How I learned to suck less at GTD

The post argues that GTD becomes hard to maintain when overdue tasks pile up and the weekly review gets skipped. The writer says the fix came from making the review habit something to look forward to and from being much stricter about what goes on the list.

Reading notes

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• GTD means capturing all open loops outside your head, deleting what is no longer relevant, delegating what you can, and identifying the next concrete action for what remains.
• The writer says the system works better when life is calm, but breaks down when busyness makes overdue tasks accumulate.
• The Weekly Review is described as a crucial part of GTD and as the key to long-term stress relief.
• The writer uses temptation bundling by pairing the weekly review with coffee shop time and a book, which makes the review easier to keep up.
• A clear weekly review makes the writer more likely to check the to-do list during the day.
• The writer says prioritization should be ruthless because people underestimate time and resources and often overcommit.
• Every new project has an opportunity cost because time and energy are finite.
• The post says a task on the to-do list does not have to be done if circumstances change.
• It also says a request from someone else does not require an automatic yes.
• If asked to take on more work, the writer suggests asking what should be deprioritized instead.
• If saying no is hard, the writer suggests saying there is a need to check the calendar and reply later.
• The post says attractive opportunities can trigger FOMO and lead to too many yeses.
• It says rescheduling tasks for later is acceptable and can prevent guilt and anxiety from taking over the task manager.
• The writer asks readers to share their highest number of overdue tasks and one change they will try to make their GTD system more sustainable.