Hello my name is Carl Pullein and thank
you very much for tuning in to this
episode of my Productivity Mastery
series. This week I want to explain to
you the reasons why I have stopped
organising my to-do's using the David
Allen Getting Things Done system, or GTD
as most people in the productivity world
like to call it. Now the reason I have
moved away is simply because over the
last few years I have noticed that I
don't actually use a lot of what builds,
or makes, GTD what it is. Now for those of you who don't know, Getting Things Done
essentially runs on the principle that
you can only do your tasks if you're
with the right person, in the right place,
with the right tool. So it's people, place
and tool. And in order to do that you
create lists based on context--based on
where you are, what kind of tool you want,
what kind of person you need to be with
or which kind of place you want to be. So
for example, if you have a task that you
can only do on your computer, you would
assign it to the list, "computer". If you've
got a task that you can only do at the
hardware store, you would add that as the
location context of "hardware store" and
if you've got a task that you can only
do when you're talking with your partner
then you would assign that to the list
related to your partner. So essentially
what one of the things I've actually
found quite funny, is people say what do
I do with my project list? Well you don't
really actually work from project lists
in Todoist, you work from the context
list, which are people, place and location.
Now the thing is, I started using GTD way
back in 2009, and back then I'd only just
got my iPhone. We weren't, you know, the
technology wasn't quite there. It was
possible to do email from your phone, but
it was more difficult. So it was much
easier to do email from your computer.
Likewise, there was like writing a report,
for example, was much easier to be
computer. So context made sense. Back then. Today, however, I find contexts make no
sense at all, simply because although
there are times that I may need to do a
task, needs a person, I can quickly send
them a Text... an instant message. I could
send them a quick email and most
people will reply to email very quickly.
I can make a phone call. Another one that
I found that the context didn't work for
me was like writing. Now writing, for
example, I can write a blog post, and often
do start writing a blog post, on my phone
whilst on the bus. So I don't need a
computer to write. I can write pretty
much anywhere, anytime. And so over the
last year or two, I noticed that I had
stopped using contexts but then when I
did my review at the end of last year, I
discovered something else. I don't use
projects. Now I do have projects, most
people do. For example, making a new
online course,
updating an online course, even creating
this content every week
technically, in GTD world, would be
considered a project. There is more than
one step involved. But I never set them
up as projects. I just found the time
that I was going to be able to do the
recording, allocated that on my calendar
and had a task that said "record YouTube
videos" or "record new course" or outline
details for new course. Those kind of
tasks. I didn't need all that contained
within a project. What I did need and
what I was using though was time-based
contexts, if you like, time-based projects.
So when I was discovering this and as I
was thinking about this, I realised
actually at the end of the day, GTD
doesn't work for me in 2020.
Technology has moved on when the book
was originally written in 200,1 it made
sense. A lot of the stuff that we do
everyday needed certain tools. Needed us
to be in a certain place and needed us
to be with a certain person. Today that's
not strictly true anymore and we can
easily allocate time on our calendars. A
lot of meetings, for example, that I take
part in now are not done in an office.
They're done remotely. I'm on a computer
I basically using Zoom communication video
software and I use that. I don't actually
even have to be in a physical place for
a meeting anymore. So for me, I found that
GTD has outlived its purpose. It's a
little bit out of date just in my
personal opinion. I'm not suggesting for
one moment that those of you out there
who do get a lot of value out of GTD and
it does work for you, then by
all means stick with it. But just for me,
it no longer works.
I find that contexts are just useless,
for me, and even projects, a project list
for example, just doesn't work anymore.
I am much better suited to time-based
folders that tell me when I need to do a
task or even when I want to do a task
and that has worked very well for me. Now, if you're interested in what my new
system looks like, I did a video earlier
this week how I've set it all up in
Todoist, and you can see that up there or
if it's not up there it certainly in the
show notes. So you can click on that and
to have a look at my new system. And for
those of you in the Apple system, I've
also done a video on how to set this up
using Apple's Reminders because it works
just as well there. Hopefully you'll get
some value out of it. Hopefully it will
help you to become a lot more productive
but if it doesn't, then stick with your
own system. This is all about developing
a system that works for you, not
necessarily a system that works for me
that will work for you. You just have to
find out the best way for you. That's
what productivity is all about. It's
finding the right way to make you much
more productive. Well, thank you very much
for watching this episode.
It just remains for me now to wish you all a very very
productive week.
Thank you very much for
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