Finally, academics also have the added difficulty of having lots of books, articles, etc. -- they've essentially collected their own private mega-library of these things -- and they are rewarded tenure with an office the size of a prison cell. They either need to build a new addition to their home with the pittance they are paid for their work and teaching so they can house all of those rare gems of books and articles they've collected during their lifetime, or they have to split it up between home and office; or they have to cull through it all and throw it out into a pile outside of their office and call out for their understudies and graduates to come by and have their pick. But academics often have a really difficult time purging their shelf space of books they haven't read in over five years or articles they once used in some project. They never know when they're going to need it again to teach a particular class, use it in a book, or need to cite it in some future work; and so they have great hesitation in getting rid of books, purging files, etc.; and yet to be true to the GTD workflow and maintain "mind like water" they simply must develop the habit of regularly purging their files and book shelves.

Discovering these things has not necessarily improved my GTD workflow in academia -- perhaps a bit here or there -- but it has helped to at least diagnose some of the bottlenecks that are endemic to academics who have connected with the principles of GTD but find implementing them in an academic setting to come with some unique difficulties. Apologies for the blitz - back to the dissertation. :(