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Getting Things Done revisited
TaoPhoenix:
^^ this! (and that "you need to have long term goals all spelled out in a step by step plan, with deadlines, or you are a pathetic waste of life!" thing, which was the main trigger of my well documented productivity meltdown)
Lists don't really work for me unless we are talking about grocery shopping lists or check lists related to one task.
Lists don't remind me to read them.
Lists don't yell at me at the right time of the day, day of the week, month, or year.
Lists don't open web pages for me on the first of the month to gather all the freebies that various sites give away, and remind me to pay my rent.
Which is why I have always been a big fan of sticky notes that you can set alarms on, repeating alarms for repeating tasks. And ones that can open applications or web pages instead of just ringing alarms. Something that tells me "Do this right now!" works much better than a list I'll end up ignoring.
And none of these time management systems effectively address the problem of chronic procrastination, which is the biggest obstacle that a lot of people have with getting things done. No time management system can, because it's not a time management problem! It's a compulsive avoidance problem, akin to addiction and needs to be treated that way. Neither GTD nor any other time management system is a substitute for a 12 step program.
-app103 (April 21, 2013, 07:12 AM)
--- End quote ---
Hi App,
I your post is interesting because this week I think I solved (for me at least!) a couple of your quite sensible concerns! Let's see where we can poke at a couple of things.
1. "Lists don't really work for me unless we are talking about ... check lists related to *one task*". This might be the starting point of my progress with my modified version of the system. This is where I diverge from the book system and make it a bit less of a terse list, and more of an interactive self-created clerical form. A nice example is the fact that Mass State Unemployment (among others?) has a program to re-imburse part of Cobra medical payments. But it takes that office a long time to process the claims. So what do do? I just made a page in 10 and 12 point font in pencil notes describing what was supposed to happen, and then *left blanks for "results"*. So the rule thumb is whenever you see a blank "result ________________" or "update ____________________" line, ... check back it later and see what showed up. That's why I use a notebook rather than 20 folders - because the pages are sorted by topic, and you just flip the pages to see what's going on in each category. One day during a bi-monthly sweep I ended up with eight new categories!
:tellme:
2. Hierarchal information, beyond the straight list
Next up is that in a multi-stage process, flat lists were losing the order stuff had to happen in. So back to that medical reimbursement program. I start by only using one side of the page. That's because the overflow stuff has room to breathe so if you mis-design your page you don't go "oh #$#$%". So the opposite side of the page was where I taped the green return receipt slips which proved that they did in fact receive the claim, no matter how long they were then going to sit on it.
But then I didn't get one of the checks! That's because they get grumpy interacting with other states. So that spawned a sub-note - "call cust svc to ask how to get this check". Cust svc says "we'll send a request form". That came - filled out wrong! Spawned a sub-sub note to fix it. Did that. Sent it back. Spawned a sub-sub-sub note with a Result ____ line waiting for the request to be processed by the internal audit division.
So that's been going on for five months. (?!!) But it has its nice little page. So the way I plan to beat the procrastination is that if the Notebook Of Important Things is lying around, just pick it up and Do Stuff. Because it's less "shuffley" than random pages in folders, it feels cleaner for me.
So most of the notes are in pencil - important because I use tight layout and then I just fix it if I'm off. But then later a blue ball point pen makes certain updates REALLY STAND OUT.
3. Hierarchies when you get more than 3 stickies.
This part is much simpler - drill off a sticky just to get some thought out of your head. I happen to like 4 inch lined ones. If they're simple, just do it (eventually!) But then if stickies start to accumulate on the same topic, or one of them looks like it has a long-ish timeline, that's the sign that it needs a page in the Scary Notebook. (Notice that also keeps the notebook from Over-Cluttering!) So then flashing through all the big category pages in the Scary Notebook, it's about the intuition to see patterns, like two things fighting for a 9:45 AM slot on the same day. That's another way my version differs - not everything needs to be double copied to the Calendar. Keep it by topic and pretend it's like "Go Fish" and wait for the intuition to ping when Wednesday at 3PM shows up twice.
4. Quick "Anti-Meltdown Emergency" tip! It's okay to have Medium Goals! When enough stuff gets all involved and keeps spawning more and more 1. C. 5. d. 3. subnotes, at the bottom of the page just use the blue pen and write "*partial list only - revisit this later when half processed and figure out more stuff later!" So for example just grind out a bunch of nitty gritty stuff, then let May's problem be May's problem, not February's problem! It's okay to have another page later in the notebook! February's page has February's junk on it, you fudged March so by April it's okay to be 15 pages later in the notebook. Just close out Feb's "Result ______ lines", copy the three leftover ones, and put it to the grave and hold a nice funeral and hope it doesn't become a zombie!
So thanks for giving me the chance to explain my system! Here's hoping it works!
40hz:
I've tried a lot of things over the years (Franklin-Covey/Dayrunner/Sharkware/MyLifeOrganized) and came to eventually realize they made for more work and complexity than they're worth. At least when it comes to the sort of life I live.
Simple truth is: my life really isn't all that complicated or difficult to manage. Except when I decided to make it so. It took me a while to admit to that to myself. Because I somehow felt it should be.
That's when I finally tossed all those nifty software packages and fancy planner books I had.
These days I just take five or so minutes near the end of each day to jot down (in a very informal paper journal book) what's been happening with me, and what I've been thinking about.
That simple exercise provides all the focus I need. Although I suppose I do have an advantage in that I still have a very good memory - and probably more importantly, have always had a good idea of what I was doing, and where I wanted to go. (Most times, anyway! ;D)
That journal plus my (paper) appointment calendar and (paper) list of contact information and I'm set to go.
8)
TaoPhoenix:
I've tried a lot of things over the years (Franklin-Covey/Dayrunner/Sharkware/MyLifeOrganized) and came to eventually realize they made for more work and complexity than they're worth. At least when it comes to the sort of life I live.
Simple truth is: my life really isn't all that complicated or difficult to manage. Except when I decided to make it so. It took me a while to admit to that to myself. Because I somehow felt it should be.
That's when I finally tossed all those nifty software packages and fancy planner books I had.
These days I just take five or so minutes near the end of each day to jot down (in a very informal paper journal book) what's been happening with me, and what I've been thinking about.
That simple exercise provides all the focus I need. Although I suppose I do have an advantage in that I still have a very good memory - and probably more importantly, have always had a good idea of what I was doing, and where I wanted to go. (Most times, anyway! ;D)
-40hz (April 21, 2013, 08:06 AM)
--- End quote ---
5 Minutes! How are you that fast!
:tellme:
Although I have indeed procrastinated off and on, my basic design emerged earlier last fall when after some ten hours of getting fed up with racking my (feeble!) memory, when I finally hierarchy-ied it all out I had thirty categories with interlocking notes and over fifty initial to do items!
:'(
But still glad to hear your perspective!
TaoPhoenix:
Hehe okay I better wind down about now, because I have 20 more stickies on my desk from this week!
;D
app103:
Thanks for the list advice, but...let's not, and say we did. :D
The digital sticky notes system works for me, and works well, it always has, and now that I have gone back to it I am not willing to give it up, change it, or add unwanted, unneeded lists to it. Doing that would be about equal to DIY brain rewiring without knowing clue about what you are doing, and that's the quickest way for me to end up a disorganized, confused mess.
4. Quick "Anti-Meltdown Emergency" tip! It's okay to have Medium Goals! When enough stuff gets all involved and keeps spawning more and more 1. C. 5. d. 3. subnotes, at the bottom of the page just use the blue pen and write "*partial list only - revisit this later when half processed and figure out more stuff later!" So for example just grind out a bunch of nitty gritty stuff, then let May's problem be May's problem, not February's problem! It's okay to have another page later in the notebook! February's page has February's junk on it, you fudged March so by April it's okay to be 15 pages later in the notebook. Just close out Feb's "Result ______ lines", copy the three leftover ones, and put it to the grave and hold a nice funeral and hope it doesn't become a zombie!
-TaoPhoenix (April 21, 2013, 07:55 AM)
--- End quote ---
You might have misunderstood what I was talking about. I wasn't talking about tasks with distant deadlines. I was referring to life goals, the idea that you have have your heart's desires for life defined and planned out with a 5-10-15+ year plan on how you will achieve them. It all feels very corporate, and that's not me.
What I mean by "corporate" is geared towards someone that takes a suit & tie, scheduled meetings, bottom line, profit-profit-profit approach to life...not the adventurer that takes a jeans & t-shirt, life is to be lived, not planned approach.
It could be best illustrated with a quick comparison of how each would plan it, if life were a road trip.
CorporateAdventurerdestinationmust have a specific place to go and time to be there and have it marked out on your mapWho cares? Destination is not important. It's all about the trip!routemust have one planned and marked on the mapThis road looks good. Nice and long. I wonder where it goes. Start here, don't plan any further than you can see, and go that way-->accommodationsmark on the map each motel you will be staying at each night, call and make reservations before tripkeep the back seat of the car clear and pack a tent in the trunk, in case you can't find a motel cheap enough when you get tired of drivingmealsmark the restaurants you will be eating at on the map, get copies of their menus and highlight meal choicesstock up on ready-to-eat food, enjoy local delicacies, eat things you have never tried before, whatever your mood dictatessightseeingmark sights of interest on the map, keep sightseeing to a minimum in order to stay on schedulestop whenever you see something that might be interesting, stay as long as you likeunexpected expensesbring credit cards, debit cards, extra cash,bring whatever you have (it's never much), a good pair of work shoes, a standard waitress uniform, and be prepared to work if the car breaks downSouvenirsGet everything from the same store when you reach your destination, postcards are quick & easy to send to friends & family back homeShop along the way, buying small gifts that makes you think of someone specific, mail them when you find a place, with a hand written letter telling of your adventuresWhen you get to your destinationHave your itinerary worked out and stick to the scheduleWhat destination? What schedule?
That's what GTD and other time management systems did to me...and when you try to force an adventurer to plan their life beyond the horizon, expect a meltdown. My life is not a series of destinations I have to get to on a schedule. It's one big long trip with no destination and no special time to get "there" and I can't stick destinations and a schedule in it because some corporate minded people think my way of living is pathetic. Picking up my head and looking too far ahead has a tendency to make me also turn around and look too far back, and that's never a good thing for me to do.
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