It’s a nice place. You have been here before, and recall how much you like the food. Yet as you scan down the first page of the menu, your breath quickens and your pulse shoots up. Turning to the second page, your eyes widen; you are practically hyperventilating now. A bead of sweat traces your brow as you think to yourself in a panic:
“How am I possibly going to be able to eat everything on this menu?!”
I am guessing this strange little fantasy is not something that has actually happened to you. Yet for many of the clients I coach on the Getting Things Done (GTD) method, the first time they pull together a comprehensive list of their possible next actions, they feel overwhelmed.
This is because, rather than relating to these items as a menu of options, they are often relating to them using their previous paradigm–the to-do list. In the psychology of the to-do list, we write down a few items, and then convince ourselves that we will be a Productive Good Person™ once we get through all of the items on the list. Dangling this moral imperative over our heads is what motivates us: after we’ve done our homework and chores, we can go play.
Yet nearly every list I have encountered of this type is vastly incomplete (as compared to all the next actions that would move the things one cares about forward), and not clarified to the level that it is–to continue the menu metaphor–full of clear descriptions of items that are both bite-sized and appetising.
To embrace GTD, we must embrace the menu paradigm, picking off whatever will be most nutritious and satisfying, never expecting ourselves to “eat it all”. Instead of the satisfaction of doing all the things we agreed to do on a (very limited) to-do list, we dwell in the satisfaction of making good choices, moment-to-moment, from a complete, current inventory of next actions–a menu that helps us know what our options are, rather than compelling us to stuff ourselves at every sitting.
In fact, one of the great benefits of this system is being able to get all the next actions out of our head into a trusted GTD system, and then walk away from that list with that confidence that we will pick up the right things, at the right time, later. Just as you don’t stress about whether the restaurant will have food available for you when you are between meals, so too your trusted system can help you do things not on the menu–like resting and relaxing–totally guilt-free.
So if you’ve been feeling a little panicky after clarifying and organising your inputs into a nice big list of all your next actions, repeat after me: it’s not a to-do list; it’s just a menu.
Bon appétit.
Well Said. The food analogy seems to work with me very well. Peter Bergman has a similar thought about buffet in this Ted talk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW6gduHeOHo
Thanks for sharing this, Lakshmi.
This described *exactly* how I had begun to feel on getting back into GTD properly for the first time in a while – overwhelmed with all the things that I wasn’t doing yet. Being reminded that these were options and not immediate actions is very welcome.
So glad that helped, Janos. “Relaxed focus” is the goal for me, always, so whenever I find I’m not doing that, I look to where I can improve my understanding and application of GTD. Good for you for getting back to it!
Well written – and a point well made. Imagine though that there are 50 next actions associated with 50 projects. Imagine further that 25 of them are of priority 1 (P1). Which P1 item to attack next? I’m finding myself spending more time than I’d like answering that….
Hi Brendan,
For most people, using priority codes and flags just isn’t flexible and fast enough to adapt to the dynamic, fast-paced workplace of the twenty-first century with its competing demands and changing priorities. So, rather than looking for a prioritisation methodology, we recommend that you get everything captured in one system, contextualised based on what you can do where, and use the weekly review to give yourself the perspective you need to make what look like good intuitive judgments (actually, well-informed judgments based on regular review) moment-to-moment. It’s a mindset shift for those who are used to making short subset to-do lists, but ultimately I find that most people stop asking “the priority question” when they really get on top of their weekly reviews. Hope that helps!
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the answer – though I’m wondering where to go with it.
Yes – I am doing weekly reviews.
And yes – I (usually) retain the flexibility to make changes in response to shifting circumstances.
But, fundamentally I’m desk based with good energy levels and with time available to me. So, in those circumstances, I do sequence based on priority…
Brendan
People with larger amounts of time available to them (as opposed to those who are in back-to-back meetings all day) often find it useful to target a few key tasks at the start of the day as a kind of “daily hit list”, and work from that as a way to create focus. The key to keeping that approach GTD-friendly is to a) not feel bad if you don’t get all the “hit list” stuff done and b) be sure to sync it back up to your trusted and complete GTD set of lists at the end of the day, so you maintain a “master radar screen”. That is, you should consider the daily list expendable.
I do this, for example, at weekends–when I have a mix of chores and relaxation time ahead of me, and few scheduled events.
Beyond that, diagnosing why you are spending more time than you’d like on prioritisation (and whether or not this is sub-optimal) is something best done interactively, in the context of your real system and volume of projects, next actions, and new inputs.