Being Well-Enough Organized

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Bruce Keener

I thought it would be good to start the week with a post that is intended to make you think a bit.

Bill Myers recently left a comment on one of my articles, and said something we should all think about:

I was all excited to become a “GTD black-belt” until I realized I was spending an inordinate amount of time organizing my work rather than doing it. I cast aside my @lists this weekend and just Got Things Done. My lists are way out-of-date, I’m keeping stuff in my head (gasp!), and I feel closer now to a “Mind Like Water” than I did when I was practicing GTD.

Today, there are countless executives, mobile workers, and workers of all types, who get a lot done without ever having read David Allen’s and Stephen Covey’s material.

But, of course, David Allen and Stephen Covey do offer tremendously useful productivity advice. There’s no way I would suggest you not pay attention to them. They’re smart guys, with a lot of experience in helping people be more productive.

What I do suggest you do think about, though, is whether you are over-using their systems, putting more effort into managing your productivity than it is giving you in return. It is so easy to get caught up in tweaking a time management system, and in spending inordinate amounts of time pouring over your lists.

Some people are constantly looking for tips to help make them more productive, without stopping to notice that the system they are using is good enough, if they would just used the damn thing. Sure, we all need reminders of tips and tricks that we may have forgotten about. You need reminders. I need reminders. All God’s children need reminders, like the one by Covey to “remember when you are climbing the ladder of success to make sure it’s not leaning against the wrong wall.”

But, if you find yourself frequently browsing GTD blogs for tips on how to do better, or if you never feel like you are in a state of flow, then maybe it’s just time to simplify your system. Strip it to the basics. Stop worrying about whether David would think you are black-belt GTD’er or whether Stephen thinks your life is balanced just right.

Sometimes life is hard because we make it that way. We make things more complicated than they really are.

If you feel like your system is complicated, and that you just can’t get life to move the way you want, step back and look at whether you’re making it harder than it really is. Spending too much time tweaking gadgets and software to help you manage your time? Use a paper-planner. Millions of people, including lots of executives, use them very effectively.

Your thoughts?

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  • Thomas R. Hall

    Right on, Bruce! That’s why I had to stop reading all of Lifehacker. I only read the top posts feed now so I don’t try everything under the sun there.

    I’m looking forward to having my final trusted system on an iPhone 2.0 OS device!

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Thank you, Thomas, and thanks for the plug on Twitter. I also cut back on Lifehacker posts to the Top List only. No doubt I miss some good stuff, but life is too short to try every little tweak under the sun, and it all winds up being counterproductive.

    Looks to me like iPhone 2.0 has all you need to have a really solid trusted system. I’m mighty pleased with the Touch. Still having a few probs with push from MobileMe, but will get worked out in time.

    Thanks again.

  • John

    My problem is DOING not planning. Haven’t found a system yet that motivates, but I’m still looking. ;)

  • http://www.billmyerscreations.com/blog Bill Myers

    Ironically, I’ve “reverted” to GTD, and just this weekend I completed another weekly review. The burst of productivity to which I referred in the quote you cited above was mostly housecleaning, errands, paying bills, and the like. I certainly don’t need a “system” to get those things done: I can see when the house is dirty, or a stack of bills has piled up. But when I returned to work the following Monday, I was reminded that the list of tasks and projects facing me was too complex for me to just “wing it.”

    I tried to come up with “Bill’s system,” and gave some thought to how I used to do things pre-GTD. I realized that prior to discovering GTD, the system I had been trying to develop based on my intuition was simply a clumsy version of… you guessed it… GTD!

    It turns out it was practical, rather than philosophical, issues that were getting in my way of effectively implementing GTD. I was struggling with weekly reviews lasting eight hours or more because I wasn’t doing DAILY reviews. I’ve found that emptying my “buckets” (e-mail, voicemail, meeting notes, etc.), reviewing tomorrow’s calendar, and updating my task lists nightly are critical to keeping the system working.

    I broke my addition to “hacking” my “GTD implementation” just a few days ago when I realized that GTD is a thought process. All I need is something that can hold my lists and allow me to easily add to and update them. No more, no less. This weekend I set up my trusted system and am sticking with it. No more hacks, no way, no how.

    This is not to say that I “preach GTD.” GTD is one of many options out there. It’s the one I like best, but that’s just me. Your mileage may vary.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    @John … yup, getting motivated can be difficult at times, can’t it?

    @Bill, thanks for elaborating on your swing back to GTD. Certainly nothing wrong with that, and I do not preach against GTD or any other particular system that I can think about at the moment. It does bother me though that there are countless people who are already capable of implementing GTD, or Covey, or what-have-you, if they would Just Do It and stop reading about it. That is really where I’m coming from on this post. Anyway, thanks for filling us back in on what it takes to get GTD off the ground and operational.

  • http://www.billmyerscreations.com/blog Bill Myers

    @Bruce: “What I do suggest you do think about, though, is whether you are over-using their systems, putting more effort into managing your productivity than it is giving you in return.”

    You know, I think I just had a mini-epiphany. Here I am blathering again about GTD, and you know what? That weekend where I just put my head down and did stuff? Well, for that whole weekend I felt great. Calm. Focused. Happy.

    Today, after a weekend of doing my Weekly Review and blathering in your blog about GTD? I feel tired, stressed, and lousy.

    What’s wrong with this picture?

    There’s nothing wrong with GTD, per se, any more than there’s anything wrong with a bottle of scotch, per se. Either of them in moderation is fine. Taken to excess, however, both are problematic.

    Thanks for posting this. I was about to fall off the wagon and once again give in to my productivity methodology addiction.

    Life really is simple, isn’t it? Follow your heart to decide what’s important, use your head to figure out how to do something about it, and then apply elbow grease as needed.