How Do You Recover From a GTD Disaster?

Stress

Hey, everyone. I am not Brett, but I play him on TV. No that’s not it!!! I am Jason from Black Belt Productivity, and today I am pinch hitting for the new father.

I want to congratulate Brett and family on the birth of their new daughter. I also want to thank him for the privilege to be a part of this forum of GTD discussion. Thanks, Brett for the invite. I am honored.

WOW, as they say in the commercial, life does come at you fast. Sometimes, if you are not on your GTD game, you can really allow yourself to get behind.

Whether it happens as the result of you just getting mentally lazy for a period of time, or you just get overwhelmed, every one of us from time to time allow our systems to get a little out of control. If you are like me, this goes to bed with you. Inevitably, you end up keeping track of some things in your head if you allow your system to get…not so air tight. This is not good. I, personally, lose sleep when I am in this condition. The whole idea of GTD, of course, is to achieve a “mind like water”. So carrying around stuff in your head is certainly counter productive to achieving that.

So when you get off track, and you get out of control, what do we do to recover some sense of sanity and peace of mind?

Well, I can only speak for what works for me.

One of the key things to remember is that when your system is out of control, it is also a pretty good sign that you have “stuff” that is not getting done. Mentally we have to separate our stuff from our actions. I can have the greatest system. But I can also be too enamored with my system to get anything done. Remember, there is a time to collect and organize…and there is a time to do.

First we must fix the system so we can focus on what we need to be doing. When I say this, I am not talking about overhauling your system. I am talking about taking your system from disrepair to a state of maintenance. A good place to start with this is a review. Shut off life for a couple of hours. Dump all of the things that are renting space in your brain on paper. Get it out. You will feel better when you have a page full of stuff that has been screaming “remember me!!!” for a while in your head.

Now get it all in your system. A key thing for me is to always ask myself about how I will need to be reminded of something. If it is something at work, I can simply add a reminder in Outlook. But if I need to be reminded of an item at another time or venue…sometimes I have to get creative. Think of the context in which you will need to be reminded, and figure out what will best get your attention focused on that specific action. Then set yourself up to be reminded in the right way, at the right time.

The part most of us gadget geeks forget (yes, I am one of them) is to actually do all of the stuff in the system. That is, after all, the object of GTD…isn’t it? The coolest system doesn’t mean JACK, if you are not getting the things in your system done.

Now that you have recovered from a breakdown, you need to add a reminder to do a weekly review to keep this finely tuned system of yours maintained. Keeping it properly maintained is key to prevention of another system breakdown.

What do you do when you have a GTD meltdown? Use the comments to share a brief on your recovery plan.

Jason Echols is half of the duo of writers at Black Belt Productivity (www.blackbeltproductivity.net). With Michael Ramm, Jason has been blogging about GTD and other related topics for around 15 months.

Jason works as an accountant for a large aerospace corporation. He was introduced to David Allen’s Getting Things Done® by his, then, manager some three years ago. Since then, he has been striving to master the art of stress-free productivity. He is a husband of one and father of two…if you do not include the calico cat.

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June 27, 2007 | Filed Under GTD, Productivity 

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