Archive - Feb 2006

We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. -- Peter F. Drucker

As part of my self-planned Master's Degree in Personal Productivity I've been reading non-fiction rather voraciously [1]. For example, I usually have 3-5 books going per week, with replacements arriving regularly [2]. The topics cover productivity, personal growth, consulting, networking, and creativity. However, a significant problem I've encountered is a certain "tyranny" of reading for education (rather than for entertainment), and it has threatened to turn the process into a form of aversion therapy.

David Allen is quoted many places [1] as saying in his GTD | The RoadMap seminar:

Anything that's a "problem" is a "project."

When I first heard this in Boston in late September my thought was "sure - makes sense" and that was about it. However, like much of what's behind GTD, it's simple but deep. In this case, I've found that creating a "full" GTD project for every single problem is a great idea, even if the problem seems to require just one step to solve, because the problem often becomes more complex, presents surprises, or needs to be tracked (i.e., doesn't go away the first time).

This week my wife and I decided to move our home office downstairs, primarily for increased convenience - easier access to in-baskets, chances for opportunistic workflow processing, closer connection to our daughter's activities, etc. Interestingly, we've both adopted David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology, and we were really surprised at how relatively easy this move was compared to others we've done.

As I've continued my practice of David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology (and helped others adopt it) I've occasionally noticed some signs of falling behind. I wanted to share a few of them, and ask what others you've come across in your implementation [1]. In no particular order:

• "Cobwebby" mind (needs a sweeping).
• "Doing" while processing (unless 2 minute or less) - beware rabbit holes.
• "To file" or "Pending" trays.
• A lonely labeler.
• Calendar entries that don't absolutely have to be done that day.
• Collection points getting too big or old.
• Haven't done a weekly review in "a while."
• Keeping anything in your head (i.e., notice if something's bugging you).