GTD is the utopia of productivity. Everyone attempts to reach it but almost no one (if any) ever will. Those who get the closest realize that you can't live your life like that.
In my world GTD become a goal in itself rather than a way to better manage your life.
With a few exception (calendar) I lived my life in a way that would make a GTD enthusiast cringe.
I am always impressed by those who attempt to do it but never surprised when they finally give up.
I think GTD can be dangerous for people who like systems too much; a bit like people who play RPGs because of the rules around bookkeeping of stats and deciding of battles, rather than for the imagined world the bookkeeping keeps honest.
I'm highly task-oriented in my work, but mostly it's just a list of lists, maintained in a text file with infinite persistent undo. Every task starts out as a line, gets a few sub-lines when it acquires some definition, and gets broken up into multiple separate tasks if it's too big, or it only gets partially done and other tasks remain.
I don't live like that much outside of work (unless there's a specific longer-lived process, like moving house or something), and my process is very light weight. I think GTD starts out too heavy; it would be better done iteratively, starting with something very simple that works 80% of the time, and then adding more if you're so busy that you need the extra process. You could then start reading the book and put it down early on with enough to get by, but still be able to pick it up if you need more.
I tried GTD years ago, and I went down a crazy rabbit hole and lost any productivity I had.
Pomodoro isn't as much of a black hole for me, but I do better just closing browser windows/turning off wifi/putting in earplugs instead of headphones, and focusing until I get to a point where I'm ready/need to take a break. And that's usually 30-60 minutes as it is.
tl;dr: GTD is bad for me, disconnecting, earplugs, and punctuated focused periods of effort are good.
> Those who get the closest realize that you can't live your life like that.
This has been my experience. After a while I had to realize that it is too "top-down" for real life. It also made me realize time and again that I often didn't have a clear goal. And when I had one then I was so committed that there was no need for any system except the occasional sticky note.
It's a classic example of a great solution (it really is a neat system) to a problem that does not really exist. I could imagine that people with an extremely poor memory would profit from using a well done implementation of gtd. Maybe it would also work for those who have extremely little uncertainty in their (professional) life.
I used to use GTD, but nowadays I mostly just use the "capture" part, a.k.a LET IT GO OUT OF MY SYSTEM DAMMIT. The remaining steps just sort themselves out as things are falling into very different buckets: a. very general life goals (non actionable by themselves due to their large scale, virtual nature, and can only be achieved by habit as well as internalising what I truly want, but certainly not with reminders), b. whatever I fancy doing when I happen to have some free time (for which I may go back to a quickly jotted draft of step 1, and since I'm in the mood for it, well, I just do it), c. very concrete errands and other mundane tasks.
GTD is a worthy attempt at formalising things but in doing so it's way too generic and thus doesn't pragmatically cater for the very different situations above. IOW theory and practice are the same... in theory.
One of the smallest parts of GTD had a pretty big impact in my life. If doing something will take only two minutes, then just do it. Don't put it off, don't add it to a list, just do it.
Maybe. But I think the method is not supposed to be applied word by word. Reading the book taught me some very important lessons nevertheless. What is an actionable item. Tasks must be clear. Small task should taken care of right away. etc.
>That’s like a fat dude looking around at the donut shop and saying “nobody ever sticks to their diets, haha!”
And the fat dude would be right statistically.
>I’ve used GTD for years. I just shattered your claim.
Not necessarily. You could still be an outlier (generally when people say "nobody does X" in casual conversation, they allow for statistical noise level outliers).
> After about five years, 41 percent of dieters gain back more weight than they lost. Long-term studies show dieters are more likely than non-dieters to become obese over the next one to 15 years.
> ... The study found that a single diet increased the odds of becoming overweight by a factor of two in men and three in women. Women who had gone on two or more diets during the study were five times as likely to become overweight.
More [earlier]:
> men with severe obesity have only one chance in 1,290 of reaching the normal weight range within a year; severely obese women have one chance in 677. A vast majority of those who beat the odds are likely to end up gaining the weight back over the next five years...
>men with severe obesity have only one chance in 1,290 of reaching the normal weight range within a year
Based on my personal experiences, a pool of anecdotes from friends, and the generally accepted advice of the medical community: sustained weight loss of more than 1 lb per week is incredibly difficult and not realistic for most dieters.
Since, by definition, most "severely obese" people are more than 52lb from a "healthy" weight, statistics like this seem inevitable even if the person does everything perfectly and achieves results that they're satisfied with.
Example: I've totally transformed my body with diet and exercise. But I've failed by this metric, because it took longer than a year, and I'm significantly heavier now than at my lowest weight (albeit much more muscular)
So 59% of dieters sustain their weight loss over 5+ years? That doesn't sound like "doesn't work" to me.
Also there's a big difference between controlling your diet and "dieting". The latter is explicitly a temporary thing, and so of course doesn't have a permanent effect.
You’re right — most people will fail to stick with diets, exercise, and personal organization. Frankly, it feels hilarious that researchers had to spend time proving that claim. Just look around!
On the other hand, there’s a powerful minority of people who do stay disciplined. They get a lot of stuff done.
Lastly, although it’s easy to fail, it is possible to join that powerful minority.
"Just doing it" seems to be the solution to a lot of things. Whether it´s trying new things or starting a business. I´ve learnt the hard way that overthinking and then not doing is worse than just doing and then failing. Out of failing you actually learn and get better. Out of overthinking comes .. literally ..nothing.
Gary Vaynerchuk always preaches the "concept" of putting in the actual work. Also a variation of "just doing it" but with the side-note of "actually go out and do something"! Really important stuff because most of the people nowadays don´t get that and think success will somehow come around the corner one day.
I don't really get what you are trying to say. Those who are obese are more likely to be obese again? That seems intuitive. It's also equally as true that not all obese people stay obese. What is your solution to weight loss? I think it depends on the definition of diet is used. Fads don't work, but something has to. In my experience, it's just a lack of commitment and the availability of delicious high caloric food.
I'm assuming that 'diet' refers to implementing a calorie restriction into their diet. In which case it obviously does work, but people not doing it is the issue.
I actually believe education in nutrition and specifically weight manipulation would help a lot. From my experience in talking with others, the average person's views on these topics is almost in the realm of magic due to being bombarded with false information from media and product companies.
With a solid understanding in these topics, one can implement changes into their diet and very easily assess why they are or aren't making progress towards their goals.
As it stands the average weight loss attempt with the understanding of weight loss as some form of black magic tends to result in temporary success or outright failure, with no way of being able to assess why or what to do about it. It is then usually concluded that one's 'genetics' are at fault.
I’m think the number of self-defeating replies, on this forum of high achievers, is sad.
What if I listed studies showing how hard it is to stop smoking. Would you say, “well, there it is — pass me the tobacco.” No — most of you would acknowledge that it was difficult, but you’d find a way to quit.
Maybe GTD isn’t your style of personal time management. But time management is an extremely important skill if you want to excel in life.
To dismiss it by pointing to failure statistics is sad.
Relying on discipline alone is whats harmful. Studies repeatedly show that most people can not reach their goals by only relying on willpower. Good systems/diets etc define strategies that _reduce_ the amount of discipline required to stick to it.
Saying "be disciplined" is roughly in the same category as telling someone to "be happy". It's a great goal, but no help at all for someone who is not already there.
If there's something missing from the discipline and willpower equation, it's habit formation. Discipline is good, but it means a constant struggle. You have to make good habits the new normal with a cue>routine>reward loop. There's a lot of good stuff about this in the book "The Power of Habit" by Duhigg
Yeah! I consider discipline a conscious thing and that only works for so long. What you actually want to achieve is that tasks that require discipline eventually become a habit. Because then you´ve internalized the task and relaxation and peace of mind become part of the equation.
First of all, I never attempted to do GTD exactly because I never saw the value. So I didn't fail at it I simply decided not to do it once I realized what it required.
Second of all that you have used GTD for years doesn't mean you are going to continue using it. Lets talk in 10 years and see.
In my world GTD become a goal in itself rather than a way to better manage your life.
With a few exception (calendar) I lived my life in a way that would make a GTD enthusiast cringe.
I am always impressed by those who attempt to do it but never surprised when they finally give up.