I've been a big fan of GTD since I got on it last year. I've always been an extremely organized person in work and life, but implementing GTD has allowed me to take my life to a different level. I keep track of the infrastructure of my life in my book, which allows my brain to think about exciting projects and possibilities and then my body executes on those ideas, which are later tracked in the book. It's a cycle of success that allows me to focus my laser beam attention on many diverse projects - and easily add new projects to the workload with minimal impact. (Um, like my ceiling falling in.)
Sunday morning, The Boyfriend (TB) is feeling stressed because he has so many projects in his head and feels like he doesn't have time to do any of them. Let alone pick which one he wants to work on. So I suggested that maybe it was the day to get him on GTD. (He's been interested about it since I went on it.) So Sunday afternoon we went through my bookcase of blank books and found one that was perfect for him. (It was a mini-moleskine.) I pulled out my stick-on tabs and we found a pen that he liked. In GTD, it's really important to have materials you like. Because if you like them, you'll use them. I took him on a tour of my book and we picked out categories for his book (Project list, @Computer, @Home, @Errands, Business, @Agenda and added a calendar that I printed off of Outlook). Then we started the brain dump.
I've never GTDed someone before, so this was really interesting to me. It was part conversation, part coach, part task-master, part psychologist. Personalizing GTD is important to its success. Part of that is figuring out HOW you think about projects. TB is very organized and has very specific ways of thinking about projects. Some of these ways worked very well with GTD - and other ways of thinking needed to be tweaked. The whole action list (@Computer, @Home, @Phone, etc) is a novel concept. Tasks and actions are not prioritized. They go on a single list.
We spent about an hour brain dumping his projects into the book and then picking a few to figure out the next actions for. Once we were finished he looked over the project list and said, "That's a manageable list." And I could see his relief in knowing what all his projects were and what he needed to do next to "get things done."
And that's a great feeling - knowing that all your ideas are in a safe place and available at any moment. Knowing that you don't have to actively think about each and every project, and more importantly, having the power to decide what you do and when - and not be motivated by fear and anxiety.
Save that, for when the ceiling falls in.
Photo is a picture of my GTD notebook. Complete with Heart's Challenger sticker.
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