So, what to do about it?
Well, as a recovering Getting Things Done-attempter (it kind of worked, until I stopped doing it consistently) I am deciding to give something else a shot: Managing your day in 18 minutes.
The idea is fairly simple, and has the benefit of creating a good feedback loop.
- You spend 5 minutes organizing your goals for the day
- You spend 1 minute each hour focusing on the next task at hand
- You spend 5 minutes evaluating your effectiveness at the end of the day
Getting Things Done is not a bad system, and I’ll probably return to it as life calms down this fall (at least, that’s what I tell myself will happen). GTD works as an abstract planning system, giving you a framework to organize your work and life. Combining this with the 18 minutes will probably make me a complete unstoppable work ninja. Mothers, hide your daughters.