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43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

the essence of GTD

If there was only one aspect of the GTD you could pass on to someone else, what would that be? What is its starting point as it were.

sabreuse's picture

For me, it's "write down...

stevecooper wrote:
For me, it's "write down _everything_ you're committed to"

And I'll tell you why; when I only write down 'worthy' or 'important' things, I know the list isn't complete, so I know I can't use it as a total inventory. When I write down the rubbish as well, I can trust it.


Even though this isn't my one essential thing, I agree with you -- I find that if I try to make the distinction between what's important and what's not, I'm already implicitly saying (if only to myself) that the unwritten stuff won't get done. And that's not to mention the fact that what's not written down takes a disproportionate amount of time and energy when it nags at me and I have to scrounge around in my mind to remember what I had to do -- a lot of overhead for what wasn't "important" to begin with.

 
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