Procrastination
GTD reckons that one of the reason why people procastrinate is because:
- what needs to be done has not been clarified enough
- task seems to be too daunting
- worrying about failing
Once you decompose a thought into small enough manageable physical actions grouped into a project, the following happens:
- you can decide if it is something you want to do or not because you had done brainstorming on the thought rather than avoiding just thinking about it
- easier to start the project as all you need to do is do a small action
- you are more likely to do the first action when the context is appropriate
- once started, you go with the flow and don't get blocked by thinking about possible failures
When you plan a thought that way, you will soon realise that many thoughts become small projects. Even buying a birthday present is a project as you first action will be to decide what to buy or the budget!
Add Action, Add Project buttons
You can create project and sub-project using:
- the Process Thought screen: when you define the action, check the "Create a new project". If you add the project to an existing project, it becomes a sub-project
- the Project tree panel: when you are planning or reviewing a project. Once you have selected a project, you can press the Create Project button (F4 key pre-defined), define the sub-project, then press the same key again etc... If the node you have selected is the top "Projects" one, a top project will be created
- the project tree panel: when you right-click on an action (or press the Convert to Project button), you can convert that action into a project. You will perform this operation if you realise that you have not decomposed your action into small enough physical actions
You can create a action using:
- the Process Thought screen: when you process a thought, select actionable and define the action
- the Process Thought screen: when you reprocess an item, select actionable and define the action
- the Project tree panel: when you are planning or reviewing a project. Once you have selected a project, you can press the Create Action button (F3 key pre-defined), define the action, then press the same key again to enter the next action for that project