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A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

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Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#141

Post by Omnius »

berdon wrote: post #64
kaybe wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a second step to this: 'You can stop if you want to.' Just washing one plate does not mean I have to wash all of them. Stopping after only half of them is acceptable and preferable to not starting. So I can pick up and wash one without worrying about the full task.

But can you leave your friends behind cause they don't stop and if they don't stop they're no friends of mine? The beauty of telling yourself "I can stop" comes in when you're really just lying to yourself to reduce the barrier of the first dish. "Oh, I'll just do a couple and then stop. Well I only have a few left..."

You can dish if you want to

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#142

Post by amrrs »

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…

Exactly. It helps narrowing down things to do with less brain activity on it but sometimes in the downside it can increase anxiety and frustration since the feedback of not done anything is constantly reminded. but that works. Very much like how reinforcement learning is successful. https://hackernoon.com/this-is-how-i-waste-my-day-with-lapto...

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#143

Post by Omnius »

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…

GTD is bottom up. You have to collect everything you have already committed to and know your commitments and actions. Then you keep moving up the idea is to get to a place where your goals and life choices are driving all the decisions on what you commit to in the future.

If you implemented GTD you only captured and identified what you were already agreeing to do.

This is where the 50K foot view stuff comes in.

http://gettingthingsdone.com/2011/01/the-6-horizons-of-focus...

BTW i don't follow GTD strictly any more because it lacks a proper way to manage projects in my mind BUT it was designed around committing to the things you have to and the things that align with you.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#144

Post by Nowyouknow »

polote wrote: post #13

One thing that does increase my productivity is keeping track of what I do during the day. I didn't have productivity in mind when I started doing that, but the fact is, as I want the data to be accurate, as soon as I hit the "Work" button I focus on work and only on work. Not sure I recommend it thought...

What do you use to keep track of your data?

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#145

Post by tcpekin »

moshiah wrote: post #126
fapjacks wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly how I've done every insane, amazing, stupid, disgusting, crazy, dangerous, phenomenal thing in my entire life. From eating balut to asking my wife out to maneuvering under fire.

Please describe the balut, and if you'd recommend the experience.

A richer hard boiled egg with some texture. I liked it a lot. Ate it with a spoon and some sort of sauce. It was definitely different. Would probably do again.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#146

Post by BeetleB »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #136
BeetleB wrote: post #122

I first encountered GTD in 2007. After about 8 years of trying, I finally accepted that GTD didn't work for me. I think any workflow management has to be tailored to your personality. I digged that from the start and did not fall into the trap of being 100% David Allen compliant. Some of my issues: - My lists grow long. Way too long. I recall he suggests looking at the Someday/Maybe during the weekly review. That jus…

What's a good tool for managing the various lists/projects? I've tried Google Docs, Apple Notes, and Txt files. I'm good at making giant "inboxes". From there I move them into 20-30 separate files, but it's tedious -- trying to find the right GDocs tab in Chrome. Then it's hard to pick out the top must-do items from the 20-30 lists.

>What's a good tool for managing the various lists/projects? I've tried Google Docs, Apple Notes, and Txt files.

Dunno, frankly. I use Org Mode. It's good enough. Others use TaskWarrior.

>Then it's hard to pick out the top must-do items from the 20-30 lists.

Which gets to my point of "If you don't limit inputs, nothing will work". I mean, you can make it work if you have huge lists, but your system will be heavy on maintenance. So for me the challenge isn't "How do I handle so much data?" but "How do I make sure my lists are not long?"

I'm debating switching to anti-TODO lists. Decide my focus for the next month/year/whatever. Pick a few projects I want to do in them. Everything else (incoming or in existing lists) go into a "Do not do" list. Once I'm done with my current projects, I'll examine that "Do not do" list and decide on another project. This way I don't spend too much time babysitting lists.

Yet another system to try.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#147

Post by nextos »

SatvikBeri wrote: post #120
nextos wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do you use any particular kanban implementation?

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#148

Post by blonky »

throw7 wrote: post #110
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…

You just reminded me of a song from one of my favorite childhood shows... "Put One Foot in Front of the Other" from a stop-motion film titled "Santa Claus is comin' to Town". Put one foot in front of the other And soon you'll be walking 'cross the floor. You put one foot in front of the other And soon you'll be walking out the door.

This was a mantra both my brothers used while going through Marine Corps bootcamp. You don't have to get to the end of the 50-mile-hike. Just take one more step. I always remember this when facing my own seemingly impossible tasks. Mental or physical.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#149

Post by 1123581321 »

AhtiK wrote: post #43
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…

That's why I've combined GTD lists with Eisenhower Matrix (prioritizing over Urgent-Important quadrants). Random but good video explaining it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT89OZ7TNwc I did run a software product once that was combining GTD and Eisenhower Matrix, which worked quite well. It's now discontinued but a short video in case interested is still online, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22S_1Qjq2J0

During one of the most productive times of my life, I organized my tasks this way in Outlook 2007, of all places, using custom fields and its form designer.

Re: A Beginner´s Guide to Getting Things Done

#150

Post by sp332 »

AhtiK wrote: post #43
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…

That's why I've combined GTD lists with Eisenhower Matrix (prioritizing over Urgent-Important quadrants). Random but good video explaining it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT89OZ7TNwc I did run a software product once that was combining GTD and Eisenhower Matrix, which worked quite well. It's now discontinued but a short video in case interested is still online, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22S_1Qjq2J0

I independently developed a similar system in college, but it had a specific ranking for tasks. I put each task into two lists: the first sorted only by urgency/due date and the second sorted by importance. Then for each task I multiplied the rankings from the two lists to get the final task order.

This worked well for me because things naturally rose in ranking as the due dates got closer. That way I had plenty of time to work on really important projects, without jeopardizing moderately important things that suddenly became urgent at the last minute.

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