“You are compiling guilt in a system.” - nailed it. I’ve been really trying to nail down next steps. Making it efficient is the hardest part. The rest is so gratifying.
"ways of talking to your future self" - wow! Thanks Robert. That phrase was a real insight. To think of what I am writing down as a delegation to a future self really clarifies things. I naturally want to help my future self as much as possible. We've all had unclear things delegated to us, why do it to ourselves?
Your "squishyness" made me laugh! For me, it is not squishyness at all but like an avalanche is falling on me, which is like being crushed. So I know all this, and I get as far as dumping it out of my mind, sometimes thousands of notes, so crushing I eventually throw them all out. This is a good point you make that we can get discouraged with GTD when we get stuck in this capture stage and don't take the next step of throughly clarifying, because everything I need to do, viewed all together, can be entirely overwheming, and as you said, guilt inducing, so it feels very unpleasant. However, one point is that I do not actually need to do everything (although I think I do). I just need to do what matters to me most now, and keep doing that, and set aside the rest for now, and since I will never be able to do everything I may want to do or believe I need to do, I will need to be selective based on what matters most to me. Getting all that has my attention out of my mind is essential, and it is not sufficient. As you say, what makes this system different from a to-do list is that I do not work from my brain dump, or my captured items, or my usual to-do list. Instead, I clarify this undefined "stuff" first. That is, I do all my thinking up front before I take action, so I know exactly what to do when I'm ready to do a small, clear, specific, physical next action. Then it is relatively very easy to do that clearly defined small step. I know this. I believe it. I'm having one heck of a time actually doing it. What is standing in my way? I'm thinking that it might be my total lack of the equipment, tools, supplies, furniture, and space that is needed to be effective, have homes for things, and be able to find them. I'm not sure, but I think starting with setting up a home office space that will help me feel comfortable and be effective and orderly is a good idea, and then I can try again to set up a GTD system. Thanks for this video. Very helpful.
In summary: Clarify projects and next actions to the level that they are self-evident later. So that someone else could do it without any further instruction or thought. (That person might be yourself 6 months down the line.) For examples, see 5:58
Kudos for the Video clip! Apologies for butting in, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you heard about - Sanailey Inconceivable System (probably on Google)? It is a smashing one off guide for getting the success you deserve in your life minus the hard work. Ive heard some decent things about it and my work buddy finally got cool results with it.✔️😎
Kudos for the Video clip! Apologies for the intrusion, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you considered - Sanailey Inconceivable System (should be on google have a look)? It is an awesome one off guide for getting the success you deserve using this proven betting system minus the normal expense. Ive heard some super things about it and my old buddy Taylor finally got amazing success with it.
The methods, ALLOT of people are using, seem expensive/counterproductive/you need to keep ALLOT of clutter/crap, to do it this way. So you need, paper,folders,dividers,notebooks,printers,ink,stamps envelopes, TIME. Also not using/having E-mail, PDFs, servers, to do lists apps,notifications, digital calendars,digital planners, is a real handicap, when it comes to being productive. Automation, is nice too/set emails to go out/upload to the server/local files and so on, on schedules. Also instead of carrying a huge ridiculous folder/book places, bring it all with you, on your phone. Also having your to do list/notifications pushed to you/directly to your phone/in your notification menu or maybe through Alexa/a routine. Also its nice to have a digital note pad/note taker, so you can have your notes, with you, ALL THE TIME, in one place/on your phone, thats always with you. Also, IF you use/read, magazines/news papers, a digital subscription, is always available/an option. ALSO MOST places have apps, for coupons/Walmart has one,Kroger has one, IF you like fastfood, Burgerking and Mcdonalds, have apps, granted I just use Walmart's monthly membership/door dash's delivery system, for food/groceries, and for what Walmart doesn't have, I buy on Amazon. Also on occasion I use Lowes/Home depots/I get things delivered, to my house from them. Anyway all of this, is available as well, anyway things CAN be ALLOT EASIER,NOW DAYS. If you have a kid/kids, give them a tablet or a laptop, also tiny scanner pro. Also get them PDF books and don't buy them paper, pens or pencils, Also tell them to throw all paper away/tell them to tell EVERYONE, to email it to them, if you see it around the house, throw it away, it will make EVERYTHING ALLOT EASIER. More info: Tablets/Laptops/desktops/a phone, is the solution lol, if you need a stylus get one, as well lol, not NECESSARILY needed, but, it MAY make you feel better. Storing this much paper/any paper, seems counterproductive, thats what storage drives are for, burn it all/well the responsible thing to do, is shred them and then recycle them, but /IF you need to scan it all, into a computer, back things up though/on flash drives/external hardrives and so on, also ALL OF THIS, CAN BE STORED ON YOUR PHONE/in one TINY device. Also NOW DAYS, you can just start typing what your looking for, in a search box, and it will just pop, right up/no more annoying days of Windows 95/XP/Vista, those type search systems, are a thing of the past, luckily. Also ALL of your manuals, for your appliances/devices, have PDFs, I have those on my phone/I've backed those up as well, you can just search for them online, they are easy to find too. Also notes can be taken on your phone/and all of your notes/info you need, will ALWAYS be with you as well. Also you can carrie tons and tons of books, IF they are digital/PDFs, same with music, granted now days, we MOSTLY stream music, with Pandora/Spotify. LOL your acting like an old person, IF your using paper lol Sentimental things are different, but the rest is a waste of time and space. Some more examples, of how we live in a digital world. Also ALLOT of things can't even be purchased, with out digital/EVERYTHING can't be purchased with cash. MEANING COD/POD, isn't even a thing anymore/DEFINITELY not available for everything/its not used, like it used to be. Cash is helpful, to avoid paying tax though, under the table jobs and also for survival/when systems are down, but sales tax is MOST LIKELY going to be an ISSUE REGARDLESS, UNLESS, MAYBE, IF you have access to a military base/some other way to avoid SOME tax. I know I keep ALLOT of cash in my safe,along with physical books,blurays and so on, for back ups/end of the world type stuff lol, but I normally keep/use digital items, MOST of the time, such as PDFs,Digital files, movies,games, music and so on. Keeping birth certificates/social security cards and pictures, of everyone in your family, SHOULD suffice, for the JUST IN CASE, but even your license, now days, can be renewed, through an app, also taxes are paid/done online now. Anyway physical paper, is becoming less and less needed. It doesn't surprise me though, that EVERYTHING'S going digital/Sears,Kmart,Hifi buy,Sports authority, Toys R Us and SOON GameStop, ALREADY figured this out, the hard way, but they did FINALLY figure this out. Walmarts figuring this out as well/using doordash/having memberships/monthly services, that allow you to get unlimited deliveries, meaning, Walmart stores are KIND OF turning into warehouses. Anyway we now have hardrives,SSDs,Flashdrives, servers, no need for MASSIVE filing cabinets, ANYMORE, nor massive calculators,paper calendars,paper, envelopes, or paper/things that can be sent by/via E-mail. No need to buy, stamps,printers,ink,paper/folders, binders, checks and so on, ALL of these things, are obsolete/they are going away. Now we can just log into the server, vs having to take/go get that one piece of paper, that is miles away/we also use e-mail vs USPS. Also we can carrie EVERYTHING, in one device/your phone, or have cloud back ups, to get access to it, ANYWHERE. Also we use debit/credit cards now vs checks, we don't get our bills mailed to us anymore/we have auto pay/we pay through apps, AND we get discounts on our bills, for doing this/setting up auto pay. We bank through apps now vs through physical banks, we do on OCCASION, use ATMS, but even checks can be deposited, by taking a pic of them, through an app, ALSO, IF you pay with a check, NOW DAYS, in a store, the check will be handed back to you, and your money is taken, DIRECTLY OUT OF YOUR ACCOUNT/ITS BAISICLY LIKE USING A DEBIT CARD, NOW DAYS, direct deposit is available, ANYWAY we now do things MUCH more simply/efficiently/effectively. This is probably WRONG, but I burn all the paper I receive, wrong as in, recycling, is what you/we should do, but honestly, I think physical mail, FROM COMPANIES, SHOULD BE BANNED, individuals sending each other a Birthday/Christmas card, is okay, but other JUNK MAIL, should not be sent to people. Atleast with email, MOST things, get sent directly, to the spam folder/box, also what gets through, CAN BE BLOCKED, MANUALLY, AND ITS NOT REALLY REAL/it has no consequence, other than bandwith. Honestly ALL trash services SHOULD be required, to recycle/all trash facilities, SHOULD HAVE a SORTER/SOMETHING/a machine that automatically sorts the trash/it gets dumped in and then its sorted automatically. Anyway paper is a waste of money, time and space, especially when everything can be stored on servers,storage devices and easily emailed/found, when need be. Something you can invest in/things that are helpful, NOW that you've gotten rit of all the paper, is more monitors. When I work, I use 3 monitors/I have two 42inch monitors and one 27inch monitor, in every setup I have, but being able to see more on screen, is really helpful, when working/getting things done.
So simple, yet profound. Thank you! I've been trying to implement GTD for several years but could never quite figure out what was not working for me, with it. I think this might just be the key to unlock what's had me tangled up with this system all these years. What I am hearing is "take the time to get ALL the details & steps coming to mind, of one project/idea at a time out onto paper or into computer, so I do not have to rethink through things I've already thought through". I love looking at it from the lense of making it so clear that anyone can grab the file & know what to do next.
What became essential to me on my own was to continuously rephrase, clarify, expand, etc each review item, and not just reread things into cognitive saturation.
I started reading and implementing GTD for 2 weeks. Since then, without knowing why, I since felt overwhelmed, depressed and didn't what to do any work anymore. Your video put words on what happened : GTD's giant list introduced giant stress with a sense of : I'll never get to the bottom of this, why bother. Thank you so much.
Glad it was helpful and I hope with a mindset shift you can re-approach your lists and find ways to make them work for you -- not so much as "gotta do it all now" -- but more as a radar screen of clarified options to give attention to appropriately over time. It can be scary at first to get stuff out of your head -- a bit like cleaning out earwax and feeling grossed out -- but it's "better out than in", and with the right self-talk consulting the lists can be empowering and even freeing
Woah that's CRAZY.. at first I just assumed "I definitely don't have any of those non self-evident items".. but I said "screw it, let me check" and oh my god, like 25% of my projects were so unclear.. so simple
I find that there is never enough conversation about clarifying and organizing. Thanks so much for your insights, I am definitely carrying around squishy lists.
Dayum boi I came into this expecting nothing much but you really blew me away in the first minutes with that charisma. Verbalized many of the common mistaken thought processes which is great too.
GOLD. GOLD. GOLD. Everyone, if you’ve not watched this entire video, It’s basically a TEDTalk that is so nutrient rich about GTD. Massive respect to this man and this video, and its “healing powers“ for Getting Things Done.
Oh wow! This hits the nail on the head for exactly why I have not yet been successful with GTD thus far. I had no idea about squishy lists. Thanks man!
Thank you very much! I have just discovered this GTD method, and I am glad to have seen your video at this stage of the process. I really appreciated the idea that, what I am going to write about my "project" should be clear enough for someone else beeing able to do the "project" for me.
Oh dear... Thanks for the tip! I haven't looked at my list recently. Good reminder I may be avoiding it. This week is last week before vacation. So it will be reviewed and conquered!. and I'll assess its squishiness too!! :-)
That is the SINGLE BIGGEST EYE OPENING, GAME CHANGING, LIFE SAVING thing I have ever heard!!! You have just articulated why I avoid my daily and weekly reviews like the plague even though it would transform my life to be consistent with GTD. THANK YOU!!!!!
I just started GTD and was just about to migrate all my squishy lists into another squishy list and still be overwhelmed. Thank you! Clarify the FIRST TIME so that anyone taking over could continue my work.
Well, this was extremely helpful! I glean that I should treat my future self as I basically would any colleague- with clear instructions & setting myself up for success...
Just what I needed, thank you! I'm in the middle of that "get it all into the system" process. It's clear that the #1 problem is not the tasks and projects themselves, but HOW I've been (mis)organizing them. This will help a bunch!
Thanks for this reminder. I have been practicing GTD since David's book first came out but nonetheless my lists had become very squishy indeed. They are now expressed as concrete outcomes and have clearly defined next actions. Phew!
This was really really helpful. I live in Nigeria and I am so hooked on GTD. I have been struggling with incorporating GTD system. A newbie, just over a year now, on GTD. Purchased the workbook which has helped me a lot. My problem is that I make a list but find it hard to bring out the time to do my daily review before jumping into the activities of the day. This video is a great help in establishing a routine and putting fir things first. No wonder my overwhelm each day. A NEW BEGINNING!
Thanks so much Robert Peak, the best I got from your message is to make an effort to communicate clearly (be specific) with my future self, I think it did overwhelmed me, but your video help. Wishing you the best.
Glad to hear it! Yes, your future self will thank you--the same way you would be grateful for a really supportive boss that makes your job really clear and easy to do and succeed at. :)
I saw your video several times in my suggestions list and finally clicked it, just to ensure myself it's clickbait. And? Guess what! You totaly nailey my current problem. Thank you for this video. Gonna care alot more for my future self which has to get all of this done. The "could someone else do this task the way I described it?" will also help. Thanks alot!
So glad this was helpful, Thomas, and thanks for the feedback that the title made you hesitant to click. We're experimenting with different formats, tones, etc. in our videos to try to reach different types of GTD fans and those curious about it. So, all good input for us.
@@GTDintheUK It was the thumbnail which kept me from clicking because the bubble looked kinda unprofessionell. After a little discussion with my gf I find it also helpful to go through my system project by project instead of facing all tasks which havend been done.
@@ThomasIkemann Point taken the nod to Admiral Akbar was deliberately cheesy, though perhaps not ideal in this context. Be sure you're doing your weekly reviews--that's your chance to make sure every project has a (good) next action to it, so you can live in that clarified action land day-to-day, confident it joins up with the bigger picture.
Great video. I’ve gotten into the squishy part of the lists even though I used to create “actionable” items. Thanks for the reminder that I need to be instructing my future self with clear, actionable items.
This was incredibly helpful! Thank you. I plan to watch many more of your videos, as I am just now beginning the GTD process, and you coaching seems spot on. I appreciate this content from you greatly!
The very first two-minutes task one can take on a todo item is to clarify this todo with SMART framework. And then whenever a todo is idled for a while, try taking a two-minutes action to activate it. It is a good practice to have a 30 minutes session to get 15 todos move ahead with two minutes for each. I call this Get-Two Minutes-Done.
YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I have only listened for 4 minutes so far and you've already described my experience EXACTLY!!!! I can't wait to hear the rest and see if you have anything more! Bravo!!!!!
Wow! Thank you so much for this video! I've been working in a professional capacity for 10 years and the last three years I've entered into a role that is fast paced with growing responsibilities and opportunities each year. I've been struggling to keep up with those to-do lists and those little things really have accumulated and created that squishy guilt list that you described. I just recently started to look into the GTD methodology and was recommended this video to watch. I'm so glad I did because you just described something that I have been struggling with for so long, so concisely! I wish it was more common for entry level professionals and students to be introduced to this methodology early on. I feel like we've been taught this in some capacity as we grow but I had yet to really understand what I was doing all these years. Wonderful advice. Thank you again so much!
So glad to hear this was helpful. Indeed, it's stuff we "pick up along the way" to some extent, but I agree it would be amazing to have it part of the core curriculum growing up. There is a GTD for Teens book that is good if you have kids.
No, it's not. GTD is a Obsessive-Compulsive way of approaching life, procrastinating tasks And searching an impossible perfection. The only things that counts for being productive is time blocking with habits (forcing you focusing in things you are not capable to focus on)
Thank you for a great video. I fall right into that trap we squisy lists... And remember that i have been there before, with long lists and some points at the list i never will be done but just take up space in the list. Then Murphy helped me and somehow i did loose my list and without any backup. Then there was cleaned up... This time i consider doing something similar. Putting everything captured in a "parking lot list". Then walk through the list and only qualify few important tasks for each lists, next actions list, someday list, grocery list.... I consider using some kind of kanban strategy. There must be a minimum and a maximum number of task on each list. The someday list could be a prioritized backlog, so i do not have to go through the whole list everytime upgrading a task from someday to next action. Thanks again for this great video. That is definitely one i will put on the list of video worth watching again later.
Great insight. Thank you. You seem like you've gotten to "mind like water" with GTD. I often find the projects or tasks that are the hardest to make un-squishy are the ones I feel either afraid of tackling, or they have some other vague resistance for me.
The gtd way to get out of squishy lists is to think it through the first time and clarify each item by asking 2 questions: 1. “what is the outcome?” Or “what does done look like?” (Two ways to ask the same question.) That’s the project, and 2. “what’s the next action?” Categorize it by context. So if project is “have birthday party for mom”, next action might be “call sister” and put that action on the Calls list.
Yes thank you, you made some very good points in here, and I need to do more talking to my future self. I dont have trouble with doing whats on my lists, I have trouble remembering what I was supposed to DO when I wrote down a single word task.
Excellent. So now it's a matter of remembering those "what did I mean?" moments the next time you go to write something down, so that you can be kind to that future self... it's an adjustment process, but it can really help over time
I've tried two times implementing GTD in my life. First was a total failure. Because I didn't understand this basic principle of "clearing all open loops". The second time was begining the same way, except I was really trying to clear my head of all these open loops. The problem is (was?) that the more open loops I was trying to clear, the more new loops I was opening. Lucky me, I've find a piece of advice in this video and in another one saying: There are 2 ways to do things: The right way and do it again. (being that it has not to be perfect either!...) I'm convinced GTD is based on our natural way of thinking (I mean using the way our mind works), so if something is wrong, it's, as you said, because I wanted to try to use the process with old habits in mind. Thanks for this critical piece of advice!
The accuracy of this is unreal!!!! I have been doing it for the past few years and although I dump what is in my mind and I have gotten a few things done here and there it is not a system for me and I have tried many apps. So what I do now is make a binder with tabs in the same manner that I would do in notion and todoist and I also have peace of mind knowing my personal data is not online somewhere or on my desktop where it can possibly be deleted if it does not work one day.
I think this was put together really nicely. I've been going through and finding short generalized things to share with a friend of mine. Just so many things are so overwhelming. You know looking for get the idea before you might listen to the audiobook. After recently listening to David in his later years as I am also getting in by later years, I think I'm really doing okay! You're right in the beginning we look for that super perfection... Do what you can and do the best that you can and carry on in a daily basis.
Thank you very much for this video!!! I didn't know why I hated my todo list, that was supposed to relieve my stress... Now I know and I can address the mistakes! :)
Hello, new subscriber and THANK YOU for your personal statement “70 projects” I don’t feel overwhelmed now as I have about 50 on average. I have “started” GTD but always have kept it to a few layers. I’m using OmniFocus for IOS and IThoughts as a mind mapping visual planner. I’ve actually earned 18 credits toward “Project Management” degree as that was offered via my employer. I figured it might help with my personal life too. Sorta……like you said “squishy” thinking I’ve reverted back to paper as I’m old enough to have planned a lot of things on paper long before writing on a tablet was a truly productive thing. In the garage during a gloved up messy project you’re more apt to not care about wrecking paper as opposed to your electronics. I’ll use your advise and keep diligently using my digital tools. I’m always solving problems in my head and my phone or ipad are always near so it makes it easy to capture an idea. Work sometimes frowns on your phone being out so paper is always an option to capture and the add in later.
Glad this sparked some good thinking and self-evaluation. To be clear: GTD can be done on paper, you just need to be willing to re-write from time-to-time. Do what works for you, and work it with the end in mind: the confidence that you are making the best choices, moment-to-moment, not having to keep stuff in your head, and reaping the rewards of freedom and focus.
Indeed--and I often ask clients when they want to do the thinking--near the beginning, when they have time to plan, or at the last minute, under pressure?
Thank you! This is so very helpful. I never thought of making my lists like this. I'm now looking forward to doing my lists in detail. I don't want to have to worry about figuring out next steps at a later date. It makes sense to do it all at the same time.
Starting each line-item with a verb is my fix ("Sandie" became "CALL Sandie on Thursday." "Dogs" became "TAKE dogs to the vet." "Exercise" became "Run for 3 miles")... THANK YOU!
Glad that's been useful. In digital systems, they often sort alphabetically as well--so you get a second level of visibility on our options since all the "calls", "reads", and "brainstorms" all cluster together in one place.
Useful info and subscribed. From my experience, having some level of project management is extremely useful to implementing GTD. Understanding and being able to develop a clear WBS avoids these squishy nebulous ambitions, though the ambition might be an outcome.
I'm with GTD since 2008 or 09 I guess. And I do agree with Robert. Actually every GTD habit in the book, every phase has it's reason and will help you, if you're fulfilling them, and kind of ruin your whole system, when you're ignoring them, cause you will start to cumulate and piling informations/tasks/whatever in some part of your system in inadequate form - then bad emotions, like guilt, comes in game and it (YOU) will destroy your relationship with GTD and your tools because of it. Whole method in complete way has it's charm. My opinion - it IS worthy to take your time to learn the whole method as it stands. I'm using OneNote (love 2016!) for my GTD (and for many more stuff like study, work, pretty much everything) and I know then it's completly up to me what emotions I will feel for it. Then it's stupid to procrastinate here.
This is exactly the trap I have fallen into when trying to do GTD in the past. The question I have is how long should it take to really get everything out of your head and recorded when you are being deliberate about deciding on the outcome and next step. I feel like I have about 10-20 ideas a day. It seems like it would take me an hour or more a day to think through each one enough to come up with the outcome/next step for each.
Remember that capturing inputs (including your own ideas) can happen separately from clarifying/organising them into projects and next actions. Feel free to capture all day long. Also make judicious use of the someday/maybe lists for those good ideas you don't want to actively commit to right now. Getting an inventory of new inputs and processing them through into a trusted system takes most people 60-90 minutes per day, usually spread throughout the day. It's thinking work you have to do one way or another--we just recommend you do it on the front end when you are most resourceful. Hope that helps!
Great video - I need to watch this at least twice! I do have one "issue" with GTD which is linking Projects to Next Actions. With two separate lists I struggle to find the Next Action that goes with a Project in a timely manner and vice versa. So I now put my projects (i.e. goals) on a 6"x4" index card (one project per card) written at the top of the card and the stack of cards divided into categories (not contexts) e.g. Home, Family History, Money etc... Then I write the Next Action(s) for that project underneath on the same card. I don't really need a Context because I do all my stuff at home (including work). If I need to buy something or do something when I meet up with someone then I have some simple extra Next Action lists for those specific Contexts - but they are few and far between. As I do the Next Actions I strike them off the 6"x4" card and write the next one - until the Project is done when I can tear up the card ! I can see this would not work for someone who genuinely had a lot of different important Contexts.
Jon this is a common concern. The intent of separating actions from projects is to keep actions in contexts that make sense so that you can knock them off one at a time rather than drilling into each project to know what to do next. I've found that if you're doing the weekly review weekly many people find that correlating projects to actions becomes less of an issue, because you'll have an awareness of that correspondence which guides your choices about next actions in the coming week (which is what most people want when they want correlation). HTH!
I was wondering about this exact thing. I'm using Trello, and in a project you can have checklists, so I have a Trello Card for each project under a list called Projects. The name of the card could be 'Complete 19-20 Tax Return', which is all I see when I glance at the project list (or my Do Today list if I've moved the project there for today), and the next action is listed inside that card at the top of the checklist. Are you suggesting we would find it more productive to write the next action in the title of the project ie 'Complete 19-20 Tax Return. 1. Collect paper receipts into box on desk'? Or leave next actions in the checklist to see once I open the project card? Thank you!
@@KN-bx9nt I think the orthodox answer is that the Action List and Project List should be separate. As I described earlier - I struggle with this in that when I do a Weekly Review I am constantly looking through my lists repeatedly as I review each item on each list and need to find the corresponding item on the other list. In other words - if I have a project "Fix the broken wardrobe" then to assess where I am with this I have to look down most of my Action List until I hit the Action that matches this project (say Action = "Make a list of items to buy at hardware store to fix wardrobe"). My compromise (one 6"x4" index card Project at top, Next Action written underneath) only works if the number of Projects is fairly limited. I achieve this by splitting my "Someday-Maybe" list into two : "Someday" (meaning I definitely want to do this - but I know I cannot get to it in the next 2 months or so) and "Maybe" (meaning I MAY want to do this - but I have not finally decided). This sucks projects off of my Project List - and I find a shorter list is less overwhelming and depressing - so hopefully I actually achieve more. Well that's the theory ! LOL
@@JJ1689ZA hmm, yes I think I may be doing the same as you, especially as I also do almost everything at home. I am using Trello, which works a bit like the cards you mention, but digital. So I have projects with the first action either in the title or in the checklist, and I put the projects into categories not contexts (unless there is a context eg 'do at the classroom' or 'errands in Brighton'). That means there are fewer projects in each category and much easier to review and move about/move into my Do Next list. I'm not splitting up the next actions and projects, just moving the entire project (and it's first action) to my DO NEXT list (actually have Do Next lists 1, 2 and 3 - I'm sure this is sacrilege!??) However I'm amazed at just how many projects and tasks get added daily! I'm only into week 2 now and wondering how I'm going to manage going forward, I need to have fewer ideas!! But it's better than what I was doing before - writing to do lists in a paper diary and having to rewrite them each week, which of course I was falling behind on! I do feel both more motivated (bordering on obsession) and relaxed having GTD'd my to dos as I know they are all in one place and won't get lost in an old notebook! I really am going to have to find some way to delegate more though. Thank a for chatting about it, have a lovely day : )
Pretty basic info. But surprisingly resonate with me. I've been doing GTD for 10 or so years now. And I'll admit, sometimes my lists get "squishy" as I quickly add things throughout the week, and I don't take the time to clerify them on my review process. I see the placeholder is in there, and I tell myself to be satisfied with that. Thanks for the outlook
It's def basic for those of us who have been practicing GTD for a while or at least are familiar with the pitfalls of most personal organization systems. Similarly to you, I just took an hour cleaning up my Todoist setup because I had let it get squishy for too long, but it wasn't stressful because I knew the reason it had happened and how to solve it. But for someone who is new to it, even my younger self when I was, just seeing that long-ass list of projects and tasks could have easily made me give up on the whole thing and this video would have been a lifesaver. I think the real danger in capture-based systems like GTD is that the capturing part feels gratifying enough, and then it's easy to push the task out of our mind and forget that the clarifying step is just as important. But as you said, once we're wise to that it becomes just another of our human biases we need to take into account on the daily.
Organization Level "Black Belt" - GTD hopeful from Las Vegas, NV. Thanks for the passionate and substantive video about Clarifying commitments and next steps to the granular level of self-evident direction. Empower both my present and future self to do it without any reflection or procrastination.
I feel for this trap of writing down everything in my head and my list would be giant at the end of the day, now I always ask myself, if I forget this will it by ok, and the answer is usually yes, so I don’t write it.
At some point those that GTD have to make money too...they do that by selling software, coaching services, and helping us all be more productive. TH-cam helps as well and this video, in particular, called out a huge gap in my process. My particular OneNote is crammed full of guilt and now I look forward to possibly even starting over/level setting everything. This is a great call to action.
Wonderful information Robert. Thanks! Question: Can you discuss the best way to name projects? Example. Should it be "Shed built" or "Build shed"? What does David Allen recommend? Verb first? Similar to naming next Actions?
With next actions I like to start with verbs, and with projects the noun that describes the deliverable can be good (then a past-tense verb at the end). But I don't rigorously follow this; the key is that you don't have to do a lot of "re-thinking" when you look at a list item. Everyone's brain works a little differently, so however you achieve that is what counts.
@@alanw4803 Just to say this video also contains some more examples of how to helpfully state projects and next actions: th-cam.com/video/LbCCpAXa1VA/w-d-xo.html
I prefer “Build shed” because I like all of my ‘build’ projects to be together in my folder structure. “Build Table”, “Build Shed”, “Build Medieval Catapult”. I do similar with Research X, Research Y. and I always use the same 10 or so front keywords or I end up with Research X, Lookup Y, Look into Z, ABC - figure out what this is…
“You are compiling guilt in a system.”
- nailed it.
I’ve been really trying to nail down next steps. Making it efficient is the hardest part. The rest is so gratifying.
I’m new to GTD and so glad I found this now! Thanks so much!
Glad it was helpful!
"ways of talking to your future self" - wow! Thanks Robert. That phrase was a real insight. To think of what I am writing down as a delegation to a future self really clarifies things. I naturally want to help my future self as much as possible. We've all had unclear things delegated to us, why do it to ourselves?
Well, exactly! So glad that resonated.
Great advice and spot on. Thanks!
Glad you found that useful!
So helpful, I have been trying to implement for a few years off and on. Thank you, this is great.
Glad to hear and good luck with your implementation!
"Talking to your future self" - wow, that was just beautiful. I legit got goosebumps because I had never thought of organizing through that lens.
Glad to hear that resonated
Your "squishyness" made me laugh! For me, it is not squishyness at all but like an avalanche is falling on me, which is like being crushed. So I know all this, and I get as far as dumping it out of my mind, sometimes thousands of notes, so crushing I eventually throw them all out. This is a good point you make that we can get discouraged with GTD when we get stuck in this capture stage and don't take the next step of throughly clarifying, because everything I need to do, viewed all together, can be entirely overwheming, and as you said, guilt inducing, so it feels very unpleasant. However, one point is that I do not actually need to do everything (although I think I do). I just need to do what matters to me most now, and keep doing that, and set aside the rest for now, and since I will never be able to do everything I may want to do or believe I need to do, I will need to be selective based on what matters most to me. Getting all that has my attention out of my mind is essential, and it is not sufficient. As you say, what makes this system different from a to-do list is that I do not work from my brain dump, or my captured items, or my usual to-do list. Instead, I clarify this undefined "stuff" first. That is, I do all my thinking up front before I take action, so I know exactly what to do when I'm ready to do a small, clear, specific, physical next action. Then it is relatively very easy to do that clearly defined small step. I know this. I believe it. I'm having one heck of a time actually doing it. What is standing in my way? I'm thinking that it might be my total lack of the equipment, tools, supplies, furniture, and space that is needed to be effective, have homes for things, and be able to find them. I'm not sure, but I think starting with setting up a home office space that will help me feel comfortable and be effective and orderly is a good idea, and then I can try again to set up a GTD system. Thanks for this video. Very helpful.
In summary: Clarify projects and next actions to the level that they are self-evident later. So that someone else could do it without any further instruction or thought. (That person might be yourself 6 months down the line.)
For examples, see 5:58
Kudos for the Video clip! Apologies for butting in, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you heard about - Sanailey Inconceivable System (probably on Google)? It is a smashing one off guide for getting the success you deserve in your life minus the hard work. Ive heard some decent things about it and my work buddy finally got cool results with it.✔️😎
Its 5:58
philosophical monk thanks, fixed the ref
Kudos for the Video clip! Apologies for the intrusion, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you considered - Sanailey Inconceivable System (should be on google have a look)? It is an awesome one off guide for getting the success you deserve using this proven betting system minus the normal expense. Ive heard some super things about it and my old buddy Taylor finally got amazing success with it.
The methods, ALLOT of people are using, seem expensive/counterproductive/you need to keep ALLOT of clutter/crap, to do it this way.
So you need, paper,folders,dividers,notebooks,printers,ink,stamps envelopes, TIME.
Also not using/having E-mail, PDFs, servers, to do lists apps,notifications, digital calendars,digital planners, is a real handicap, when it comes to being productive.
Automation, is nice too/set emails to go out/upload to the server/local files and so on, on schedules.
Also instead of carrying a huge ridiculous folder/book places, bring it all with you, on your phone.
Also having your to do list/notifications pushed to you/directly to your phone/in your notification menu or maybe through Alexa/a routine.
Also its nice to have a digital note pad/note taker, so you can have your notes, with you, ALL THE TIME, in one place/on your phone, thats always with you.
Also, IF you use/read, magazines/news papers, a digital subscription, is always available/an option.
ALSO MOST places have apps, for coupons/Walmart has one,Kroger has one, IF you like fastfood, Burgerking and Mcdonalds, have apps, granted I just use Walmart's monthly membership/door dash's delivery system, for food/groceries, and for what Walmart doesn't have, I buy on Amazon. Also on occasion I use Lowes/Home depots/I get things delivered, to my house from them.
Anyway all of this, is available as well, anyway things CAN be ALLOT EASIER,NOW DAYS.
If you have a kid/kids, give them a tablet or a laptop, also tiny scanner pro.
Also get them PDF books and don't buy them paper, pens or pencils, Also tell them to throw all paper away/tell them to tell EVERYONE, to email it to them, if you see it around the house, throw it away, it will make EVERYTHING ALLOT EASIER.
More info:
Tablets/Laptops/desktops/a phone, is the solution lol, if you need a stylus get one, as well lol, not NECESSARILY needed, but, it MAY make you feel better.
Storing this much paper/any paper, seems counterproductive, thats what storage drives are for, burn it all/well the responsible thing to do, is shred them and then recycle them, but /IF you need to scan it all, into a computer, back things up though/on flash drives/external hardrives and so on, also ALL OF THIS, CAN BE STORED ON YOUR PHONE/in one TINY device.
Also NOW DAYS, you can just start typing what your looking for, in a search box, and it will just pop, right up/no more annoying days of Windows 95/XP/Vista, those type search systems, are a thing of the past, luckily.
Also ALL of your manuals, for your appliances/devices, have PDFs, I have those on my phone/I've backed those up as well, you can just search for them online, they are easy to find too.
Also notes can be taken on your phone/and all of your notes/info you need, will ALWAYS be with you as well.
Also you can carrie tons and tons of books, IF they are digital/PDFs, same with music, granted now days, we MOSTLY stream music, with Pandora/Spotify.
LOL your acting like an old person, IF your using paper lol
Sentimental things are different, but the rest is a waste of time and space.
Some more examples, of how we live in a digital world.
Also ALLOT of things can't even be purchased, with out digital/EVERYTHING can't be purchased with cash. MEANING COD/POD, isn't even a thing anymore/DEFINITELY not available for everything/its not used, like it used to be.
Cash is helpful, to avoid paying tax though, under the table jobs and also for survival/when systems are down, but sales tax is MOST LIKELY going to be an ISSUE REGARDLESS, UNLESS, MAYBE, IF you have access to a military base/some other way to avoid SOME tax.
I know I keep ALLOT of cash in my safe,along with physical books,blurays and so on, for back ups/end of the world type stuff lol, but I normally keep/use digital items, MOST of the time, such as PDFs,Digital files, movies,games, music and so on.
Keeping birth certificates/social security cards and pictures, of everyone in your family, SHOULD suffice, for the JUST IN CASE, but even your license, now days, can be renewed, through an app, also taxes are paid/done online now.
Anyway physical paper, is becoming less and less needed.
It doesn't surprise me though, that EVERYTHING'S going digital/Sears,Kmart,Hifi buy,Sports authority, Toys R Us and SOON GameStop, ALREADY figured this out, the hard way, but they did FINALLY figure this out.
Walmarts figuring this out as well/using doordash/having memberships/monthly services, that allow you to get unlimited deliveries, meaning, Walmart stores are KIND OF turning into warehouses.
Anyway we now have hardrives,SSDs,Flashdrives, servers, no need for MASSIVE filing cabinets, ANYMORE, nor massive calculators,paper calendars,paper, envelopes, or paper/things that can be sent by/via E-mail. No need to buy, stamps,printers,ink,paper/folders, binders, checks and so on, ALL of these things, are obsolete/they are going away.
Now we can just log into the server, vs having to take/go get that one piece of paper, that is miles away/we also use e-mail vs USPS. Also we can carrie EVERYTHING, in one device/your phone, or have cloud back ups, to get access to it, ANYWHERE.
Also we use debit/credit cards now vs checks, we don't get our bills mailed to us anymore/we have auto pay/we pay through apps, AND we get discounts on our bills, for doing this/setting up auto pay. We bank through apps now vs through physical banks, we do on OCCASION, use ATMS, but even checks can be deposited, by taking a pic of them, through an app, ALSO, IF you pay with a check, NOW DAYS, in a store, the check will be handed back to you, and your money is taken, DIRECTLY OUT OF YOUR ACCOUNT/ITS BAISICLY LIKE USING A DEBIT CARD, NOW DAYS, direct deposit is available, ANYWAY we now do things MUCH more simply/efficiently/effectively.
This is probably WRONG, but I burn all the paper I receive, wrong as in, recycling, is what you/we should do, but honestly, I think physical mail, FROM COMPANIES, SHOULD BE BANNED, individuals sending each other a Birthday/Christmas card, is okay, but other JUNK MAIL, should not be sent to people.
Atleast with email, MOST things, get sent directly, to the spam folder/box, also what gets through, CAN BE BLOCKED, MANUALLY, AND ITS NOT REALLY REAL/it has no consequence, other than bandwith.
Honestly ALL trash services SHOULD be required, to recycle/all trash facilities, SHOULD HAVE a SORTER/SOMETHING/a machine that automatically sorts the trash/it gets dumped in and then its sorted automatically.
Anyway paper is a waste of money, time and space, especially when everything can be stored on servers,storage devices and easily emailed/found, when need be.
Something you can invest in/things that are helpful, NOW that you've gotten rit of all the paper, is more monitors.
When I work, I use 3 monitors/I have two 42inch monitors and one 27inch monitor, in every setup I have, but being able to see more on screen, is really helpful, when working/getting things done.
I'm only 2 mins into the video and you already hit the nail on the head. I've been creating "guilt lists" way before I knew about GTD.
Glad that's helpful. It's human nature
lol same.
Yes, I like the "ways of talking to your future self" idea. Thank you for this video.
Glad to hear it! :)
You're absolutely right. Thank you for clarifying my mistake for me because this was a blind spot for me. Totally worth my 8 minutes. :)
Thank you - this described my problem exactly, and has helped me to go forward with more purpose on my GTD journey
Excellent, good luck with your journey and let us know if we can help
So simple, yet profound. Thank you! I've been trying to implement GTD for several years but could never quite figure out what was not working for me, with it. I think this might just be the key to unlock what's had me tangled up with this system all these years. What I am hearing is "take the time to get ALL the details & steps coming to mind, of one project/idea at a time out onto paper or into computer, so I do not have to rethink through things I've already thought through". I love looking at it from the lense of making it so clear that anyone can grab the file & know what to do next.
Excellent, so glad to hear that spurred you on
Did you have great results after making the changes?
What became essential to me on my own was to continuously rephrase, clarify, expand, etc each review item, and not just reread things into cognitive saturation.
Robert, THANK YOU so much!! I get it now. I get it!! I'm in the process now of being reborn into GTD!! This video nailed it for me. Many Mahalos!!!!
Awesome, glad to hear it!
This is a really good video. thank you
I started reading and implementing GTD for 2 weeks. Since then, without knowing why, I since felt overwhelmed, depressed and didn't what to do any work anymore.
Your video put words on what happened : GTD's giant list introduced giant stress with a sense of : I'll never get to the bottom of this, why bother.
Thank you so much.
Glad it was helpful and I hope with a mindset shift you can re-approach your lists and find ways to make them work for you -- not so much as "gotta do it all now" -- but more as a radar screen of clarified options to give attention to appropriately over time. It can be scary at first to get stuff out of your head -- a bit like cleaning out earwax and feeling grossed out -- but it's "better out than in", and with the right self-talk consulting the lists can be empowering and even freeing
Woah that's CRAZY.. at first I just assumed "I definitely don't have any of those non self-evident items".. but I said "screw it, let me check" and oh my god, like 25% of my projects were so unclear.. so simple
Haha, thanks for your honesty
I find that there is never enough conversation about clarifying and organizing. Thanks so much for your insights, I am definitely carrying around squishy lists.
Glad this was helpful, Dustin. We tackle the issue of "squishiness" in even more depth in an upcoming podcast episode.
Dayum boi I came into this expecting nothing much but you really blew me away in the first minutes with that charisma. Verbalized many of the common mistaken thought processes which is great too.
GOLD. GOLD. GOLD. Everyone, if you’ve not watched this entire video, It’s basically a TEDTalk that is so nutrient rich about GTD. Massive respect to this man and this video, and its “healing powers“ for Getting Things Done.
Thanks! :)
Oh wow! This hits the nail on the head for exactly why I have not yet been successful with GTD thus far.
I had no idea about squishy lists. Thanks man!
Glad to hear it!
Thank you very much!
I have just discovered this GTD method, and I am glad to have seen your video at this stage of the process.
I really appreciated the idea that, what I am going to write about my "project" should be clear enough for someone else beeing able to do the "project" for me.
We call it "being kind to your future self" :) Go be kind!
lucky to watch this video❤
Oh dear... Thanks for the tip! I haven't looked at my list recently. Good reminder I may be avoiding it. This week is last week before vacation. So it will be reviewed and conquered!. and I'll assess its squishiness too!! :-)
Well done you. Being able to disconnect for vacation is one of the great unsung benefits of GTD. Hope it goes well
Really helpful Robert! Thank-you!
Glad to hear!
Nice video, thanks 🙌🙌
That is the SINGLE BIGGEST EYE OPENING, GAME CHANGING, LIFE SAVING thing I have ever heard!!! You have just articulated why I avoid my daily and weekly reviews like the plague even though it would transform my life to be consistent with GTD. THANK YOU!!!!!
Key next level info for GTD’ers. Thanks for great video!!
You're welcome! :)
I just started GTD and was just about to migrate all my squishy lists into another squishy list and still be overwhelmed. Thank you! Clarify the FIRST TIME so that anyone taking over could continue my work.
Feleni excellent. Go de-squish!
Well, this was extremely helpful! I glean that I should treat my future self as I basically would any colleague- with clear instructions & setting myself up for success...
You got it!
Just what I needed, thank you! I'm in the middle of that "get it all into the system" process. It's clear that the #1 problem is not the tasks and projects themselves, but HOW I've been (mis)organizing them. This will help a bunch!
Excellent! Go get 'em!
Thanks for this reminder. I have been practicing GTD since David's book first came out but nonetheless my lists had become very squishy indeed. They are now expressed as concrete outcomes and have clearly defined next actions. Phew!
Phew! 😂
Absolutely agree with the importance of differentiating a squishy list and a gtd list. Collecting is not organizing or planning.
You know it!
"Store stuff in a way that you don't have to rethink it."
"almost someone else could do it. "
This was really really helpful. I live in Nigeria and I am so hooked on GTD. I have been struggling with incorporating GTD system. A newbie, just over a year now, on GTD. Purchased the workbook which has helped me a lot. My problem is that I make a list but find it hard to bring out the time to do my daily review before jumping into the activities of the day. This video is a great help in establishing a routine and putting fir things first. No wonder my overwhelm each day. A NEW BEGINNING!
Fantastic. :)
a must watch for anyone trying to organize their lives, and not just by using GTD but any system
Just watched again - every GTD follower should watch this every January !
Glad to hear it was worth revisiting!
Thanks so much Robert Peak, the best I got from your message is to make an effort to communicate clearly (be specific) with my future self, I think it did overwhelmed me, but your video help. Wishing you the best.
Glad to hear it! Yes, your future self will thank you--the same way you would be grateful for a really supportive boss that makes your job really clear and easy to do and succeed at. :)
It took a number of years to understand it myself, thanks for putting into such an understandable and concise description.
You bet. Glad that was a useful recap.
I saw your video several times in my suggestions list and finally clicked it, just to ensure myself it's clickbait. And? Guess what! You totaly nailey my current problem. Thank you for this video. Gonna care alot more for my future self which has to get all of this done. The "could someone else do this task the way I described it?" will also help. Thanks alot!
So glad this was helpful, Thomas, and thanks for the feedback that the title made you hesitant to click. We're experimenting with different formats, tones, etc. in our videos to try to reach different types of GTD fans and those curious about it. So, all good input for us.
@@GTDintheUK It was the thumbnail which kept me from clicking because the bubble looked kinda unprofessionell.
After a little discussion with my gf I find it also helpful to go through my system project by project instead of facing all tasks which havend been done.
@@ThomasIkemann Point taken the nod to Admiral Akbar was deliberately cheesy, though perhaps not ideal in this context. Be sure you're doing your weekly reviews--that's your chance to make sure every project has a (good) next action to it, so you can live in that clarified action land day-to-day, confident it joins up with the bigger picture.
Great video. I’ve gotten into the squishy part of the lists even though I used to create “actionable” items. Thanks for the reminder that I need to be instructing my future self with clear, actionable items.
best GTD Advice I have ever heard! thanks!
This was incredibly helpful! Thank you. I plan to watch many more of your videos, as I am just now beginning the GTD process, and you coaching seems spot on. I appreciate this content from you greatly!
So glad to hear it, Douglas and good to be in touch.
The very first two-minutes task one can take on a todo item is to clarify this todo with SMART framework. And then whenever a todo is idled for a while, try taking a two-minutes action to activate it.
It is a good practice to have a 30 minutes session to get 15 todos move ahead with two minutes for each. I call this Get-Two Minutes-Done.
YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I have only listened for 4 minutes so far and you've already described my experience EXACTLY!!!! I can't wait to hear the rest and see if you have anything more! Bravo!!!!!
Wow! Thank you so much for this video! I've been working in a professional capacity for 10 years and the last three years I've entered into a role that is fast paced with growing responsibilities and opportunities each year. I've been struggling to keep up with those to-do lists and those little things really have accumulated and created that squishy guilt list that you described. I just recently started to look into the GTD methodology and was recommended this video to watch. I'm so glad I did because you just described something that I have been struggling with for so long, so concisely! I wish it was more common for entry level professionals and students to be introduced to this methodology early on. I feel like we've been taught this in some capacity as we grow but I had yet to really understand what I was doing all these years.
Wonderful advice. Thank you again so much!
So glad to hear this was helpful. Indeed, it's stuff we "pick up along the way" to some extent, but I agree it would be amazing to have it part of the core curriculum growing up. There is a GTD for Teens book that is good if you have kids.
This is great and exactly where I was with GTD. I was eating up the concepts but struggling to make the next jump. Cheers
Excellent, glad to hear it!
Yikes. You described my state exactly after finishing GTD the first time. Thank you
It can take time to really get your practice refined, but it's worth it!
No, it's not. GTD is a Obsessive-Compulsive way of approaching life, procrastinating tasks And searching an impossible perfection. The only things that counts for being productive is time blocking with habits (forcing you focusing in things you are not capable to focus on)
Thank you for a great video. I fall right into that trap we squisy lists...
And remember that i have been there before, with long lists and some points at the list i never will be done but just take up space in the list. Then Murphy helped me and somehow i did loose my list and without any backup. Then there was cleaned up...
This time i consider doing something similar. Putting everything captured in a "parking lot list". Then walk through the list and only qualify few important tasks for each lists, next actions list, someday list, grocery list....
I consider using some kind of kanban strategy. There must be a minimum and a maximum number of task on each list.
The someday list could be a prioritized backlog, so i do not have to go through the whole list everytime upgrading a task from someday to next action.
Thanks again for this great video. That is definitely one i will put on the list of video worth watching again later.
Glad it was helpful and worth revisiting!
Great insight. Thank you. You seem like you've gotten to "mind like water" with GTD.
I often find the projects or tasks that are the hardest to make un-squishy are the ones I feel either afraid of tackling, or they have some other vague resistance for me.
Vague resistance, i know that feeling lol
The gtd way to get out of squishy lists is to think it through the first time and clarify each item by asking 2 questions: 1. “what is the outcome?” Or “what does done look like?” (Two ways to ask the same question.) That’s the project, and 2. “what’s the next action?” Categorize it by context. So if project is “have birthday party for mom”, next action might be “call sister” and put that action on the Calls list.
Yes thank you, you made some very good points in here, and I need to do more talking to my future self. I dont have trouble with doing whats on my lists, I have trouble remembering what I was supposed to DO when I wrote down a single word task.
Excellent. So now it's a matter of remembering those "what did I mean?" moments the next time you go to write something down, so that you can be kind to that future self... it's an adjustment process, but it can really help over time
I've tried two times implementing GTD in my life. First was a total failure. Because I didn't understand this basic principle of "clearing all open loops". The second time was begining the same way, except I was really trying to clear my head of all these open loops. The problem is (was?) that the more open loops I was trying to clear, the more new loops I was opening.
Lucky me, I've find a piece of advice in this video and in another one saying: There are 2 ways to do things: The right way and do it again. (being that it has not to be perfect either!...) I'm convinced GTD is based on our natural way of thinking (I mean using the way our mind works), so if something is wrong, it's, as you said, because I wanted to try to use the process with old habits in mind. Thanks for this critical piece of advice!
So glad this was helpful. Loops, begone!
Clarity. You helped me gain clarity. Thank you so much!
You're so welcome!
Thank you very much for your advice!
Thanks for this video, it was really useful!
Great, glad to hear!
The accuracy of this is unreal!!!! I have been doing it for the past few years and although I dump what is in my mind and I have gotten a few things done here and there it is not a system for me and I have tried many apps. So what I do now is make a binder with tabs in the same manner that I would do in notion and todoist and I also have peace of mind knowing my personal data is not online somewhere or on my desktop where it can possibly be deleted if it does not work one day.
Glad to hear that's working for you. Some people love paper for the reasons you mention
Well said and extremely helpful, I'm sure this has been my challenge from the beginning.
Glad to hear. Hope it helps
Great insights, thanks for sharing
Sure thing!
Thank youuuuuuuu! That's exactly how I felt , and I didn't understand how to fix it til now so thx again
Thanks, Mag. Glad to hear it!
I am just in the first phase of capturing and this was VERY helpful. Thank you!
Excellent. Capture away!
I think this was put together really nicely. I've been going through and finding short generalized things to share with a friend of mine. Just so many things are so overwhelming. You know looking for get the idea before you might listen to the audiobook.
After recently listening to David in his later years as I am also getting in by later years, I think I'm really doing okay! You're right in the beginning we look for that super perfection... Do what you can and do the best that you can and carry on in a daily basis.
This is great information, thank you for sharing!
Thank you very much for this video!!! I didn't know why I hated my todo list, that was supposed to relieve my stress... Now I know and I can address the mistakes! :)
Excellent!
Very helpful- thank you!
Hello, new subscriber and THANK YOU for your personal statement “70 projects” I don’t feel overwhelmed now as I have about 50 on average. I have “started” GTD but always have kept it to a few layers. I’m using OmniFocus for IOS and IThoughts as a mind mapping visual planner. I’ve actually earned 18 credits toward “Project Management” degree as that was offered via my employer. I figured it might help with my personal life too. Sorta……like you said “squishy” thinking I’ve reverted back to paper as I’m old enough to have planned a lot of things on paper long before writing on a tablet was a truly productive thing. In the garage during a gloved up messy project you’re more apt to not care about wrecking paper as opposed to your electronics. I’ll use your advise and keep diligently using my digital tools. I’m always solving problems in my head and my phone or ipad are always near so it makes it easy to capture an idea. Work sometimes frowns on your phone being out so paper is always an option to capture and the add in later.
Glad this sparked some good thinking and self-evaluation. To be clear: GTD can be done on paper, you just need to be willing to re-write from time-to-time. Do what works for you, and work it with the end in mind: the confidence that you are making the best choices, moment-to-moment, not having to keep stuff in your head, and reaping the rewards of freedom and focus.
This is a great video and really described what i have been going through with the GTD system. I think many will find this helpful
Thanks, Jack. Glad to hear it.
Thank you, even though this sounds very logic and simple, reality is that we don’t take good time to THINK and avoid things to keep accumulating.
Indeed--and I often ask clients when they want to do the thinking--near the beginning, when they have time to plan, or at the last minute, under pressure?
This was a really helpful point. Thank you 🙏🏼
Glad to hear it!
Thank you! This is so very helpful. I never thought of making my lists like this. I'm now looking forward to doing my lists in detail. I don't want to have to worry about figuring out next steps at a later date. It makes sense to do it all at the same time.
Great tip for me, my list has become so squishy and unusable.
De-squish!
This is great advice - especially the handover to someone else clarity
Glad to hear. It's definitely been the mark of a good manager/leader in my experience that they help clarify the outcome before delegating it
Robert, loved your explanation. So very clear and true.
Thanks, Daniel! :)
That was amazing. Thank you so much for making this video. It motivated me to start again and getting it better this time.
Excellent. Go for it!!
Lots of useful info in this video, thank you! I really need to review my lists, yes....
Excellent. Go get 'em!
Ouch - some pretty painful truths there! Really useful though, thanks.
Sorry not sorry. ;) Glad it helped.
Starting each line-item with a verb is my fix ("Sandie" became "CALL Sandie on Thursday." "Dogs" became "TAKE dogs to the vet." "Exercise" became "Run for 3 miles")... THANK YOU!
Glad that's been useful. In digital systems, they often sort alphabetically as well--so you get a second level of visibility on our options since all the "calls", "reads", and "brainstorms" all cluster together in one place.
One list for stuff (projects and next actions) I want to/need to work in in next week, another list for things to be worked on later.
This info should get added to the next edition of the book and repeated at the start of every chapter (or as a foot note on every page!)
Glad that was helpful, Mark!
lol
Haha, well said!
This has become exactly my issue. Thank you
Sure! :)
This is exactly me. Thank you for the knowledge.
Useful info and subscribed. From my experience, having some level of project management is extremely useful to implementing GTD. Understanding and being able to develop a clear WBS avoids these squishy nebulous ambitions, though the ambition might be an outcome.
Indeed, "begin with the end in mind" is a commonality between project management and GTD thinking for sure. Glad this was useful
I'm with GTD since 2008 or 09 I guess. And I do agree with Robert. Actually every GTD habit in the book, every phase has it's reason and will help you, if you're fulfilling them, and kind of ruin your whole system, when you're ignoring them, cause you will start to cumulate and piling informations/tasks/whatever in some part of your system in inadequate form - then bad emotions, like guilt, comes in game and it (YOU) will destroy your relationship with GTD and your tools because of it. Whole method in complete way has it's charm. My opinion - it IS worthy to take your time to learn the whole method as it stands.
I'm using OneNote (love 2016!) for my GTD (and for many more stuff like study, work, pretty much everything) and I know then it's completly up to me what emotions I will feel for it. Then it's stupid to procrastinate here.
thank you for sharing, informative valuable advice
My pleasure!
This is exactly the trap I have fallen into when trying to do GTD in the past.
The question I have is how long should it take to really get everything out of your head and recorded when you are being deliberate about deciding on the outcome and next step. I feel like I have about 10-20 ideas a day. It seems like it would take me an hour or more a day to think through each one enough to come up with the outcome/next step for each.
Remember that capturing inputs (including your own ideas) can happen separately from clarifying/organising them into projects and next actions. Feel free to capture all day long. Also make judicious use of the someday/maybe lists for those good ideas you don't want to actively commit to right now. Getting an inventory of new inputs and processing them through into a trusted system takes most people 60-90 minutes per day, usually spread throughout the day. It's thinking work you have to do one way or another--we just recommend you do it on the front end when you are most resourceful. Hope that helps!
Great video - I need to watch this at least twice! I do have one "issue" with GTD which is linking Projects to Next Actions. With two separate lists I struggle to find the Next Action that goes with a Project in a timely manner and vice versa. So I now put my projects (i.e. goals) on a 6"x4" index card (one project per card) written at the top of the card and the stack of cards divided into categories (not contexts) e.g. Home, Family History, Money etc... Then I write the Next Action(s) for that project underneath on the same card. I don't really need a Context because I do all my stuff at home (including work). If I need to buy something or do something when I meet up with someone then I have some simple extra Next Action lists for those specific Contexts - but they are few and far between. As I do the Next Actions I strike them off the 6"x4" card and write the next one - until the Project is done when I can tear up the card ! I can see this would not work for someone who genuinely had a lot of different important Contexts.
Jon this is a common concern. The intent of separating actions from projects is to keep actions in contexts that make sense so that you can knock them off one at a time rather than drilling into each project to know what to do next. I've found that if you're doing the weekly review weekly many people find that correlating projects to actions becomes less of an issue, because you'll have an awareness of that correspondence which guides your choices about next actions in the coming week (which is what most people want when they want correlation). HTH!
I was wondering about this exact thing. I'm using Trello, and in a project you can have checklists, so I have a Trello Card for each project under a list called Projects. The name of the card could be 'Complete 19-20 Tax Return', which is all I see when I glance at the project list (or my Do Today list if I've moved the project there for today), and the next action is listed inside that card at the top of the checklist. Are you suggesting we would find it more productive to write the next action in the title of the project ie 'Complete 19-20 Tax Return. 1. Collect paper receipts into box on desk'? Or leave next actions in the checklist to see once I open the project card? Thank you!
@@KN-bx9nt I think the orthodox answer is that the Action List and Project List should be separate. As I described earlier - I struggle with this in that when I do a Weekly Review I am constantly looking through my lists repeatedly as I review each item on each list and need to find the corresponding item on the other list. In other words - if I have a project "Fix the broken wardrobe" then to assess where I am with this I have to look down most of my Action List until I hit the Action that matches this project (say Action = "Make a list of items to buy at hardware store to fix wardrobe"). My compromise (one 6"x4" index card Project at top, Next Action written underneath) only works if the number of Projects is fairly limited. I achieve this by splitting my "Someday-Maybe" list into two : "Someday" (meaning I definitely want to do this - but I know I cannot get to it in the next 2 months or so) and "Maybe" (meaning I MAY want to do this - but I have not finally decided). This sucks projects off of my Project List - and I find a shorter list is less overwhelming and depressing - so hopefully I actually achieve more. Well that's the theory ! LOL
@@JJ1689ZA hmm, yes I think I may be doing the same as you, especially as I also do almost everything at home. I am using Trello, which works a bit like the cards you mention, but digital. So I have projects with the first action either in the title or in the checklist, and I put the projects into categories not contexts (unless there is a context eg 'do at the classroom' or 'errands in Brighton'). That means there are fewer projects in each category and much easier to review and move about/move into my Do Next list. I'm not splitting up the next actions and projects, just moving the entire project (and it's first action) to my DO NEXT list (actually have Do Next lists 1, 2 and 3 - I'm sure this is sacrilege!??)
However I'm amazed at just how many projects and tasks get added daily! I'm only into week 2 now and wondering how I'm going to manage going forward, I need to have fewer ideas!! But it's better than what I was doing before - writing to do lists in a paper diary and having to rewrite them each week, which of course I was falling behind on! I do feel both more motivated (bordering on obsession) and relaxed having GTD'd my to dos as I know they are all in one place and won't get lost in an old notebook! I really am going to have to find some way to delegate more though.
Thank a for chatting about it, have a lovely day : )
This has been super helpful, thank you.
Super glad to hear it!
Thank you for the video. Can you please share a few of your GTD® tasks with its sub task. How you use it in your work.
You're in luck! th-cam.com/video/LbCCpAXa1VA/w-d-xo.html&lc=Ugxj0Sj_lAJViLQft2J4AaABAg&t=212
@@GTDintheUK Awesome! Thank you.
Very helpful. Thanks, from the UK
Excellent. You're welcome from the UK (despite the accent)
Important information, well done!
Pretty basic info. But surprisingly resonate with me. I've been doing GTD for 10 or so years now. And I'll admit, sometimes my lists get "squishy" as I quickly add things throughout the week, and I don't take the time to clerify them on my review process. I see the placeholder is in there, and I tell myself to be satisfied with that.
Thanks for the outlook
It's def basic for those of us who have been practicing GTD for a while or at least are familiar with the pitfalls of most personal organization systems. Similarly to you, I just took an hour cleaning up my Todoist setup because I had let it get squishy for too long, but it wasn't stressful because I knew the reason it had happened and how to solve it. But for someone who is new to it, even my younger self when I was, just seeing that long-ass list of projects and tasks could have easily made me give up on the whole thing and this video would have been a lifesaver.
I think the real danger in capture-based systems like GTD is that the capturing part feels gratifying enough, and then it's easy to push the task out of our mind and forget that the clarifying step is just as important. But as you said, once we're wise to that it becomes just another of our human biases we need to take into account on the daily.
Thank you!
Good point! Thanks for pointing it out
Organization Level "Black Belt" -
GTD hopeful from Las Vegas, NV. Thanks for the passionate and substantive video about Clarifying commitments and next steps to the granular level of self-evident direction.
Empower both my present and future self to do it without any reflection or procrastination.
You got it. Go get 'em, ninja!
You hit some of my squishy pain-points! Thanks a lot!
Hate to be that guy, but glad I could be that guy for you as well. Here's to de-squish!
I feel for this trap of writing down everything in my head and my list would be giant at the end of the day, now I always ask myself, if I forget this will it by ok, and the answer is usually yes, so I don’t write it.
You might consider a "someday/maybe" list for those ideas you don't really want to commit to, but may want to revisit as possible good ideas later on
Great video
Thanks--a good idea and maybe one for another video
At some point those that GTD have to make money too...they do that by selling software, coaching services, and helping us all be more productive. TH-cam helps as well and this video, in particular, called out a huge gap in my process. My particular OneNote is crammed full of guilt and now I look forward to possibly even starting over/level setting everything. This is a great call to action.
Wonderful information Robert. Thanks! Question: Can you discuss the best way to name projects? Example. Should it be "Shed built" or "Build shed"? What does David Allen recommend? Verb first? Similar to naming next Actions?
With next actions I like to start with verbs, and with projects the noun that describes the deliverable can be good (then a past-tense verb at the end). But I don't rigorously follow this; the key is that you don't have to do a lot of "re-thinking" when you look at a list item. Everyone's brain works a little differently, so however you achieve that is what counts.
@@RobertPeake Thanks for the response. That helps a lot. Have a great day
@@alanw4803 Just to say this video also contains some more examples of how to helpfully state projects and next actions: th-cam.com/video/LbCCpAXa1VA/w-d-xo.html
I prefer “Build shed” because I like all of my ‘build’ projects to be together in my folder structure. “Build Table”, “Build Shed”, “Build Medieval Catapult”. I do similar with Research X, Research Y. and I always use the same 10 or so front keywords or I end up with Research X, Lookup Y, Look into Z, ABC - figure out what this is…
Great advice. Very genuine.