Having trouble with GTD? Try WSD
Like many of you in the blog world, I have been seduced by David Allen’s promise of personal productivity. But like many of you, I lapse more than a nudist Catholic on a casual Friday. (note: rework joke, it makes no sense) Actually I lapse before I finish the book. I start out hopeful, enticed by the Lockean promise of the phrase “fresh paper,” and I start setting up buckets and contexts and whatnot. Then a few pages later, he uses the word “actionable,” and I have to put it down, take ten seconds, and reaffirm my basic political affiliations and instincts.
The basic problem with GTD is that for someone starting from complete disorganization, it’s too grandiose. I’m a fan of baby steps — incremental improvements that reward you enough to keep you playing.
Whence, the Writing Shit Down plan. Here are the rules:
- Carry a pen with you at all times. And forget the Space Pen. They have mini-pens at Staples which cost less than 2 bucks and they have a hole, which allows them to be placed on a keychain. You can’t write upside-down, but if that’s your biggest personal productivity problem, you’re living a more interesting life than I am.
- Carry index cards in your wallet. I use an all-ett for this express purpose, but it’s not for everyone. (although, it’s probably worthy of a post in and of itself; remind me.) So if your wallet doesn’t fit index cards, use something smaller than index cards. You could try this picopad
. Whatever, the important thing is that your pen and paper is on your person at all times.
- Don’t bother clipping the index cards together like in the hipster pda, if they’re in your wallet. This will serve as a disincentive to reorganize them and flip through them. Those little clips are stiff, and they take up valuable writing space on the front card.
- Now here’s the key part: Write shit down.
- After this, it becomes simple. Context is determined by where you put the shit you write down. For instance, if it’s for you to do at the computer, put the card on your computer next time you’re there. If it’s at the grocery store, leave it in your wallet.
- Tickler files are great for people who have everything on paper. You don’t, or else you wouldn’t need me to tell you to write shit down. Either way, there’s no way you’re going to look through your filing cabinet every day. Try Ben Sinclair’s FutureMail. It’s like having access to a time machine, but without the Oedipal tensions or Libyans.
If you can manage to write shit down for a few weeks, THEN you can start playing with GTD. Otherwise you’re a little like the dysfunctional couple who thinks a baby will solve everything: If it’s not working now, why complicate it further?
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:23 pm
If only you could find a way to complicate the hell out of this, you could make a million bucks.
I’d take it a step further and suggest writing everything in one little bound stack of papers - call it a “notebook” - and keeping em all in one place instead of on scattery separate cards. Maybe “Using a Notebook” could be the hit sequel.
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:35 pm
How about a book called “The Secret”, and when you open it, the secret is to write shit down, and it’s a notebook?
March 24th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Libyans?
March 25th, 2007 at 12:17 am
You guys are awesome. I’m so glad to read these posts. I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to implement these annoying contexts for months!
March 25th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Libyans was an offhanded and kind of stupid reference to “Back to the Future”.
March 25th, 2007 at 8:18 am
[…] Links for Sunday, March 25th Smallist: Having trouble with GTD? Try WSD “Now here’s the key part: Write shit down.” Couldn’t agree more. Nicely done. […]
March 25th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Awesome. I was thinking the same thing…but mine was “getting shit done”. The mind sweep becomes “getting your shit together”. etc…. lots of shit instead of “things”
March 26th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
[…] contact 26Mar07 Having trouble with GTD? The intriguing Smallist suggests starting with WSD. […]
March 26th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
[…] for a middle ground between Getting Things Done and Not Getting Things Done? How about this one: Writing S*** Down. Carry a pen and index cards with you all the time and write everything […]
March 26th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
i picked up the GTD book and while i like a lot of the ideas in it, i was completely intimidated by the very first step, which involves setting aside two days to catalog everything! yikes.
i might try WSD… might try that all-ett too!
March 26th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I had my business cards laid out with just my name and number in the lower right hand corner - Lots of room to write things down, and at something like $5 for 500, they might actually be cheaper than index cards.
March 26th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
The business card idea is great! In the old days, calling cards just had a name and number anyway. The best part of that is, if you leave notes somewhere, you might just get them back from a good Samaritan.
March 27th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
[…] over to Smallist to get all the details of WSD. Having trouble with GTD? Try WSD - [Small List] digg_url = […]
March 28th, 2007 at 1:38 am
Thanks for the laugh.
Been writing shit down for ages now, but I always balk at using the ridiculously complicated systems people come up with when using GTD.
Maybe I’m just not busy enough, but I’ll end up spending more time on the system than getting anything done. Hooray for WSD!
March 28th, 2007 at 3:58 am
I’ve saved a stack of old business cards that happen to have a plain white back, making them perfect for note taking. I haven’t yet gotten to the point of using them for taking notes, put the idea of the picopad got me thinking of combining them with a business card holder and a small pen.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:59 am
[…] Source: SmalList.com […]
March 28th, 2007 at 7:51 am
[…] March 28th, 2007 This guy has hit the nail on the head. * Carry a pen with you at all times. And forget the Space Pen. They have mini-pens at Staples which cost less than 2 bucks and they have a hole, which allows them to be placed on a keychain. You can’t write upside-down, but if that’s your biggest personal productivity problem, you’re living a more interesting life than I am. * Carry index cards in your wallet. I use an all-ett for this express purpose, but it’s not for everyone. (although, it’s probably worthy of a post in and of itself; remind me.) So if your wallet doesn’t fit index cards, use something smaller than index cards. You could try this picopad. Whatever, the important thing is that your pen and paper is on your person at all times. * Don’t bother clipping the index cards together like in the hipster pda, if they’re in your wallet. This will serve as a disincentive to reorganize them and flip through them. Those little clips are stiff, and they take up valuable writing space on the front card. * Now here’s the key part: Write shit down. * After this, it becomes simple. Context is determined by where you put the shit you write down. For instance, if it’s for you to do at the computer, put the card on your computer next time you’re there. If it’s at the grocery store, leave it in your wallet. * Tickler files are great for people who have everything on paper. You don’t, or else you wouldn’t need me to tell you to write shit down. Either way, there’s no way you’re going to look through your filing cabinet every day. Try Ben Sinclair’s FutureMail. It’s like having access to a time machine, but without the Oedipal tensions or Libyans. more… […]
March 29th, 2007 at 11:11 am
I’m just happy to have been pointed to the All-Ett. That thing looks great!
March 30th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
I switched from a binder clip to a binder ring.
Hawk Sugano’s blog kindly hosted my pics:
http://pileofindexcards.org/blog/2007/02/23/jons-hipster-pda/
http://pileofindexcards.org/blog/2007/03/02/jons-hipsterpda-22/
Using a binder ring has made a huge difference to me. The cards are so much easier to use. I always have a pen with the cards (I’m now using a paper clip to hold the pen to the ring). I am finally getting things into context. I am finally doing reviews, although not weekly yet.
GTD takes a lot of time to get used to. The more I do it, the more I like it. And when I neglect it, I suffer the consequences. You have to get set up, with ONE system, get rolling, then really really commit to it. I’m getting closer to that.
Cheers,
Jon.
April 1st, 2007 at 2:40 pm
[…] then maybe you need a GTD-lite approach to gain some experience of it first. Or, even better, give WSD a […]
April 2nd, 2007 at 5:56 am
Did you check the pocketMod (http://www.pocketmod.com/). It’s a good way to reuse paper that’s already been printed on one side/
Don’t bother printing all the preset pages. Just create a white pocketMod template to know how to cut and fold it.
You get a wallet size booklet!
April 2nd, 2007 at 9:22 am
[…] a comment to this post, Stephanie writes: Did you check the pocketMod (http://www.pocketmod.com/). It’s a good way to […]
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:25 am
[…] Writing Stuff down This is about as far as I’ve ever gotten with a “productivity” program. But I’ll second it. (tags: gtd wsd Works4Me) […]
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:50 pm
[…] than to elaborate organizational systems. So when after reading my initial draft of the review my editor sent me this link I pretty nearly wet my pants. Very funny and right on target for the likes of organizational whack […]
April 7th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
[…] If you are having troubles with the whole Getting Things Done (GTD) mentality, this is an even simpler method of getting organized. Having trouble with Getting things done (GTD)? Try WSD […]
April 10th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
My first thought upon reading this was, “Who doesn’t do this?” Then the answer came to me in a flash: Most of the disorganized masses.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
[…] Smallist : Small products, small living, the smallest stuff in the world. » Blog Archive » Having … (tags: GTD productivity lifehacks organization writing Humour funny paper humor) […]
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October 29th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
[…] the GTD method escapes you, you can always try the WSD method. Share […]