we're all just trying to distract ourselves long enough to make it through another day. all this stuff just keeps us from knowing ourselves. :) Hey I do it too. :(

regards

I've found that I've turned into a sort of high-tech Luddite.

My job is very computer-oriented, and has a high degree of connectivity (always on skype, always on email). However, when I find processes that don't require the technology, I have kept it lo-fi.

My entire GTD system is on paper. Project planning is on paper. Notes and logs are on paper. My filing system is paper-based. I tend towards printouts and paper-based document revision.

Most of these changes have not been because of fear or avoidance of technology, but just searching for the simplest, easiest to use, most efficient process for me to get my work done.

Webb, I couldn't have said this better myself. Sounds very familiar.

As far as lofi being perfectionist, it's only perfectionist if you make it so. One of the potential drawbacks (or benefits, depending on how you look at it), is that paper is very customizable and not subject to software limitations. As such, it's almost too easy to be tweaking the system rather than working. I know I'm guilty of this all too often.

Don't forget the fun factor. It's more fun to surf the web looking at pretty fountain pens and reading reviews of various inks on Moleskine paper than actually working, and I have a feeling techies feel the same about different software.

In other words, it's not only perfectionism, but just "this is more interesting than what I'm supposed to be doing, and hey -- I can even tell myself it's important because it's about the system I use to be more efficient!"

As a few others have written here, perfectionism for me is thinly veiled procrastination. If I find the "right" software or the "right" pen, I'll be more productive. If the "right" circumstances arise, I'll find the time to work out. It goes on and on and on. The mind can be a cruel torture implement. I'm at the point now, where I am fed up with all that "could" talk in my head and am plotting out how I will get out of this set of tunnels I dug over the years.

The key is focusing on action and results. For me, the ah-hah moment (which I need regular doeses of) is to ask myself the question, "Who gives a flying frak what technology I use or anyone else uses?! It's what works for me and allows me to move forward that matters." Hi-Fi. Lo-Fi. Mid-Fi. It all boils down to you emptying your head into a system that you habitually use. It is not easy building that system, so gather every drop of information you feel necessary and start building.

I know what you mean about the trap of embellishing/refining a 'perfect' system- it can become a very big distraction from actually putting the system to use. I know I tweak my system more than I'd like to.

However, I think the 'all part of the fun' idea is important- if you have a system you enjoy using, then you're more likely to use it.

I went through a period when I first started GTD where I'd overhaul my system every few days. Lofi. Hifi. Lofi. Moleskine. Index cards. Composition book. Hifi again. Circa . Of course, learning how different systems worked for me was fun. I just can't believe I wasted so much time doing it. Now my tweaks are much more on the minor scale. I've come to accept the fact that it will never be exactly perfect. Planning complex projects is rarely a walk in the park, but I've made it a tolerable and sometimes fun process.