Comments on: A GTD Epiphany

By: Arif Vakil

Arif Vakil — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:21:48 +0000

Hey Oliver,

Great post! I too had the same issue and had setup a tele-coaching call with Meg just for that. Neither did I not want to look at my lists, even after I did, I would just do something else and not attempt my next actions on my list. After several rounds of questions, Meg diagnosed that I had become numb to my lists, and it’s something that GTD practioners sometime face. The solution she suggested was something really nice. And that is…”Start Fresh”. She suggested, taking a printout of all my lists. Delete the soft copy and start fresh. That way I’ll record stuff that are new current and what I really want to do and I would always have my old lists in hardcopy which I could go through in my next weekly review.

I implemented her suggestion partially. Took a printout of all my lists, but deleted only some of them. But the exercise was really good, ‘coz as I was deleting the items from my list, it really made me question, if I am going to do this stuff at all and many times the answer was no, which helped in purging my system quite a bit.

Hope this helps.

By: Be Creative, Productive and Engaged | WHAKATE

Be Creative, Productive and Engaged | WHAKATE — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:03:37 +0000

[...] A GTD Epiphany [...]

By: asiriusgeek

asiriusgeek — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:47:11 +0000

“the brain is a tricky and manipulative creature – sometimes I wonder who‚Äôs running the show in my case – me or my brain.”

Oliver – you are definitely NOT the only one who has this question! I hope we find an answer someday.

By: Carol Anne

Carol Anne — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:37:36 +0000

I think you’ve just hit on what’s been keeping me back — I too only have work on my lists. No play at all.
After reading your article, I had this thought: To Do lists have always been tied to chores and deadlines. Fun is the reward for finishing the chores and deadlines. But who has an empty To Do list? There’s always something else that must be accomplished.
I’m going to put some fun in my To Do list. I think my next challenge will be to keep the fun from feeling like a chore, rather than a creative break.

By: hdbbstephen on Twitter

hdbbstephen on Twitter — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:59:30 +0000

Thank you for sharing this with us, it is good to get a reminder once in a while that “fun” should be part of our “work”.

BTW what is the story with the micrographs?

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:54:42 +0000

Enjoyed reading your post Oliver, thanks.

One thing I’ve discovered about my own system is a need for me to slow down. I found myself with an aversion to reviewing my computer-based lists and thought migrating to a paper-based solution would help. I did but not because of some type of paper versus digital advantage. Instead writing things out forced me to slow down a bit.

I’ve found my most well defined projects start on a single sheet of paper where I take time to write a statement of completion, gather facts and figures and reflect whether that is REALLY what completion would look like and what I need to do next.

From there it’s a lot easier to then write my the project name onto my project list and its next action onto that list.

With digital lists it was a little too easy for me to add things without the appropriate focus.

Again, thanks for the post.

- Mark

By: MIchael

MIchael — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:46:48 +0000

Great post Oliver. I think that everyone who uses GTD has their own subtle and specific relationship to their lists. Some view them as a stand in for their super-ego (the “should” part of us), and for some it is an extension of their bigger, more positive self.

Cool self-exposition. We’re all proud of you for getting to that insight!

By: Geri

Geri — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:28:05 +0000

Dear Oliver

wonderful and amusing text about a topic I know now from myself ! Too much you have to’s on my lists. I really have problems with working with a list since years.

Geri