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A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

blog.zenkit.com

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Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#111

Post by nextos »

submeta wrote: post #37

I read David Allen's book in 2002 and immediately started implementing it. At first it felt like godsend. Capturing every "open loop" (everything that is not the way it should be = everything with a delta between current and desired state) and deciding for each of them if there is any action that I need to take and if so, what the very next step was - that practice alone released a ton of energy and gave me a sense o…

I had the same issue. This is why I now prefer a kanban board.

As much as I dislike overhyped "lean" in software, in the TPS spirit I think it's a great way to prioritize and avoid planning waste.

With GTD I found I spend too much time writing task lists that would become outdated soon. WIP limits bring focus.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#112

Post by coldtea »

dogruck wrote: post #40
ThomPete wrote: post #7

GTD is the utopia of productivity. Everyone attempts to reach it but almost no one (if any) ever will. Those who get the closest realize that you can't live your life like that. In my world GTD become a goal in itself rather than a way to better manage your life. With a few exception (calendar) I lived my life in a way that would make a GTD enthusiast cringe. I am always impressed by those who attempt to do it but ne…

You make the bizarre claim that nobody successfully follows GTD because you’ve never done so, and you know many others who have also failed to do so. That’s like a fat dude looking around at the donut shop and saying “nobody ever sticks to their diets, haha!” I’ve used GTD for years. I just shattered your claim.

>That’s like a fat dude looking around at the donut shop and saying “nobody ever sticks to their diets, haha!”

And the fat dude would be right statistically.

>I’ve used GTD for years. I just shattered your claim.

Not necessarily. You could still be an outlier (generally when people say "nobody does X" in casual conversation, they allow for statistical noise level outliers).

Or not have very hard workloads to begin with.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#113

Post by PeOe »

agumonkey wrote: post #105
PeOe wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, true! I see your point now! I guess the determining factor is a mix of motivation and drive combined with "getting started". Breaking tasks up into smaller tasks doesn´t really do anything if you have no motivation and don´t get started.

Sometimes I think we should have resistance training. Just to get used to slightly unpleasant things, done a dozen times.

Would definitely benefit the motivational factor a lot. In fact, people nowadays would describe most tasks as "unpleasant". "Necessary" or "has to be done" are often categorized as unpleasant.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#114

Post by [deleted] »

agumonkey wrote: post #48
jstewartmobile wrote: post #31

This was mercifully shorter than the Cal Newport book. That's about all I can say for it. Ivan Sutherland had the secret, and it only took one paragraph to share it: ' I used to hate washing dishes. I would delay as long as possible. Eyeing the daunting pile of dishes, I would say to myself, “I'll be here forever at this dumb task.” The enormity of the task deterred me from starting. I still dislike washing dishes, b…

I used this numerous times. It works often but not always.

[deleted]

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#115

Post by EpicBlackCrayon »

chasd00 wrote: post #97
jstewartmobile wrote: post #31

This was mercifully shorter than the Cal Newport book. That's about all I can say for it. Ivan Sutherland had the secret, and it only took one paragraph to share it: ' I used to hate washing dishes. I would delay as long as possible. Eyeing the daunting pile of dishes, I would say to myself, “I'll be here forever at this dumb task.” The enormity of the task deterred me from starting. I still dislike washing dishes, b…

In college a friend of mine gave me a book on Zen Buddhism once as a joke more or less. I read it cover to cover, what you describe is very zen ( well it is as much as it isn't I suppose ;) ). When i was reading that book i was in college and I remember dreading and dreading studying for a particular boring class. I was miserable thinking about it and then it just sort of dawned on me, i got up and went to the librar…

Do you remember the name of the book?

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#116

Post by bernardino »

renegadesensei wrote: post #23

I recently started making small handwritten TODO lists that I keep in my pocket. It has significantly improved my productivity. Every morning while I'm getting ready, I usually think of about seven or eight things I really want to get done that day, and if I'm lucky, I'll actually do one or two. With this method I find I'm getting about four or five things done. I find that the act of actually handwriting the TODO li…

I do this too!

I have never been fond of task management applications.

I have an urgent list I carry in my pocket, and a future and someday list stapled to my wall where my desk is at home.

As mentioned above, it’s best to write and start with small tasks like “make my bed” since confidence is built on accomplishment and you’ll feel good about it.

I though would like o state that sleep and being well-rested is the backbone of getting things done. Some may even add exercise to the mix.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#117

Post by cheshire_cat »

agumonkey wrote: post #58

tiny reminder that emacs org mode is somehow pretty suited to implement GTD https://duckduckgo.com/?q=emacs+gtd&t=ffsb&atb=v84-7&ia=web

Nicolas Petton (maintainer of Indium) wrote a great blog post about his org-mode GTD workflow: https://emacs.cafe/emacs/orgmode/gtd/2017/06/30/orgmode-gtd....

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#118

Post by ashark »

freyir wrote: post #72
jrgifford wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true, however he is trying to explain the idea to multiple people, so he's explaining his ideas in multiple ways. So no, it could not be a long form blog post.

Is the idea that complicated? Can it not clearly and concisely be explained in a way that makes sense to a large audience? We see more complex ideas explained more concisely all the time. It's not just Cal Newport, it's self-help and productivity authors in general. They have an idea, and then they repeat it over and over again until they have a book. Maybe the repetition benefits the reader. Maybe it's easier to int…

I find this even in well-respected and oft-recommended but relatively light non-fic outside the self help genre. Sagan's A Demon Haunted World and Cialdini's Influence both struck me as being twice as long as they had any reason to be, but they're nigh-classics in certain circles. It makes me reluctant to read non-fic, which tends either to be very specialized and ultra-dense (i.e. beyond my reach with a reasonable time investment) or fluffy trash.

However, better small-scale (paragraph to paragraph) structure of the text and somewhat higher info-density, or simply being more entertainingly-written, can go a long way. See Graeber's Debt for the former and Fussell's Class for the latter.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#119

Post by allannienhuis »

chasd00 wrote: post #97
jstewartmobile wrote: post #31

This was mercifully shorter than the Cal Newport book. That's about all I can say for it. Ivan Sutherland had the secret, and it only took one paragraph to share it: ' I used to hate washing dishes. I would delay as long as possible. Eyeing the daunting pile of dishes, I would say to myself, “I'll be here forever at this dumb task.” The enormity of the task deterred me from starting. I still dislike washing dishes, b…

In college a friend of mine gave me a book on Zen Buddhism once as a joke more or less. I read it cover to cover, what you describe is very zen ( well it is as much as it isn't I suppose ;) ). When i was reading that book i was in college and I remember dreading and dreading studying for a particular boring class. I was miserable thinking about it and then it just sort of dawned on me, i got up and went to the librar…

"you only dread these dreary tasks when you're dreading them"

That is remarkably insightful and memorable. Thanks!

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#120

Post by SatvikBeri »

nextos wrote: post #111
submeta wrote: post #37

I read David Allen's book in 2002 and immediately started implementing it. At first it felt like godsend. Capturing every "open loop" (everything that is not the way it should be = everything with a delta between current and desired state) and deciding for each of them if there is any action that I need to take and if so, what the very next step was - that practice alone released a ton of energy and gave me a sense o…

I had the same issue. This is why I now prefer a kanban board. As much as I dislike overhyped "lean" in software, in the TPS spirit I think it's a great way to prioritize and avoid planning waste. With GTD I found I spend too much time writing task lists that would become outdated soon. WIP limits bring focus.

I've found something similar. Kanban boards have probably made me more effective, but more than that, they've made work a lot more enjoyable by helping me limit the number of open projects at once.
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