I can't do it all...
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Been thinking a lot recently about my personal productivity workflows. I've got all my inputs covered, nothing is missed, all my project lists are up to date, all my next action context lists are full. The problem - there is too much to do. If all my inputs stopped today I would still have weeks of work to do to clear all my projects. I've realised that collecting / processing / organising in itself is not enough. Too many things to do, too many opportunities to seize, (Don't even mention my someday/maybe list - it's just getting bigger and bigger too). Just working with my GTD lists is no longer enough. I need to incorporate the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day along with the admission that I can't do everything I want to in this time, no matter how many productivity hacks I employ. GTD is a great tool, but is not a solution in itself.
I've branched out from pure GTD and looked at other systems and have come up with a workflow that I am finding more manageable for now. I'll be posting some notes on my current thinking over the next few weeks. One thing I have taken to using is leveraging the Outlook 2007 integration with OneNote and I'll be addressing how this has changed my previous OneNote / GTD set up.
For other thoughts on "GTD 2.0" check out these ideas from Eric, Michael, Pascal and Stephen.
8 comments:
@Jeroen: You are right - but why do you think this is. Is it something about presentation or emphasis of these ideas in the book that seem to make people pay little attention to this compared to the "runway" level ideas. Certainly I have been looking more at my higher levels recently and am finding it useful.
I guess people concentrate on the run-way because that is where they start, and that is also where the kick of having an empty inbox comes.
Most people starting with GTD feel great once they manage the processing workflow, and don't go any further with GTD. Once the usual focus problems start, they look outside GTD for solutions, while what they should do is continue on the higher levels.
I've asked about the higher level aspects of GTD on my site. Personally speaking, I've found it made little-to-no difference in my life, though there are clearly those who benefit greatly from it. Maybe it's just a personality thing, some people live in the here-and-now while others like to plan out their future.
Organize IT
That's exactly the problem I have - too many things to do. GTD is mostly about "how to do things", but not about "what things to do". It's like "doing things rights" and "doing right things"...
@How to wake up early : check out my next posts on how I decide what are the right things to do.
My next Quarterly Review is going to be heavily focused on higher-level goals and setting sub-goals in order to accomplish them. No more spinning-of-the-wheels.
@Stephen: I would certainly encourage you in your planto look at your higher level goals. Once you've decided on these you can plan some 90 day goals - take the last quater of 2007 and see what you can accomplish. I've posted about how I use higher level and 90 day goals here http://www.blog.7breaths.co.uk/2007/08/in-my-last-post-i-cant-do-it-all.html
Whenever I read about GTD on the internet, it usually is about task management and processing. Does nobody realize that David spend a large part of his book talking about the higher levels? Matching your current task list against your responsibilities and goals is part of the weekly review and should clean up the list. Continuous renegotiation of your commitments is an essential part of Getting Things Done.