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Please note that my comment may be biased. I'm one of the developers of Priority Matrix (http://www.appfluence.com), a product using the Covey method, which competes somewhat with GTD. From my personal experience and those in working with our customers, I think individuals can be divided into at least 3 distinct groups. If you've ever taken the Meyer Briggs test, you may notice that the 4th letter is P for Perceiving or J for Judging. I want to break the J's into 2 subsets (B and C). The three groups, in my opinion, are:
A) Perceiving, people in this group are not interested in general organization unless necessary. GTD will not work well for these individuals.
B) People in this group must plan out the specific details of their work. Knowing the purpose of what they have to do next gives them peace and comfort. GTD and/or Pomodoro work well for these individuals.
C) People in this group are interested in planning, but only for important things. The general approach to prioritization and categorization is sufficient to keep the person sane, but there's no necessary investments into detailed planning. I think the Covey method works well for these individuals. To go back to your original question, do you think you are in A, B, or C? I think that group A individuals who try GTD will see the planning work for a while, but will quickly become frustrated as they get a lot of things done, but they don't feel like they get IMPORTANT things done. GTD looks at tasks from an altitude-like levels: "10,000 ft view" vs "50,000 ft view" etc. For perceiving individuals, the 0-10,000 ft level can be frustrating. But for many Judging people, I certainly think that this detailed planning provides clarity. |
This describes me. I did the same sort of thing where I used it for a while and gradually burned out on it. I still try to keep files for organizing papers, one of the few parts of GTD that I kept.
Generally I do not have enough tasks that I am going crazy trying to remember them all. I am more interested in a methodology that keeps me on track and keeps me from procrastinating, especially as I am ADHD