Go Easy on the Planning

Over the years I’ve made quite a few attempts at making GTD work for me, but it has always failed. It’s the over-planning that makes my mind resist the system. I hate planning.

David Allen says any outcome requiring more than one action step is a project. This sounds fine—obvious, even—on a theoretical level, but in reality this made my head hurt. Exactly in how much detail are you supposed to plan?

I used to try to map out my projects in advance, finding the next few actions required to move it forward. When the time came to actually do the work I always ended up doing something else, rather than the actions on my list. It was only when I was about to start working that all the requirements, circumstances, strategies and priorities became clear to me. I never could foresee all those subtle nuances of myself or the world around me, while doing weekly reviews on my chamber—or on my couch, with children jumping around me. It just wasn’t worth investing the time and energy.

I think I’ve found a better way to deal with outcomes that require multiple action steps—a way that leverages intuition and imagination. The human mind is so much more than logical deduction and it should all come into play when we conduct our lives.

These days I write my reminders on a list without worrying to much about if it’s a single action or a project, if it has the correct “verb form” or any of the other productivity porn that went rampant when GTD suddenly was everywhere. When I feel like working on something I decide what to do on the spot and then go about actually doing it. When I feel like I’m finished for the day I cross the item out. If the projects isn’t finished I re-enter it at the end of my list, where it stays until I feel like continuing working on it.

Don’t worry about planning and trust your ability to make a sound decision on what to do when it’s time to do it. You won’t really know until then anyway. Also, do little and do it often. This I learned from Mark Forster.