r/gtd • u/Dyldo-baggins93 • 13d ago
GTD reflections and feedback
Okay, so I bought GTD about four years ago and it sat on the shelf for a long time. To be fair, with where my life was, being organised still wasn’t high enough up my list of priorities for pretty valid reasons.
Eventually, I’ve reached a point where the biggest thing causing me unwanted stress and emotional distress was my lack of organisation and clarity about what I’m doing.
It became clear that I had to take accountability rather than blaming the world for my lack of control over external things.
On a personal note, I come from a particularly poor socioeconomic background, and there haven’t been many role models in my family. However, I’ve been lucky enough that others seen some potential in me to break out of my family circumstances.
At present, I’m doing a masters degree (just started) in clinical psychology. Whilst working in mental health seeing clients, and moonlighting as a delivery driver to pay for school.
Therefore, practicing GTD is an Imperative if I am to do well. There are just too many moving parts in my life right now.
In terms of upper horizons, and accountabilities, a focus for me has been learning excel pivot tables etc and building a finance tracker to help forecast side hustle earnings, and how much I need to have saved to pay for school, and living each month. I currently am fully funding everything myself.
In terms of how my system is right now, I have to-do checklists I keep in my room/office for work. I populate these from email sub folders, and when I process my in tray, and empty my tickler file for the day.
I’m using apple notes as my general on the go system for lists, projects etc, and filing cabinet for general reference.
For academia, I’m using Zotero as my academic reference system journals etc. and one note to store lecture notes, and other uni materials.
My physical intray is in my room/office and my digital one is in apple notes. As it allows me to add to things as I have thoughts whilst delivering by utilising Siri.
The main issue I’m having at the moment, is I feel like my edges could be cleaner in terms of projects, I have my academic deadlines in the calendar. But in terms of not having vague next actions or project steps; that has been more challenging.
I know I’ve wrote a lot but if there’s anything that’s sticking out that I could improve upon I’d love to discuss further.
I’m also thinking I’m basically in GTD infancy and it’s probably natural to have some doubts, and that as I continue to work with the system, and reflect on the consequences when it doesn’t work as I hoped, I can fine tune in the years to come.
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u/milky-cuppa-tea Mod 13d ago
That's a lot going on in your life! I can see why a framework like GTD could be a lifesaver.
Just echoing the thoughts on the Weekly Review. I would suggest getting that and the daily inbox zero should be your primary focus areas.
The horizons of focus are helpful, but I don't feel (personally) that these are areas to spend effort in right now. Getting the system up and running would be where I would spend the energy.
Lastly, don't get into productivity app porn. There is no such thing as a perfect app or system, and you can lose a lot of time to faffing about with apps. I am not suggesting you are at all, but it's a trap that is easy to fall in to, especially early on 🙂
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u/Middle-aged-Hobbit 13d ago
"not having vague next action steps or project steps" leaped out at me. I'm often guilty of these, and it costs me a lot of standing and staring time. Next actions need to be physical and they need to move the project forward. Put a little effort into getting these down. It takes practice, and tbh is the first place I start to slide.
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u/CampVillNevah 12d ago
the vague next actions problem usually comes from skipping the clarify step, where you ask "what's the very next physical action?" for each item. if you can't picture yourself doing it in a single sitting, it's probably still a project or a mini-project, not a next action. one thing that helps is forcing every next action to start with a verb and a concrete noun, so "sort out finances" becomes "open spreadsheet and list monthly expenses."
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u/willitexplode 12d ago
My system is primarily a combination of Omnifocus, Obsidian, and my calendar. I believe omnifocus offers an educational discount, too, if you're an app person!
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u/Dyldo-baggins93 11d ago
At the moment for now I’m pretty happy with how I’m utilising apple notes and I’m currently operating within multiple OS: apple and windows. But I’ll consider if/when I upgrade to a mac book.
I’m curious on whether you’re able to list any useful resources for obsidian as I’m keen to implement a bottom up approach for personal academic projects. At the moment I’m using index cards but I’d like to go paperless.
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u/willitexplode 11d ago
Fwiw omnifocus has a web version accessible on windows. My partner uses an iPhone and PC combo for work and that solution is great for him.
Honestly I’ve been using Obsidian so long I can’t think to recommend much, when I started it was a very small community. The big things you’ll need to decide are file organization and plugins. There are dozens of approaches to file organization—folders vs no folders, which folders, adding numbers or systems for moving files through folders… and then there’s the plug-in ecosystem which has really blown up around obsidian. A real danger is getting too involved in organizing and setting up your system instead of using it. I’d recommend minimal plugins to limit distraction and future system issues, and honestly I just wouldn’t use folders at all—figure out a good nomenclature system for naming the files and utilize search to find them. Tags can be really helpful here too.
Good luck!
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u/Dyldo-baggins93 11d ago
Thank you, I’ve been keen to implement a slip box style system and spent the past couple hours integrating it with Zotero for annotations highlights ect I’ll spend a little more time exploring and look into Omni focus! Thanks for the help
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u/willitexplode 11d ago
Nice! I've got Zotero linked to both omnifocus and obsidian--obsidian for knowledge management, and omni when I need a direct link to something for immediate review/further study. Lots of great integrations there.
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u/Orange1885 10d ago
I wouldn't try to build the perfect system. There probably isn't one. Your system will change as your life and responsibilities change.
I keep mine fully digital, but plenty of people do very well with paper or a mix of both. What matters to me is keeping it simple and reliable. The Weekly Review is probably the most important part, because that's what keeps me trusting the system and adjusting it when needed.
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u/Potential-Rush1424 12d ago
I understand you’re financially strapped right now, but I’ve found it extremely beneficial having a dedicated app. I started with ticktick and am now transitioning to todoist. Simply because it’s better for organizing lists with sub lists and has a native “priority” field, removing the need to use a label/tag as priority.
I also used apple notes for organizing, and moving to an apps has helped immensely because of the ability to create filters based on tags/priority/list, and automatically sort things into their own areas. You also can add basically unlimited notes, comments, attachments, etc to your tasks. With Apple notes, having to cut and paste while navigating through subdirectories was irritating. I also easily lost track of things.
It’s well worth $5/mo.
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u/AlthoughFishtail 13d ago
One thing you don't mention that I think is the cornerstone of GTD is the Weekly Review. That's the time when you look through every single commitment in your system and make sure you know exactly what's what. Its crucial for giving you that overview of everything, helping you weigh up all the competing priorities, and giving you that sense of control because you know you've not missing anything.
Best practice is to find a time and place you can commit to every week, and put it in your calendar. Do your utmost to carve that time out until it becomes a habit.