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CavediverNY t1_jdh1o8c wrote

There’s a good book called “getting things done” with a lot of great organization tips. Some tasks should be on a calendar… But not all of them. Sometimes it’s helpful to have prioritization’s, not everything is time bound.

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stealthdawg t1_jdhgn9l wrote

GDT specifically recommends against putting things that are not datetime bound events or tasks on the calendar.

The risk is that you don’t do the tasks in the assigned blocks (because the time-pressure is contrived) and then the calendar itself loses its impact, you stop paying attention to it, and end up ignoring it to the detriment of actual time-bound events.

The foundational tool of GTD for unbound tasks is really just a running list that you crank through.

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_innocent_ t1_jdhzvv7 wrote

This is exactly what happened to me when I tried using this technique in the past. I love using my calendar, so I had the bright idea to merge my to-do list into my calendar so I could get more things done.

That was a terrible mistake lol. My calendar became cluttered and stressful/distracting to look at. I ended up ignoring my tasks and then almost missing actual deadline/events. After a couple weeks of this, I deleted all tasks except for repeating tasks and then using Microsoft To-Do.

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dangerous_beans t1_jdih83m wrote

So like most folks with some flavor of ADHD I rocked GTD for a month before the newness wore off, I started failing to update it, and soon backslid to my default productivity state: unmitigated chaos.

Before that happened, though, I genuinely liked GTD. It's the most flexible out of all the productivity/task management systems I've tried in that it can be readily adapted to support work or personal life and it doesn't require an investment in any particular tools to get started. It'll be the system I return to when I start feeling overwhelmed again and declare that I've got to get my life sorted out.

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ansonwolfe t1_jdk3a8e wrote

Bullet Journal might be a good alternative. It's less "rule-based" than GTD.

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dangerous_beans t1_jdl5pxl wrote

I tried Bullet Journal for about 3 weeks, but dropped it because the journal itself was so much work to maintain. Also, my ideas/tasks tend to come to me randomly, so it was hard for me to force myself to keep to one "topic" per page for the index.

I appreciate the suggestion though! It's definitely a system that works for a lot of people; it just didn't help with me.

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DENATTY t1_jdjuc9f wrote

Work in legal, can confirm everyone I know that treats their calendar like a to-do list ends up relying on support staff to remind them what /actually/ needs to be done. I calendar datetime events and use a reminder app for everything else broken up by priority (high priority - reminder pops up around 8:00 AM when I get to the office and start my day, mid-priority pops up between 11 AM and 2 PM, low priority pops up after 3 PM).

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ismaelvera t1_jdhy6nt wrote

I have a list of unbound tasks as reminders on my Google calendar. It's helpful because every time I take a look to whittle at the list it remains as a constant reminder of pending tasks

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stealthdawg t1_jdhzf7f wrote

more power to you if that's what works for you.

The GTD methodology separates these two things. Rather it opts for one bucket of 'next actions' that one is meant to use as their only source of "what do I do now." That can be refined with various contexts (location, time of day, etc), and then there is a separate activity meant to refresh new tasks onto the list based on incoming sources.

So in the case of GTD you'd just always have a todo list with you giving you those same pending tasks without having to port them over from day to day.

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ismaelvera t1_jdi0q23 wrote

Interesting, and I've never heard of GTD until now, thank you!

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Snoo43610 t1_jdi4xqw wrote

Bullet journal for tasks and calendar for appointments is the way but you must build both into an unconscious habit.

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Yavin4Reddit t1_jdhdpq4 wrote

Remember to fill in the sand/all the little free moments throughout the day with even more work and no downtime! That’s the lesson my managers and GTD pounded into my head, there’s always room for you to be doing more work.

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experimentalshoes t1_jdhm8hv wrote

More like there’s always room to make your work time more productive, so your down time is longer, sustainable, and free of distractions.

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[deleted] t1_jdhpvtu wrote

[deleted]

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Yavin4Reddit t1_jdhsp47 wrote

Agreed. If your work time is sheer burnout chaos, no amount of better non-work time will offset that.

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experimentalshoes t1_jdi41hr wrote

Yeah increased productivity should be rewarded with a slice of the pie. If an organization is trying to conceal that increase or not reward it, that’s obviously bad, but most likely part of an attitude that’s baked in regardless of whether things are improving or deteriorating.

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jessemadnote t1_jdjoedy wrote

That’s not a reflection on yhe GTD system. That’s like saying there’s no sense staying hydrated cause sometimes water is used it for water boarding,

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Yavin4Reddit t1_jdhsl6b wrote

GTD is another book that has been weaponized by middle management but lionized by owners and executives.

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experimentalshoes t1_jdi3c5k wrote

It’s culty for sure but middle management would be like that whether or not it was ever written. Their job is to steal your time. If you want to fix that attitude, we’re still waiting for your book to come out.

Meanwhile, if someone wants to defend their time effectively and spend more of it doing things that make life worth living, they can swallow their pride and use some of the book’s insights for an immediate improvement.

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klaxon_blares t1_jdhja5z wrote

Yikes

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ModularEthos t1_jdipaut wrote

GTD is not about this at all. It's a great way to organize your life, I use it's methods pretty much exclusively and it's definitely not about work work work.

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Whoreson_Welles t1_jdhurmb wrote

Now that I'm retired all that pounding they applied gets directed to my personal projects, not imaginary KPIs in an all-too-real capitalist hellscape.

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jessemadnote t1_jdjnwpc wrote

I found the idea is actually kind of the opposite. It’s about making use of times when you have energy to prioritize and create flow in your life so you can get by with as little stress as possible on days when you have low energy.

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annaheim t1_jdhpye3 wrote

That’s where the 2min comes in. If it takes 2min to get it done, get it done.

Deadlines and time duration events are calendar bound.

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smurf_professional t1_jdhqi1v wrote

It's because it takes longer than 2 minutes to park it in the calendar or todo list and retrieve it. The 2 Minute Rule of GTD is cutting out the overhead.

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Jellis42_ t1_jdhzg8v wrote

I don't know if I'll have time. Maybe I'll see if I can find another book on how to find time to read that book

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jessemadnote t1_jdjnixf wrote

There’s also a phenomenal video that shows you exactly how to use the system with GQueues. Gqueues absolutely runs my life and I couldn’t recommend it higher. GTD and Gqueues

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CeeMX t1_jdlddd6 wrote

The 1% Method by James Clear is also a book/audiobook I can highly recommend, building habits is key

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