I am a big fan of GTD. Some days it is all that holds the fiberous parts of my life together! And it is definitely why I think I am more productive than most people.
But I think GTD has a big problem – it is focused very much on the short term. Yes there are the Horizons of Focus etc, but for most people they were bored by the time they got to that part of the book. And it is the ‘to do list’ part of GTD which is ‘Remarkable’ – the bit that stands out and makes you think “woo hoo”.
As an example – how many of you rushed out and bought a lable maker/folders/moleskin before you had finished chapter 3? Compare this to how many of you honestly had written down all your horizons of focus by the time you had finished the book? Loads versus a few I fancy.
And that is fine. There are very few all encompassing solutions in this world (Jack Daniels is the only one I can think of off hand 
), so we shouldn’t expect GTD to be so.
The important thing is that we acknowledge that whilst we use GTD to Get Things Done on a daily or weekly basis, in reality, very few of us use it to drive where we want to be in 5 or 10 years time.
So what? Well, today I got 10 things done. Yesterday 12 things. The day before 8. Great. I had three very productive days, but nothing has changed except I am three days older. Did any of those things make me happier, richer, fluffier etc? Who knows!
Focusing on your Hipster PDA and your label maker to micromanage your life is an easy trap to fall into. You are ‘doing GTD’ therefore you feel as if you have ticked the development box. But that GTD system must be driven by a development framework that get you to where you want to be. This could be GTD’s Horizons of Focus, a Covey-esque program, or something from Steve Pavina. As long as you have something that helps you decide which of 100 things you could do today will ultimately make your life better.
So have a think. Does you life revolve around your @Next Actions? Or does you @Next Actions revolve around your life?
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Excellent point. I have worked with a lot of clients who have been masterful at getting things done, but ultimately realized that all the energy and effort they were putting into their highly productive days wasn’t actually taking them anyplace they really cared to go.
If you think about GTD in terms of ROI, the payoff doesn’t just come from being able to tick a higher density of things off your to-do list. It also comes from the cumulative effect of day after day, after month, after year of doing those things. If it’s not taking you anywhere that feels meaningful and fulfilling, you’ll likely come up empty.
Good reminder that it’s not just the micro-view that counts.
Hi Curt,
The micro-view is very much a comfort zone for us – I suppose what Seth Godin would call our lizard brain. Thinking about it in terms of ROI is a good call – “I am investing loads of time getting things done and my return is… erm… I’ve got some stuff done…?!”. Start with the return you want, and then see how much investment you must put in – and in what form – to get there.
Rich
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