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Ev Williams: Achieving balance with GTD
Merlin Mann | Nov 27 2005
evhead: Ten Rules for Web Startups Ev's ten rules for a startup are all strong, but #10 particularly caught my eye:
Right on. Slightly off-topic, but on my mind...as I commented earlier today, I'm finding myself increasingly uncomfortable framing techniques like GTD strictly in terms of "productivity" (although the ability to be more efficient and productive is definitely a nice perk). GTD fights stress not by transforming you into a drone or a brainless corporate cog, but by affording a framework for recovering and maintaining smart focus. What you do with that focus is entirely your affair -- clearly people will use it for everything from building a very swell startup to managing their music career and beyond. Gratefully, nowhere does The David say you have to turn into an enormous-toothed White Guy running sales seminars at the La Quinta Inn. In any case, when we're doing GTD right, Ev is right on the money: balance is sewn into every stitch of your week. Even two years into using GTD, I have to say I'm still pleased -- and sometimes even surprised -- at how well it still works for me. Whenever I fall off the horse, I'm usually just a mini-review away from feeling retuned to my priorities and commitments. I agree with Ev; it's powerful stuff. I do wonder if there's a better term for GTD's goals and methods than simply "productivity" or even "time management" What do you think? Does it matter? 19 Comments
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 I'd love a better term...Submitted by Amy (not verified) on November 28, 2005 - 4:41am.
I'd love a better term -- the more I work on managing my life, the more I'm convinced that the real benefit isn't time and money, or even work at all. It's about losing stress and gaining focus. Finding a life that works better, as opposed to a better work life. For that matter (maybe heretically) this whole project isn't really about GTD either. I've found more useful stuff there than in any other system I've tried, but I can't quite drink the purple Kool-Aid. If one of the big lessons is that you have to build a system that works for you, then that has to include not spending a ton of time fretting about whether you're implementing the system right. The label is important, and "productivity" is wide of the mark. "Life management" works better than "time management"; "life hacking" hit me with an instant "yes, that's it!" the first time I heard the term, but it's come to mean something that's not quite the same. » POSTED IN:
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