Get It Done Now

Keep a record of tasks you’ve decided to do.

So I really liked GTD when I read it back in the mid 00s, and it's stuck with me in deep ways. In particular, this insight, but I wouldn't describe it this way. I'd say something like

use a system.

I've phrased it this way because there's more to it than remembering tasks to do. To me the whole core of the book is that building systems that support us set us free. When you have a system you can trust to help you do whatever it is that's import to you, you can relax and get better performance at the same time because you have a system you trust and it does a better job than your brain could on its own.

Fifteen plus years of systematic use of systems changes a person, so my "systems" don't look like they did when I first read GTD. In the beginning I had too much system because I needed extra system in order to be able to trust it. I didn't know quite where the line was between me and the system and which could handle what best. But over time it's evolved into something that works quite well. I don't forget to do anything important, and my mind is not often busy worrying about the unfinished stuff.

So I've gone from specialized tools that were highly customizable to basically just a combo of Gmail, Google Keep, Google Calendar, and Pocket. I dump stuff in, it gets done, it goes out, and I regularly reprocess and review stuff (after doing it enough times, I morphed from scheduled reviews to continuous review). It works for me and the work I have, but something else might work for someone else. There's lots of little details to getting it right, and I think each person has to discover a lot of what works for themselves because we're all slightly differently shaped. Examples of other people's systems are great for inspiration, though!

And interestingly, I find it relates a lot to my schedule. My schedule is just one more system designed to support my life and help make sure I do the things I intended without having to make choices or remember everything all the time. I long resented having a schedule, right up until I realized my schedule could support me rather than force me to do things, and that shift in mindset towards a support system to help rather than a coercive outside imposition made all the difference to increasing my happiness and success at shaping the world.

it includes detailed advice that approximately no one will follow

Hey, I read the book in 2012, and I still have a GTD-ish alphabetical file, GTD-ish desk "inbox", and GTD-ish to-do list. Of course they've all gotten watered down a bit over the years from the religious fervor of the book, but it's still something.

If you decide to eventually do a task that requires less than two minutes to do, that can efficiently be done right now, do it right now.

Robert Pozen Extreme Productivity has a closely-related principle he calls "OHIO"—Only Handle It Once. If you have all the decision-relevant information that you're likely to get, then just decide right away. He gives an example of getting an email invitation to something, checking his calendar, and immediately booking a flight and hotel. I can't say I follow that one very well, but at least I acknowledge it as a goal to aspire to.