The freedom that GTD gives

I had an amusing moment when I walked into the office this morning. I looked at my inbox and found a note from the previous evening. Someone had called just before I was about to leave the office and asked me to do something for them - obviously I grabbed my notepad, took the details down, and tossed it in my inbox to be processed first thing this morning. But just for a second my brain was surprised to see the note in my inbox!

I trust my system so well now that I was able to entirely forget about that call, knowing that it had been captured and would be processed in the morning. Pre-GTD I guarantee that a part of my brain would have held onto something, just in case I forgot the following morning.

GTD gives me so much freedom to enjoy life away from my responsibilities, knowing that I have captured what needs to be done and can go back to tasks without the worry of things slipping through the cracks and being missed.

The joy of being able to ignore your lists

I spent a very enjoyable Easter break ignoring my lists and enjoying the freedom that this gives. This may sound strange to those who are less familiar with GTD, but the lists are not a “task-master”. They are a way to make sure that you know what is on your plate and therefore what you are choosing to ignore at a given time. It is liberating to know that everything is there when you are ready to look at it, allowing your mind to concentrate entirely on enjoying a break, rather than having a niggling feeling that there is something that you’ve forgotten.