Getting Things Done (GTD) - Cult or Awesome?

if i've learned nothing else from marc maron, it is skip at least the first 15 mins of jokey intros that don't make sense

bulk bag

ive really got to get my shit together and hack together a hack to hack my hack

if i've learned nothing else from marc maron, it is skip at least the first 15 mins of jokey intros that don't make sense

There must be some sort of editing drinking game that takes place whenever there's a minimum tl;dr criteria.

bulk bag

― markers, Tuesday, July 16, 2013 8:29 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

its your thread

how strictly you guys think it's necessary to stick to the book version.

I would say not very? I got into GTD maybe 6 or 7 years ago, did it mostly by the book for about a year, but that got to be too much -- now I don't think an outsider would think of me as doing GTD at all, but I feel like the residue of its basic ideas stuck with me and are very useful -- especially things like "you are not going to do all five of these things you think you should do, so your choice is not whether to do all five or to bail on some, the choice is whether you're going to decide now which ones you care least about or whether you're just going to let circumstance decide for you which ones you don't do"

a comparison of my calendar when i was really on my game, and now, when i'm not

http://hcd-1.imgbox.com/adm1frLs.jpg?st=7CPrUYpJ-zWbTmbpfYg99Q&e=1374101244

wait did you just stop showing up for your monday meeting or something?

what happens during all the white space?

HOOS ffs that's as koan as fucking koans get

am i gonna have to remind you you're Buddhist on every g-d thread

it's not what happens in the white space it's what happens between the white space

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H67uEgRZs2Y

... which on wednesday looks like a 3pm conference with nerf herder

also maybe you don't care but there are ppl's irl names on those screenshots

what happens during all the white space?

― markers, Wednesday, July 17, 2013 10:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i deal with the flaming bags of dog shit on my desk based on which one is about to light my whole career on fire first

which is probably not the best way to handle things.

wait did you just stop showing up for your monday meeting or something?

― markers, Wednesday, July 17, 2013 10:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well there's some collusion in the breakdown here--regular meetings w/my biz unit & mgr have basically stopped despite my requests to get them going again. twice weekly check ins to recalibrate priorities had been really helpful.

not that you need to tell us in a public forum or whatever, but i don't really even know what you do. that being said, it seems kind of odd that you wouldn't meet regularly w/ your boss? but maybe that's not what you're saying. whatever's going on, there is a huge difference between the two schedules, and from what you're saying that's not a good thing.

said "from what you're saying" too much

anyway, i hope you can turn things around. i hope i can too tbh. haha

, it seems kind of odd that you wouldn't meet regularly w/ your boss?

the workload has just been so batshit for all of us lately that the time hasn't been made for anyone on the team, and as helpful as it would be, we could all just as well use the time for the stuff on our desks

by the way not to put too fine a point on it, but the new podcast i'm doing is happening in part out of my ongoing effort to reconnect with obtaining...task accommplishment. we talk about the creative process and the methods and style of people we admire and stuff. it's fun. we just put up our second ep here: hoosteen.net/defart/2

hm sorry try this link http://bit.ly/1aWIZyJ

(notice that in the episode about influence the top link in show notes is b2w)

de fart

i've completely stopped using these systems and haven't noticed a dip in my productivity yet :/

wish these systems worked for me better because, uh, i really love all the software and stationery that goes with them

de fart

― the late great, Friday, July 19, 2013 8:26 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

as the french say

i've completely stopped using these systems and haven't noticed a dip in my productivity yet :/

― the late great, Friday, July 19, 2013 8:28 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was gonna say 'awesome, you're on top of shit' til i read the next post where you said 'i wish these worked better for me'

are you saying you're doing fine or that you noticed no change in either case

itunes at some point?

yeah we're working on that, finishing up logo design now which is the only thing we still need

kk

the cohost passed on the logo instructions and they weren't what i would have suggested--i woulda been thinking all "something that looks like it's in iOS--but i love the kinda album-cover-looking ralph steadman style thing we wound up with

my shit is somewhat together but i feel like it could improve

gtd seems like a huge waste of time. a friend's friend used the system, and he had pages upon pages of notebook entries organizing everything he had to do, and ended up spending the time he could've spent doing things organizing the things he had to do. it's like a procrastination enabler.

"show all messages" imo

we've gone down that rabbit hole before

yes, it takes work to set yourself up for this/any system to process the incoming stuff in your life. yes, it takes "meta-work" to maintain and track the work/life stuff you're trying to track. it's just a question of whether or not you find the effort expended in maintaining the system worth the effort, stress and relative chaos reduced through the processes of better planning, more thoughtfully executed actions, and reduction in general 'am i missing something' anxiety. nothing will ever work for everybody, though.

and i think it's worth noting that no one i know who's ever adopted any of this stuff has maintained chapter-and-verse GTD techniques--it's about adapting the concepts to get the effort:reward ratio right for your own work and life style.

fair enough, that was my only exposure and i'm usually wary of gurus of any kind. is there a good introduction to this system? i could use a little organizational tune up.

http://coffitivity.com/

podcast in the itunes store

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-definite-article/id677967879

we recorded #3 last night, tentative title "world-historical typos"

i kinda love our logo

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Buzzorhowl.jpg

she told him to go for steadman i think

will listen *makes note i will never pay attention to*

yes, it takes "meta-work"

man that shit just sounds unamerican

my personal GTD adaptation is:
if it takes under 5 minutes, do it immediately
if it takes over 5 minutes, refuse to do it

i like it

sweet hack

After all the novelty wears off, I think there's a few points about GTD that are just indisputably brilliant. The "no duh" obviousness of it all only becomes apparent at those times when you've lapsed into bad habits again and start stressing about being in the weeds. That's when "obvious" ain't so obvious anymore.

First, I love the idea that all of the inputs of our lives are things that we allow on some level-that to have any meaningful relationship to your work, in particular, you need to be very picky about permitting any new input without understanding what your commitment to it will be. Anyone who's sat through a meeting where no one understands why a project is happening knows that feeling of running the gerbil wheel. Well, it's unacceptable to feel that way about your entire life. If you're going to agree to do something, you want to do it right, and need to understand that it means you're necessarily going to have to refuse other commitments in order to make it happen. There's only so many bricks that fit in the box, and you're ultimately the one who will need to find or make the space needed to do the stuff that matters most to you.

I also really like the idea of the "next action." This just means that you plan your work in terms of the next physical activity needed to keep the project moving. No more mystery meat to-do lists that you stare at for six months. When in doubt, just do something. Even if it's a small thing, if it keeps you moving in the right direction, you'll be better off than waiting around until The Big Perfect Solution™ rolls around. The next action is useful to GTDers from the first hour they pick up the book.

vintage, pre 5by5 merlin: http://lifehacker.com/038062/interview--43folders-merlin-mann

oh man

this week on the show we're talking about knowing when it's time to walk away from something--when the poem is done, when the project shouldn't be salvaged, how you know you're at a stopping point

i had a jag written down in my notes, and i was all 'hey, this is pretty good'

and i just heard this week's B2W, where as a throwaway merlin says almost the same thing word for word

and i can't tell if i should be annoyed or feel like i'm on to something

lol