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July 28, 2007
It's not about the lists
I've heard David Allen say that many people miss the real purpose of making lists in GTD. You don't make the lists to only do what's on the lists and nothing else in your life. You create the lists so that the lists take your attention off that stuff so that you can REALLY do what you want to do. And then do that with 100% of your focus, attention and creativity.
There's a comfort zone I found works for me and my lists where I have as few lists as I can get by with, but as many as I think I need to slice and dice my stuff in a way that makes it manageable. And, they change from time to time, if for no other reason than to just change the look to get me excited about them again. (It's kind of like new running shoes--it's amazing what that does to get me motivated to get out and run.) My current action lists, all managed in Palm Desktop software, are:
Projects
Someday/Maybe
@Calls
@Errands
@Home/Office
@John
@Laptop
@Boss
@Waiting For
@Wherever
An easy way to figure out which context lists you need is to look at the people, places and tools you need to do your work, personally and professionally. That will serve as a good starting point.
The magic, motivation and purpose of the lists for me is that I can have the freedom to do whatever I want to do (whether it's on the lists or not) without feeling the pressure to only do what happens to be top of mind or top of the pile. In the middle of a chock full week of GTD classes, I snuck in a play day in San Francisco for my birthday. If I didn't have my lists and trust that they were current and everything on the lists could wait, I wouldn't have had nearly the same experience of relaxation and joy.
Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work. - Gustave Flaubert
Posted by Kelly at July 28, 2007 09:23 AM
Comments
"You create the lists so that the lists take your attention off that stuff so that you can REALLY do what you want to do."
Well said! Often, I'm having a hard time to explain this reasoning. I resort to talking about - Venice!
Its palaces are built upon myriads of wooden poles. The Rialto bridge, e.g., is said to rest on about 12,000 of them - the church "Santa Maria della Salute" on about 1.1 million poles.
The poles give stability on a lower level, so that creativity can unfold on a higher level. Neglect maintenance of the lower level, or ridicule its importance, and the higher level will suffer. Nevertheless, the poles are not what you *want* to do - the palaces are.
Posted by: Rolf F. Katzenberger at July 28, 2007 03:01 PM
Great reference point Rolf. Thanks!
-Kelly
Posted by: Kelly at July 29, 2007 09:41 AM
Thanks for that reassurance that's it's ok to be doing things that aren't on my list. It tends to be administrivia that ends up on my lists while the big things, the things that take a couple of hours of concentration, aren't on the list. As you say, it is because I have all the little stuff off my mind that I can concentrate on the big stuff.
Posted by: Rod Sherwin at July 29, 2007 06:34 PM
He's right. I totally missed that point. The lists are to get things off my mind and to do that which I want to do.
Posted by: Shaine at July 30, 2007 09:39 PM
