GTD. Myths, mistakes, delusions
GTD is an overseas word that is alien to the Russian language and worldview. We find it difficult to understand why the Russian soul, accustomed to breadth and freedom, needed this overseas method "for the training of office plankton." Why not just do things without all these new methods? After all, it is obvious that the time that we will spend on putting things in order, organizing them into a certain system is time wasted. During that time, while we were sorting out and laying out pieces of paper with the words “do something for such a number,” it was possible to take and do a lot of things. You just have to pull yourself together and start doing things, instead of talking about them!
This is what a typical list of myths and misconceptions about GTD looks like. All of them are based on the initially incorrect formulation of the system task.
Did you think that GTD will help you to do all your business in a short time or make it easier to execute ?
')
Alas, but if you think so, then you misunderstand what is the main purpose of the GTD system. This is a system that allows you to only reduce the stress factor in an ever-changing “cloud” of tasks that are set for you and gain confidence that everything is under control.
- What kind of stress ?! I have no stress! I just wanted things to be done faster, well, and here I have a number of frozen cases that I would like to do since last year, but I don’t get my hands on anything. Sense with the fact that I wrote them down. Anyway, they do not have enough time.
You have not yet noticed, but you are already under the influence of stress. You care that:
The key word here is “care.” The harder you put pressure on the state of your current system (or rather, the mess), the darker this expression will be. First, he cares, then he oppresses, then he drives him into depression.
This is the stress that is constantly being talked about when explaining the purpose of GTD. The main goal is to get rid of this word in general. You should not, in principle, worry something. The paradox is that you put yourself in a corner - so that nothing is disturbed, it is necessary that this be done. And if not done, then alas, it still cares. I like the way David Allen's idea breaks this vicious circle gracefully — if you cannot do it now — write it down and leave it for later .
- And all ?! All GTD help comes down to recording what I remember so?
Aha (here I smile at all the remnants of my former 32 teeth)
Just remember it is no longer necessary. Therefore, you can safely continue to fry kebabs, fish, continue to read your favorite forum, watch movies, create a presentation for the next report. All your tasks are no longer in the head with a “not forget”, but in the list outside this head.
All you need is to look at the necessary page of this list in your free time .
And again - it’s not for nothing that I highlighted the key word - “free time”. This is the time in which you are not busy or want to do something. But not when you are already doing something. Otherwise, everything will go smarky.
Why? Yes, because you must always be confident and do only what you think has the highest priority. If you decide to look at the list during the execution process, this means that you consider the current process as a lower priority than those that are already in the list. And this should not be. Because by doing so you reduce your own self-esteem in your own eyes - “I do all sorts of garbage, when there may be more important things!”. But wait, you yourself have just chosen this thing from your list. Who is your fault? You know what I mean?
An exception can be only one case - when a new task has come to you from the outside at the moment and it must be completed here and now.
What do you mean by “system maintenance”? Parsing heaps of cases, categorizing these cases, assigning priorities to them, highlighting contexts, and placing dependencies? All this you have to do only once! Unless of course you did everything correctly and logically, and not just dumped everything in one pile and stuck the label “urgent”.
When the system works, it takes you exactly as much time as it takes to formulate and write down what you want to do, but do not intend to do so instantly .
After all, all that you will do to maintain the system is simply to write and check the list.
Are 30 seconds worth of your confidence that you have not forgotten anything or not? The question is rhetorical.
There is, of course, a category of people who all love to constantly lay out on shelves, sort out, arrange in alphabetical order. But this is not the time management applies. Everyone has their own skeletons and cockroaches. Technique GTD says - do as you prefer, but do not back away from the system you have built. Otherwise, it will stop working, because you will not fully trust it .
I really love this myth (sorry you can not put a smiley)! It is based in part on "Error number zero."
In general, the goal is somewhat different - do not forget to do later what cannot be done now , and not just put it in the back box.
- Why not do it right away? Why put it off for later?
Because I was busy at the moment when the new task came. And what I was doing seemed to me more important than the new task. When I get rid of myself, I will determine what is the most important and necessary thing I will do next. And not the fact that it will be exactly the task that I just fell. But I will be 100% sure that it will come to its own turn and it will not be lost anywhere.
So I'm not lazy, I really do the most important things at this time and in this place. I just have a mechanism that allows me to make an informed decision, comparing all the tasks , and not those that I remember at the moment. Human memory, alas, is not reliable and can play a cruel joke - you can forget what is really important.
Nonsense. One hundred percent. A real “office plankton” is a system in itself, where all tasks go from top to bottom, are decomposed into primitive actions and their execution is controlled centrally at each stage. Why should a screw arrange one single task that it faces?
But the higher we go up the hierarchy, the more tasks we have that require control. And here we need systems that require nothing to be forgotten. Want to grow in a career? You will have to learn business control systems, otherwise they will bypass you. The higher the position, the higher the responsibility, the more control you need.
- What are the secretaries for?
Do you think a good secretary keeps everything in his head or in the system? The question is again rhetorical.
And do not try to eat the elephant entirely. Indigestion can be earned.
I have already spoken about how to enter the system into your life simply and painlessly: habrahabr.ru/blogs/gtd/123040
This is what a typical list of myths and misconceptions about GTD looks like. All of them are based on the initially incorrect formulation of the system task.
Error number zero. I did everything as advised to me, but nothing has changed, only time wasted!
Did you think that GTD will help you to do all your business in a short time or make it easier to execute ?
')
Alas, but if you think so, then you misunderstand what is the main purpose of the GTD system. This is a system that allows you to only reduce the stress factor in an ever-changing “cloud” of tasks that are set for you and gain confidence that everything is under control.
- What kind of stress ?! I have no stress! I just wanted things to be done faster, well, and here I have a number of frozen cases that I would like to do since last year, but I don’t get my hands on anything. Sense with the fact that I wrote them down. Anyway, they do not have enough time.
You have not yet noticed, but you are already under the influence of stress. You care that:
- Things are going slower than you would like.
- Do you have things that you forget about, or they "freeze"
The key word here is “care.” The harder you put pressure on the state of your current system (or rather, the mess), the darker this expression will be. First, he cares, then he oppresses, then he drives him into depression.
This is the stress that is constantly being talked about when explaining the purpose of GTD. The main goal is to get rid of this word in general. You should not, in principle, worry something. The paradox is that you put yourself in a corner - so that nothing is disturbed, it is necessary that this be done. And if not done, then alas, it still cares. I like the way David Allen's idea breaks this vicious circle gracefully — if you cannot do it now — write it down and leave it for later .
- And all ?! All GTD help comes down to recording what I remember so?
Aha (here I smile at all the remnants of my former 32 teeth)
Just remember it is no longer necessary. Therefore, you can safely continue to fry kebabs, fish, continue to read your favorite forum, watch movies, create a presentation for the next report. All your tasks are no longer in the head with a “not forget”, but in the list outside this head.
All you need is to look at the necessary page of this list in your free time .
And again - it’s not for nothing that I highlighted the key word - “free time”. This is the time in which you are not busy or want to do something. But not when you are already doing something. Otherwise, everything will go smarky.
Why? Yes, because you must always be confident and do only what you think has the highest priority. If you decide to look at the list during the execution process, this means that you consider the current process as a lower priority than those that are already in the list. And this should not be. Because by doing so you reduce your own self-esteem in your own eyes - “I do all sorts of garbage, when there may be more important things!”. But wait, you yourself have just chosen this thing from your list. Who is your fault? You know what I mean?
An exception can be only one case - when a new task has come to you from the outside at the moment and it must be completed here and now.
Myth 1. The system itself will take too much time.
What do you mean by “system maintenance”? Parsing heaps of cases, categorizing these cases, assigning priorities to them, highlighting contexts, and placing dependencies? All this you have to do only once! Unless of course you did everything correctly and logically, and not just dumped everything in one pile and stuck the label “urgent”.
When the system works, it takes you exactly as much time as it takes to formulate and write down what you want to do, but do not intend to do so instantly .
After all, all that you will do to maintain the system is simply to write and check the list.
Are 30 seconds worth of your confidence that you have not forgotten anything or not? The question is rhetorical.
There is, of course, a category of people who all love to constantly lay out on shelves, sort out, arrange in alphabetical order. But this is not the time management applies. Everyone has their own skeletons and cockroaches. Technique GTD says - do as you prefer, but do not back away from the system you have built. Otherwise, it will stop working, because you will not fully trust it .
Myth 2. GTD invented lazy people in order to justify their laziness. You just have to do things
I really love this myth (sorry you can not put a smiley)! It is based in part on "Error number zero."
In general, the goal is somewhat different - do not forget to do later what cannot be done now , and not just put it in the back box.
- Why not do it right away? Why put it off for later?
Because I was busy at the moment when the new task came. And what I was doing seemed to me more important than the new task. When I get rid of myself, I will determine what is the most important and necessary thing I will do next. And not the fact that it will be exactly the task that I just fell. But I will be 100% sure that it will come to its own turn and it will not be lost anywhere.
So I'm not lazy, I really do the most important things at this time and in this place. I just have a mechanism that allows me to make an informed decision, comparing all the tasks , and not those that I remember at the moment. Human memory, alas, is not reliable and can play a cruel joke - you can forget what is really important.
Myth 3. GTD for office plankton
Nonsense. One hundred percent. A real “office plankton” is a system in itself, where all tasks go from top to bottom, are decomposed into primitive actions and their execution is controlled centrally at each stage. Why should a screw arrange one single task that it faces?
But the higher we go up the hierarchy, the more tasks we have that require control. And here we need systems that require nothing to be forgotten. Want to grow in a career? You will have to learn business control systems, otherwise they will bypass you. The higher the position, the higher the responsibility, the more control you need.
- What are the secretaries for?
Do you think a good secretary keeps everything in his head or in the system? The question is again rhetorical.
Error 4. I tried so many times, but it doesn’t work - it’s too difficult, and I’m doing so in bulk, I rushed to the ramp
And do not try to eat the elephant entirely. Indigestion can be earned.
I have already spoken about how to enter the system into your life simply and painlessly: habrahabr.ru/blogs/gtd/123040
As a result
- Change your attitude to the system. This is not a silver bullet. This is a tool
- Nobody will do your work for you. There are no such methods. Your business, as before, you have to do yourself
- Do not rely on memory, it is not reliable and can fail at the most inopportune moment
- Trust your system like yourself. Otherwise, the system will not work for you, but you will work for the system. This will be another challenge in your already large to-do list.
- The fact that you have a control system does not speak about your weakness, it’s the other way around - your advantage. You really have everything under control and you are sure of it.
- Rest is also a task that is worth doing and it has the same priorities and goals.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/123669/
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