Re:Guide to Personal Productivity Methods
by mercer on Wednesday December 02, 2015 @08:45AM
(#10662846)
I've spent years applying GTD, but at some point I realized that 1) I failed at implementing it more often than not, and 2) it seems optimized for management-type situations, and doesn't work as well for, say, artists or even programmers.
If it works for you, of course that's great! And I think there are tons of individual elements in GTD that are valuable even if the whole system is not applied. But for me it didn't work as a whole, and it's significantly less useful if not applied completely (but also significantly more powerful when it is).
What seems to work best for me is a combination of two approaches:
1. choosing up to three tasks to focus on per day, usually one major task, and two lesser tasks.
2. using a simpler list of (usually) smaller or less important tasks for all the stuff that I can't dedicate a day or half-day to. I used Mark Forster's AutoFocus system for this for a while, and now I settled on the 'Final Version' that this evolved into: http://markforster.squarespace.com/blog/2015/5/21/the-final-...
I think a crucial part for me is that I need a certain fluidity in my approach. The more complex, 'factory-checklist-like' the system is, the better. The lack of complexity keeps me from constantly fiddling with the system, and the lack of a 'factory-like' approach keeps me from feeling like I'm a robot working through a checklist.
If it works for you, of course that's great! And I think there are tons of individual elements in GTD that are valuable even if the whole system is not applied. But for me it didn't work as a whole, and it's significantly less useful if not applied completely (but also significantly more powerful when it is).
What seems to work best for me is a combination of two approaches:
1. choosing up to three tasks to focus on per day, usually one major task, and two lesser tasks. 2. using a simpler list of (usually) smaller or less important tasks for all the stuff that I can't dedicate a day or half-day to. I used Mark Forster's AutoFocus system for this for a while, and now I settled on the 'Final Version' that this evolved into: http://markforster.squarespace.com/blog/2015/5/21/the-final-...
I think a crucial part for me is that I need a certain fluidity in my approach. The more complex, 'factory-checklist-like' the system is, the better. The lack of complexity keeps me from constantly fiddling with the system, and the lack of a 'factory-like' approach keeps me from feeling like I'm a robot working through a checklist.