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June 07, 2008
GTD & personality types
While GTD may not be for everyone, I think there's something it in for anyone. In fact, it's often fascinating to see the range of people who are attracted to GTD. In any given month I can be doing GTD classes for Baptist camp directors, Wall Street brokers, software engineers, admins and actors. You would also be amazed at how people implement GTD and what they find valuable. I've had incredibly technical people decide to keep their lists on paper. I've had artists love the system because it helps them be more creative and wanted to keep their lists online. I've had power planners have major "Ah-ha" moments from working with the less linear part of their brain doing something like mindmapping, during Natural Planning Model (p.54 of the book).
Someone recently wrote to me and asked:
David has occasionally made reference to Myers Briggs personality types and I wondered if anyone has worked out whether some of the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicators) fit better with GTD than others.
For instance, I'm an ISTJ and GTD comes naturally to me. My wife is an ENFP and it doesn't come at all easy to her. When we did the GTD-Q analysis (A GTDConnect feature) she, not surprisingly came out as a Visionary/Crazy Maker and I came out as a Captain/Commander. We make a great team!!
But I wondered if, in your coaching experiences, you'd ever used MBTI and whether you've seen any tie-up with willingness or aptitude to GTD?
My response:
Good question. I have not seen any formal review of GTD and types, although we've all encountered the differences in coaching and seminars. Our staff has gone through many assessment tests so we are both familiar with them and know how to work well with each other and our clients.
Some types will be more attracted to tracking than others. Even within tracking, some will want a less linear system than others. Some will want to do more planning versus just diving in and doing. Specific to Myers-Briggs, here are a few resources I have found interesting:
Out of Time: How the 16 types manage their time and work
Type Talk at Work
By the way, according to Myers-Briggs, I'm an ENFJ and my husband is an INTP. We couldn't be more opposite in that respect and we work fantastically together!
I think personality type tests are interesting, if they are used in the spirit of learning who we are and how to leverage our strengths. I've also seen them help people relax and accept some part of themselves that they previously had been pressuring themselves to change. If you tend to be a crazy maker, then enjoy being a crazy maker!
Posted by Kelly at June 7, 2008 10:20 AM
Comments
Hi Kelly,
I was in one of your fabulous seminars. I consider myself a pretty strong ENTP (the inventor type) and my type has a tendency to not take care of business. But my type also have a fascination of new way of improving things. So I think it might explain why I read the book cover to cover only to gradually forget about updating my list. Well visiting this site was on my list today and I'm doing weekly review. Hopefully the weekly review would fix the problem. The site is pretty cool! Thanks for your tips.
Posted by: carol at June 9, 2008 11:07 AM
I agree with Carol. I'm an INTP and I love creating systems, but maintaining them? Not so much. I think my profile type might also explain why I'm always switching. I like creating the system more than using it.
Posted by: Jennifer at June 9, 2008 02:41 PM
