Getting Organized For GOOD: Throwing down the gauntlet [experiments in effectiveness]
I’ve been getting on and falling off the GTD wagon since April 2002 and my biggest problems have always been system fiddling and the openness of GTD. From paper, to web-based, to standalone application, to index cards and back, I’ve tried just about everything and stuck with nothing. I have obsessed over connecting actions with projects and contexts and craved certain views of the data all so I could proclaim victory as The Ultimate GTD Champion. I struggled with how “best” or “perfectly” or “uniquely” to implement GTD and never got there. Frankly, the openness of GTD scares me into not doing it. I might as well been getting in the ring with Chuck Liddell for the past 6 years, because I feel as mentally beat up as he would physically beat me up.
During some quiet time over the holidays I got to some deep thinking about a few personal goals for 2008. The first one that popped up is I must “Get Organized for Good”, so I can stop the mental anguish associated with not being organized and the associated consequences in my personal and professional lives. After reading Ryan Norbauer’s post, Death and Underachievement: A Guide to Happiness in Work, I really got to thinking and I really started getting angry (a good angry) about all the wasted years I’ve spent copping out and wishing I was different, rather than changing myself.
On January 1, 2008 I yelled “STOP IT!” and admitted to myself that I need to cut the crap, commit to change and get going. This is not a resolution. This is a blood oath. This is commitment.
I immediately abandoned the idea of implementing GTD for the 167th time and remembered enjoying Leo Babauta’s Zen To Done (ZTD) posts and saw he combined them all in a nice eBook. I re-read the old posts and remembered I liked it because it seemed to offer just enough structure for me to stick with it but not enough to make me feel trapped. Also, it emphasizes slow and steady habit change with a focus on DOING. My goal is more about pushing myself into action mode by simplifying the “system” as much as possible so it can not steal my focus on the prize…crossing important things off the lists. Leo does a far better job explaining ZTD and the reasons he thinks it works, so I won’t summarize here. Just read his posts and decide for yourself.
I spent the first half of January 2, 2008 reading the eBook, taking notes and mentally acclimating myself. The material still resonates nicely and feels right for the way I think and work. I bought a couple of fresh Moleskine’s for 2008, sat back at my desk with a cold glass of water and here’s what happened next.
I set my first 3 Most Important Tasks (MITs), completed them that afternoon and zeroed my inbox before leaving the office. OK, decent first step. A lot of you already do this. For the novice or chaosaholic, this is big deal. The best side effect of this was getting home and feeling joyful that I took charge. The anger was gone. The “woe is me” soundtrack was switched off.
I did it again on January 3 and decided to add some more fuel to the fire by posting this and publicly committing to my goal. Maybe noone is reading, but I’ll pretend hundreds are and want to avoid the shame of admitting defeat or quitting.
I stuck a sparkline on the homepage to show my progress, day by day. Each vertical line is my score for the day (read on for my scoring system). Keeping the lines tall means I am doing well. After 30 days and 30 lines, I evaluate how well I did and decide if these new habits are sticking. Here’s what it looks like as of January 3, with a perfect score of 5 for each day.
ZTD Phase 1:
That’s my story, my announcement, my gauntlet. Read on after the jump if you’re interested in some of the nuts and bolts of how I am achieving my goal.
Original post here: Terrence
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