From PTO to GTD

I subscribe to RSS feeds for numerous sites that have time-saving and efficiency-enhancing tips and "hacks" (such as these). Popular amongst time-saving sites is the efficiency manifesto Getting Things Done by David Allen. Efficiency super-sites denote this process as "GTD" and tout their "hipster PDAs" (note cards and binder clips arranged in a hierarchical manner) and moleskine notebooks (which I have always pined over--yet have never purchased) as the pathway to the promised land of productivity.

GTD seems like a good idea. It seems like a pseudo-psychological memory-freeing operation in which tasks are taken from the working memory, thus freeing information processing capacity for the task at hand. Simultaneously, a person is easily able to refer to materials to remind themselves of their course of action without slowing down the action. I could very easily be mangling the intent, process or underlying mechanism of this program, but I have not conducted thorough research.

In business, I use formula similar to GTD, but, in my personal life, I prescribe to a different acronym: PTO - Putting Things Off. I have thought for a while about this acronym and finally realized that the antithesis of GTD is embodied in PTO. I am such the procrastinator, I have never put this idea into a readable form until today. My problem is that I do not have a hard time getting things done, bet to begin them in the first place.

I came across this post describing what to purchase to start in GTD and was again tempted by the prospect of doing something. Perhaps I will buy myself a moleskine (and/or the damned book) and then either become insufferably efficient or have ammunition with which to illuminate the problems with GTD's blanket solution for efficiency. I would honestly prefer the former.

Maybe I will even make a Hipster PDA... I could cannibalize the ideas from the original, the DIY Planner and the Meta-Line organizer.

Then again, I could just take a nap...

Categories: GTD, productivity, procrastination