Quote Originally Posted by jben View Post
I'm up with GTD. I have many, many lists. Everyday I know what I need to do, and I do those things generally within the time-frame given. I am very well organized. I can tell you in minutiae about all the things I need to do from replacing the cracked windows in the wood shed to setting up the groundwork on my new career.

The problem is that big projects are not attacked early enough. Of course, I tend to do my best work under pressure and under these circumstances, I largely forget about GTD. Surprizingly, I am successful on all the big projects. However, I am still very stressed out and probably drink too much as a result. I also wonder when I will attack all the minutiae in my life. The fact is, I'm getting really tired. Sometimes, my attitude is who cares? And this is okay for awhile, until the gravity of my projects push me into something like a panic mode.

Does anybody feel this way?
jben:

When I was in university I used to leave my homework
until it was close to due. I struggled to get myself
to change my ways, then gave in and decided OK, I'll
just do it at the last minute, that's a way of motivating
myself. But it has downsides in terms of worry, stress
and risk of not finishing in time. I think it's good to look
for other ways to motivate oneself. Big projects looming
in the back of your mind may be contributing to the
overall way you're feeling. It sounds like you're feeling
discouraged.

You might want to look at the "sharpen your saw" part of
Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People".
This is about the importance of looking after yourself;
things like taking time for exercise, good nutrition,
enough sleep, spending time with supportive friends and/or
family, etc. Think about what would help you feel
better: treats for yourself such as fun or relaxing
activities, vacations or mini-vacations, meditation
or Tai Chi, some time to yourself every day, more
time with other people, giving yourself rewards
or admiring your work after you've finished
something, etc.

Good aerobic exercise workouts increase your dopamine
which helps with feeling motivated. Getting plenty of
sleep helps too.

You might want to take a look at your overall set of
responsibilities and consider whether you're getting
exhausted by doing too much and whether it might make
sense to make changes (working part-time instead of
full-time, hiring someone to help with some things,
deciding not to do some projects you were going to do, etc.);
of course you might decide not to change those sorts
of things. (Those are at higher Horizons of Focus.)

There are ways to use the Getting Things Done system to
get started on big projects at an earlier stage.
I think ideally we do at least half the stuff for a big
project during the first half of the time available.
Maybe not many people actually do that, but we
can aim to move in that direction.