Instead of telling me I need to clean everything off my desk, or put everything on my desktop into an elaborate folder system, or clean out my inbox, how about offering some real advice?
Getting Things Done (GTD) is BS. People eat it up because it heals common pains. Everyone could stand to be more organized and/or procrastinate less. While I do agree with many of the principles behind it, the whole thing is kind of half-baked. I can’t write down and categorize tasks that haven’t come up yet.
It’s like the Atkins diet – it can work, its just hard to stick to. Why? Because life can’t be planned for. Nothing ever takes as long or short as its supposed to (what happens when your 2 minute task takes 15 minutes?). Fires come up that have be put out. You get a flat tire or your server goes down. That sort of thing.
Staying productive isn’t about some mind trick or obsessive-compulsive organization. It’s about enjoying what you do – believing in what you do… but also, realizing that things you don’t enjoy doing need to get done. It’s about committing yourself. Being truly successful is about willpower and drive – not GTD.
