Gtd is too complex?

[Suelin23]

I disagree. Most martial arts are basically very simple.

It may appear simple in principle, but it is complex in practice. What style did you do? I didn't find it simple at all, particularly if you include meditation and the spiritual aspects like managing chi, I found it to be quite complex indeed.

[artsinaction]

I disagree. Most martial arts are basically very simple. You just have to practice long time, so you can perform the moves without thinking in stressfull situations. (Learning the basics is always relatively easy when compared to application of skill.)

The parallels between my study of martial arts and GTD become more striking the better I get at GTD. But let me diverge...

In many ways it's much more like when I studied Greek dancing.
You start off by learning the basic steps, let's say a 12-step pattern.
Then, once you have that down, you may learn 5 or 6 variations based on that step.
Then you may start leading the dance because you have more confidence.

Then you realize that, when you dance in public at events, lots of other people know the steps... but they know other variations, and you watch them lead (usually dancing in line with them) and learn by doing. Now you can do more with the basic step.

But when you're leading you constantly have to aware of the rest of the line... not everyone knows all the variations you know, so you are now literally leading by example, moving through basic steps, using more repetition with the same few variations, and you learn more about your technique by showing others.

And you thought we were all just drinking Ouzo and smashing plates!

So GTD, for me, was first about repeating the basics, straight from the book.
Reading the forums that first year was like learning the variations.
Participating in the forums is both like learning from those with experience and leading by example.

And, as with Greek dancing, I know what I like and what I do well, and where I can improve.

If GTD seems too complex, maybe you learned too many variations before really internalizing the basic steps.

Dena

[kkuja]

It may appear simple in principle, but it is complex in practice. What style did you do? I didn't find it simple at all, particularly if you include meditation and the spiritual aspects like managing chi, I found it to be quite complex indeed.

I agree with you. But I look this from a bit different point of view. BTW, "simple in principle, but complex in practice" was one point which I tried to say in my previous post.

IMO: basics of GTD are simple. Making it work in practise is the challenge. Just like in martial arts. It is fairly simple to learn basic attacks and defences sufficiently, but when you have use them in real situation it is totally different situation. (It takes 10000 repetitions to be able to use certain attack or defence as reaction to something that happens unexpectedly.) Just like martial art, GTD (in basic level) is set of fairly simple actions. Mastering the martial art or GTD does require very much more than just basics.

One reason I want to think GTD as simple (5 step process, and/or asking self 2 questions about every stuff and organizing the answers) is because I know that deep down, there are many levels of complexity in it. There is too much complexity for me to manage in one time. So I have made a decision to learn GTDs more complex aspects when I'm ready to receive them.

Offtopic warning

"Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: Piece by piece." Same applies to martial arts. No sane person tries to learn martial art in a week, or month. One should not try to consume any martial art as one piece. Beginners train different aspects of art than black belts train. There is different time to train meditation than there is to train basic kicks. No matter how good you are with meditation, you cannot be black belt if you don't know any basic movements of your art. I have to add a disclaimer here. I'm thinking martial arts from very mundane perspective (More as sport than art).

I have trained han moo do, taido, taiji and capoeira. I currently train capoeira. In han moo do I competed in national level.

It is said it takes 2 years to really get GTD. I have now trained capoeira 3 years and I'm finally starting to understand what it is really about. So, I'm telling myself that when I keep using it some day I will understand GTD.

[TesTeq]

No sane person tries to learn martial art in a week, or month.

I've just found the following DVD offer:

Learn Aikido in 80 minutes!

[Myriam]

Quite strange to read that "he stays organized without organizing"..How's that possible??
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He does organize of course... or do these bits and pieces jump into Evernote from themselves and create their own naming? I just had a quick look at the article, but seems to me he is very organized indeed. He just puts a date on everything, something gtd doesn't support. But if this works for him, fine.

In fact, if he is organized in a way that works for him, he IS Getting Things Done, so he is doing GTD, even if he doesn't think so himself.

Myriam