Constrained Bliss Point

I usually pride myself on being organized, but lately I’ve fallen behind. I have not felt on top of things for a week or two at least. When this happens, the optimal strategy is to step back and reevaluate, try to learn something, and come back swinging.

As I’ve written, I’m on the GTD system. It’s the most effective way of managing my commitments that I’ve found yet. But you need to control your system or it will control you. I think this is what’s been happening to me. Of the lists I keep, my main ones are Action lists and my Projects list. Action lists record all the little tasks you need to do. A projects list tracks longer-term commitments that might need multiple action steps before they’re complete.

My folly, I think, is in using my Action lists as a to-do list. Sometimes I think “Oh man, I have things I need to do,” and then try to crank through one of my Action lists. It is overwhelming. At any time I have between 30 and 70 actions queued up, and that’s just far too many to be able to look at and not freak out about.

But I think those lists are best used as a simple corral of your commitments (like an unordered set, if you will). When I have a chunk of time during which I want to accomplish things, here is my new strategy: first, scan over my actions list for about five tasks that I can accomplish given my context, time at hand, and energy level; then work off those five tasks as my todo list. In theory, it’s hard to get overwhelmed by a small number of tasks that you’ve specifically chosen to be do-able.

We’ll see how it goes.

Anyone who talks to me for more than five or ten minutes knows that I’m serious about being organized. My hipster PDA is almost certainly at my side when I’m out and about. I am a disciple of David Allen and the Getting Things Done gospel he preaches. I myself have taken up the calling of preaching; if you’re around me too long, expect an ear full about how great GTD is.

I’m not going to pontificate now, though (not too much anyway). If you’re interested, the book is a fantastic read, A+++ Would Buy Again Great Shipping. Anyone who is an organization junkie needs a copy.

For the uninitiated, one facet of GTD is lists — and lots of them. If you’re not comfortable creating, maintaining, and tracking lists, you’re going to have issues wrapping your head around GTD. One list you’ll come back to a lot is your Projects List, where (surprise!) you keep all your projects. A project in GTD is very broadly defined: anything in your world you have committed to changing, that isn’t currently the way it should be, is a project. Some of my current projects include “Get new running shoes”, “Plan Boston weekend trip”, and “Get reimbursed for eye glasses”.

Essentially these are all the things I’m juggling at one time. The balls I need to keep in the air, if you will, or the plates I have to keep spinning. One thing that impresses me about GTD is the sheer number of projects I can be working on at once. Right now I have 46 items on my Projects List. I never had such precise numbers before I started using GTD, but I have a hunch I could juggle maybe ten things at once, and likely fewer if they were big things. Too many blips on my radar screen and I would stop dropping the ball, plates would stop spinning, and stress ensued.

Now that happens rarely, if ever. If you feel like you want to get control of your life, David Allen has something to teach you.