A very good friend contacted me recently. He mentioned that he was back using portions of GTD and it is really helping him. Ah... getting back on the band wagon is a good thing.
The word that stuck out for me in his message was "portion" of the GTD system. As you can see by my response below I encourage and challenge people to embrace the "system" part of the GTD system. A "portion" is good. Adopting the "system" is life changing.
Good to hear from you.
If you treat GTD like a martial art and each day as your dojo then amazing things fall into place. Like a martial art there are very basic moves and sequences to learn. Once these moves become grooved behaviors you get from point A to point B with increased clarity and less effort. It is sort of like a tennis serve. When you first start out you are thinking about your grip, your toss, your feet, your racket, your target, etc. But after you spend time practicing your serve you transcend to the next level. The basic mechanics, while always there, drift to the back ground and you focus on a new level.
My basic recommendation I give to everyone is to try to implement the system 100%. Do not tweak it too much in the beginning. There is a ton of wisdom in the process that David has defined. There are no wasted moves. Additionally, the moves are basic every day moves. Everyone does them. The "secret sauce" if you will is the order of the moves. If you trust the system, interesting levels of thinking will follow.
Welcome back on the wagon!
As I tell my kids every morning at breakfast, "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life!"
