The point of getting things done is to empty your mind and lower stress by overcoming your inner tyrant. To find peace and empower your self, to have nothing to do. The point of getting things done is to finally get nothing done.
To procrastinate helps you taste that state of mind. Only as some kind of thought experiment, as it lets image what it would be like to have nothing to do. But is this true, is there really a final state of freedom that distinguishes it from procrastination?
To have a method based on the idea of getting nothing done would sound more fitting to my life style.
Showing posts with label GTD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GTD. Show all posts
§9. Doing Nothing
Origami with executed notes.
Give time, love, gifts.
Pray, read the Bible
Think about your day.
Open the e-reader.
Take care.
Forward-looking focus.
Learn your language.
Focus on persons,
then on objects
under your responsibility.
Invest in resources.
Give time, love, gifts.
Pray, read the Bible
Think about your day.
Open the e-reader.
Take care.
Forward-looking focus.
Learn your language.
Focus on persons,
then on objects
under your responsibility.
Invest in resources.
§17. Out of the Inbox
Oftentimes, it's tough to decide where a thing should go.
To keep us from shuffling stuff around,
minimalists urge to rely on one and only one inbox.
They also advise to do, or else discard, delegate or defer.
While discarding and delegating get stuff out of the inbox,
how can deferring prevents their diminishing returns?
As long as a project is undone, some of its part will reappear.
Anything elsewhere it's supposed to be awaits in some inbox.
How to get out of the inbox, if it's anywhere we have stuff?
To keep us from shuffling stuff around,
minimalists urge to rely on one and only one inbox.
They also advise to do, or else discard, delegate or defer.
While discarding and delegating get stuff out of the inbox,
how can deferring prevents their diminishing returns?
As long as a project is undone, some of its part will reappear.
Anything elsewhere it's supposed to be awaits in some inbox.
How to get out of the inbox, if it's anywhere we have stuff?
§18. Many Boxes
Virtual inboxes:
Desktop, Documents, Downloads.
Buffer files to write elsewhere.
Notes for clients, old notes.
Anything anywhere to be processed.
All emails, incoming or archived.
Reader, pinboard, etc.
Real inboxes:
Desktop, paper tray, paper slips box.
Pocket briefcase, index cards box, pinboard.
Notebooks, a backpack full of them, closets.
The mailbox, other people, the answering machine.
We have many boxes.
Desktop, Documents, Downloads.
Buffer files to write elsewhere.
Notes for clients, old notes.
Anything anywhere to be processed.
All emails, incoming or archived.
Reader, pinboard, etc.
Real inboxes:
Desktop, paper tray, paper slips box.
Pocket briefcase, index cards box, pinboard.
Notebooks, a backpack full of them, closets.
The mailbox, other people, the answering machine.
We have many boxes.
§19. Project or Object
Methodologists may manage material with a dichotomy between items upon which we can act, and items upon which we can't, between action material that belongs to projects, and objects orbiting around the office: references, supplies, etc. Dichotomies can only be false outside the realms of logic. Mundane matters make its falsity manifest.
User manuals may belong to the project Caring for my Stuff. Dictionaries may belong to Writing Well on the Web. Tools may belong to Having Everything for Repairs. Notes may belong to Taking Note.
Let's posit instead of this dichotomy that everything from our own existence is a project. Every object near us comes to life when a project becomes active. No object stands on its own, aside any project, be it indefinite, virtual, or promised. An object may shift from one project to the next.
Multi-faceted objects can assist in many projects. Sooner or later, most objects become multi-faceted. Even invoices: they may belong to Taxes I Deadly Need to Pay, next to Meditate about Making Money Analysis, then to Taxes I Need to Keep.
This relationship between objects and projects might explain slogans like One and Only One Place and Once and Only Once. With their dichotomy, methodologists might be idealizing the relationship between objects and projects. There is no objective way to classify objects.
An object may only be what one projects to do with it.
User manuals may belong to the project Caring for my Stuff. Dictionaries may belong to Writing Well on the Web. Tools may belong to Having Everything for Repairs. Notes may belong to Taking Note.
Let's posit instead of this dichotomy that everything from our own existence is a project. Every object near us comes to life when a project becomes active. No object stands on its own, aside any project, be it indefinite, virtual, or promised. An object may shift from one project to the next.
Multi-faceted objects can assist in many projects. Sooner or later, most objects become multi-faceted. Even invoices: they may belong to Taxes I Deadly Need to Pay, next to Meditate about Making Money Analysis, then to Taxes I Need to Keep.
This relationship between objects and projects might explain slogans like One and Only One Place and Once and Only Once. With their dichotomy, methodologists might be idealizing the relationship between objects and projects. There is no objective way to classify objects.
An object may only be what one projects to do with it.
Now and Next
Actions lists are simple To Do lists, only they are written as actions. One verb and one noun for every action. A very efficient combination, rediscovering the way some human languages work, if not every one.
Actions lists are more than simple To Do lists, when the actions are linked together by causality or reason, and ordered to furbish a plan. The first action on the list is the next action, the others are what comes up next, i.e. after what to do now. Ultimately, next actions are useful only when they are next actions for now.
Action lists for Now is what's needed, not a big bag of Next actions. Something like a list of Prioritary Projects, with the related actions for Now that needs to be reminded. Each project's list only contain next actions, and so are well be kept aside, reviewed when what comes now is done, in some ultimate tense.
Actions lists are more than simple To Do lists, when the actions are linked together by causality or reason, and ordered to furbish a plan. The first action on the list is the next action, the others are what comes up next, i.e. after what to do now. Ultimately, next actions are useful only when they are next actions for now.
Action lists for Now is what's needed, not a big bag of Next actions. Something like a list of Prioritary Projects, with the related actions for Now that needs to be reminded. Each project's list only contain next actions, and so are well be kept aside, reviewed when what comes now is done, in some ultimate tense.
Refer or Review
GTD promotes a bucket named Read/Review. It contains all material that should be read or reviewed. There is one problem with this label : reviewing is reading.
All reading material not yet sorted goes into that bucket. The stuff that will matter after being read should go into reference material. There is one problem with this process : sometimes, reading material should go directly in the folder of the project where it is needed.
If we have both reference material and project material, the complexity of finding back reading stuff increases. The ideal solution would be to decide between the two ways of sorting. There is one problem with this idea : most of reference material is too general to fit into one project.
The read/review bucket is not tight enough for the basic needs of intellectual work. One needs a bucket for review ; one also needs a bucket for reference. The reader should always ask himself : is my reading good to know or good to use ?
All reading material not yet sorted goes into that bucket. The stuff that will matter after being read should go into reference material. There is one problem with this process : sometimes, reading material should go directly in the folder of the project where it is needed.
If we have both reference material and project material, the complexity of finding back reading stuff increases. The ideal solution would be to decide between the two ways of sorting. There is one problem with this idea : most of reference material is too general to fit into one project.
The read/review bucket is not tight enough for the basic needs of intellectual work. One needs a bucket for review ; one also needs a bucket for reference. The reader should always ask himself : is my reading good to know or good to use ?
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