way that (given that I actually trawl through my notebook at the appointed times) I'll actually get everything on every list in the little notebook done.

But I'm hardly some ardent defender of GTD. I'll let you happily disorganized people get back to your groaning. I gotta do some things.

(and please note that "happily disorganized" refers to those here who say they're disorganized and don't mind so much, it's not a general diss aimed at all the anti-GTD folks in the thread)

For all of the benefits of having a "system," I know myself well enough to realize that I work better and I am MUCH happier if I can slowly adapt and acquire new, better habits, rather than trying to commit myself wholesale to a specific detailed system.

There's always been, for me the, fetishistic impulse of buying and designating a really nice notebook / moleskine / day-planner / pda to invest $$$ and emtional energy into and then attend to it as a totem of my personal productivity (read: worth). This always fails; after the first few times I forget to include something, I get discouraged with myself and become more convinced than ever what an ineffectual scatter-brained slob I am.

So I don't have trouble with GTD as a set of principles, but I'd rather take them on as set of good habits, rather than try to shoehorn my life into a GTD rubric.

x-post

Uh, "set-up" and "system" both sound like you're trying to qualify something that is ho-hum everyday shit. Do you say that the stuff in your fridge is "quantified" by type and refrigeration needs? No, you put stuff in the fridge. Vegetables go in the damn crisper. Technically if you do things the same way consistently in any task that's your "setup" or "system." Hey guys, my system for driving to work where I get in the car, turn left, right, right, right, and left works perfectly! Overuse of words to qualify everyday tasks to add some sort of level of management to them makes it sound like you're more interested in how you do things than actually doing them.

If you're a process analyst or information architect I guess that's cool, because it's your job.

http://www.organizingla.com/photos/uncategorized/taxi_driver_still_1_1.jpg

Travis: I know what you mean. I've got the same problems. I gotta get organized. Oh little things, like my apartment, my possessions. I should get one of those signs that says 'One of these days I'm gonna get organizized.'

Betsy: You mean 'organized'?

Travis: Organiziezed. Organiziezed - it's a joke. O-R-G-A-N-E-Z-I-E-Z-D.

Betsy: Oh, you mean 'Organizized'. Like those little signs they have in offices that say "Thimk".

Jesus, the word "system" makes some of you go into conniption fits.

xpost

BIG MOLES aka the skinedriver

Aside, what burns me is that I have a moleskine book that I scribble, draw, make notes, etc. in (I like the paper and the binding stands up to abuse well) and I hate to be mistaken as a "system" person like that woman in Slacker that puts post-it notes on everything.

I actually never think of people I see using moleskines as "system people" but usually creative people.

Post-it notes are infinitely more useful anyway, because then you're not carrying around a notebook with 90% of the pages consisting of checked-off items. I could never figure out how the electronic ones are all about the mental clarity of completing things and.. poof! they're gone... whereas carrying around a notebook of dead tasks seems less rewarding.

notebooks that flip up >>>>> moleskines

Superior to moleskine:
http://www.duncan-wilson.com/website_thumbs/pixelnotes_02_small.jpg
http://www.duncan-wilson.com/website_thumbs/pixelnotes_04_small.jpg
http://www.duncan-wilson.com/website_thumbs/pixelnotes_05_small.jpg

The binding of the moleskine is great for me as regular notebooks get tore up in my bag.

ok the pixelnotes wall is pretty great xpost

You people and your paper.

haha
i have just run out of printer paper AND post-it notes!!
but yaay beginning of school year and everything being on sale

Vegetables go in the damn crisper.
haha how many roommates have i had that did not appear to understand this??

i got stuff/things done today

rrrobyn, that is because they did not have a good Getting Things Cold system. You should see my hack for chilling wine and beer, it involves a tub of salt water in my freezer.

Kevin: Things to do, things to do today. Got a big day ahead of me, several things to do. Gotta keep on top of my life, gotta keep on top of my life. I have seven things to do. Number one: Banking. Number two: Pick up dry cleaning. [He walks into an old lady and knocks her down.] Okay, ya just knocked over an old lady, keep moving, ya got seven things to do!

http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/archives/git-r-done.jpg

can't believe this didn't show up sooner.

I really never want to hear that again.

I listened to the GTD guy's book on CD on the drive to work (one hour each way, so eat my bottom). He's got a lot of wacky components in his "method" -- e.g., the 43 rotating folders -- but most of these can be largely ignored, I believe. The essence of the GTD programme, which has gotten short shrift in this thread in favor of taking down easy targets like Moleskines, etc., is the project/context matrix: You break down projects into context-specific components and then complete the components according to whatever context you happen to be in. For instance, you might have a home improvement project with a buy a hammer component and an office-decoration project with a buy a cactus component. If you have, say, a hardware store context, then when you consult yr GTD-compliant organizer at the hardware store -- Mr. GTD uses a Palm, not a Moleskine, but I use neither -- you will see these two items under the hardware store context and be able to take care of them more efficiently than if you were following a linear, project-based "method". In short, GTD is a two-dimensional multitasking algorithm.

The hoos-hah, er, hoo-hah about how people have these amorphous psychological to-do list entries terrorizing them that they need to put in an "inbox" is mere rhetoric dressing up the rather common-sense notion that humans have a difficult time organizing their ideas at the instant they occur to them. Even if you prefer project-based organizational methods, you probably allow yrself to jot down notions, free-form, before integrating them into a project, nay?

GTD is essentially quite simple, but even so, I think it works better for folks who have a lot of high-priority projects and a lot of contexts. Myself, I have a small number of manageable projects and few contexts. I just tend to lose track of the low-priority tasks, not the high-priority ones. I'm not a very good GTDer, but it works better for me than a to-do list, and the fact that I've got this big yellow icon on my dock at least reminds me to check it once in awhile.

I use iGTD, which is free and good enough for my minimal needs, but the Omni Group has an app in development that probably will be better. For PC, tho, I dunno, 'cause I am a total Mac snothead.

two quick notes

notebooks that flip up >>>>> moleskines

-- milo z, Friday, 31 August 2007 18:17

hi dere i have this one

http://www.uncrate.com/men/images/moleskine-reporter-notebook.jpg

deuce: Minimal ZTD: The Simplest System Possible really works for me.

!!!!

You should see my hack for chilling wine and beer, it involves a tub of salt water in my freezer.

-- mh, Friday, August 31, 2007 4:10 PM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Link

Wow! I am going to post this and then go mix up a jug of salt water and stick it in the freezer, to be put in a bowl when needed. That is a beautiful solution.

ALSO - I am pretty goddamn disorganized by nature, but I have been getting better at it, partially through necessity since I started an office job a couple months ago, making long-term organization necessary (as a waiter my "projects" were individual tables and I only had to keep myself organized for really hectic 2-hour +/- periods, and each day was a new start).

Anyway, I was reading Jeff's comprehensive post (not realizing it was Jeff) and while I would sooner die than live that degree of organized, I thought, "1. Oh, wow, I do some of this (texting my email for reminders, or texting my own phone) and 2. This guy is my guru."