Feeling overburdened by GTD?

Posted by Rafal | Filed under Productivity

At a glance the concept of Getting Things Done hints you into the assumption that this is marvelous method to do it ALL. And while to an extent this system allows you achieve a lot, it’s definitely won’t let you do it all. Simply because there is always something more there is no end to things we want to see, do, buy, etc.

In principle you need to capture all things that enter your life from physical documents, digital bits to floating thoughts, and broken appliances. Then you need to make decisions about those things and place them in designated places so that you can review those places and act on them.

GTD channels your brain activity and external inputs and asks you to use external storage to park it. This allows you to look at your commitments and goals from a third person perspective. All is in front of you.

The initial process of capturing open loops, making decisions about every single one and organizing them may lead to growing feeling of overburden. You will be looking at considerable number of items that have not been finished yet.

Below you will find couple of my personal observations and thoughts that helped me to reduce the feeling of overburden and to a degree frustration that not everything is done.

Use someday/maybe, a lot
As a result of the implementation there will be a lot of actions, projects, things to do, buy, see etc. Obviously there is no reason in putting this on your current actions list as you can’t work and focus on hundred things at once. Also you won’t be able to do them all. Perhaps at this point of time these things appeal to you but this may change in couple weeks or months.

Plan (weekly review)
This is one of the hardest things to implement when getting to grips with GTD but, it’s there for a reason. Basically this is the time when you review your actions, projects and other commitments and make a decision if you want to work on them next week. One of the reasons why this is so important is that there will be many things coming into your system and pretty soon everything can go overboard. Planning your next actions and current projects will let you stay more on the ball and move The right things forward.

The fever things the simpler the system
If all you really need is to remember about handful of things it does not matter what application you use. Generally the more complex system the less usable it is and requires more time to maintain. When implementing GTD it easy to get overwhelmed by sheer numbers and come to conclusion that powerful application is needed. Over time it’s easier to see that all we need is a simple list manager. Looking for perfect application is like being Don Quichotte, you never find your ultimate target.

Also don’t focus on the implementation stage. I think too many people are focusing on this part. Attacking it from various angles: paper, electronic, mix of both. Just use one for a while and refine as you go. System is meant to help you do your work not work the system!

Complex tools are good for planning and storing
Most of your planning can be done on single sheet of paper and neatly organised on the other side of that sheet. Regardless of how many action you might have complex tools are primarily good for planning, brainstorming, creating sequences of actions. If you use them for tracking in most cases they will slow you down and require substantial time to keep them current. I’ve spend a lot fiddling with various applications and set up just to use paper in the end.

Pick what’s matters most
With piles of things you want to accomplish you may want to be like a rubber man stretched in many directions at a time. But what you real need is to balance your needs and wants and accept the simple fact that there is not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything.

Avoid “time inflation”
Every person expects gigantic surge in free time but what happens is that we quickly take it for granted and add more things to do, so we miss that point when we had more time and then complain how busy we are and that GTD does not work. There is a good term for that “time inflation” where time saved through use of GTD is spend on doing more work and not on things that are fun.

Think often think a lot
Also there is general expectation that GTD helps you create more time, accomplish more but the key should be put on fact that this is possible thanks to the thinking that you do. I believe that this is most important element of this method. GTD is about thinking, making decisions and following through. This is very much the essence of the system with core elements being processing – making decisions about the inputs and weekly review where you look at your things.

GTD can be overwhelming and weigh you down but when you approach well it will be great help for you. You need to figure things out what work well for you, that fit you as there is no magic formula. Once you test is trial it then you will be able to use the benefits of GTD in full potential.

Do you have any thought and ideas? Please share what do you think.

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Permalink | Comments (2) | Dec 15, 2009

2 Responses to “Feeling overburdened by GTD?”

  1. Mags Says:
    December 31st, 2009 at 12:34

    Hi Rafal,

    I’d like to get your advice. I’m a person who believes life is a mystery to live not a business to run, so I don’t like rigid planning and following the plan…
    I have main project to implement in my life yet no structure and just vague idea of how to do it. I’m also not keen on using any GTD-like stuff, yet I’m aware I need to use some sort of tools in order to achieve what I’ve planned. What would you suggest?
    Thanks a lot

    Mags

  2. Rafal Says:
    January 3rd, 2010 at 12:41

    Hi Mags,

    Firstly thanks a lot for a first comment on my blog.
    I see your point that rigid structure of a GTD -like system can be limiting and constraining. However it’s that structure that allows to keeps tabs on thing that are going on around us.
    If you not want to go into full GTD implementation you can simply start with writing things down in a notebook or on a computer then review that regularly. From there see if you need more structure, more tools etc. But remember to keep things simple.
    Hope this helps. Thanks again.
    Rafal

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