Hey Michael!

I think this is why parts of Covey stuck with me so well. Even though it's not perfect for the day to day (for me at least- that seems to be where GTD excels in leaps and bounds), I find Covey's work to really help me to understand my internal and external larger-habits which will make me better.

Actually, that's sort of why I think Covey does a fine job alongside GTD... 7habits is almost less about productivity than it is about personal growth. Covey has you run through where you think your life is headed etc., and how you want people to remember you, and the concept or Roles (or hats you wear in life)... if you keep in mind where you are headed (say in your weekly review), as well as keep in mind that you should accomplish something in each of your major roles, you'll feel your life is moving forward and you are accomplishing things. If you neglect one of your roles, you will feel as though you are failing. This is one aspect that may be useful in a tickler type of file... figure out what roles your life encompasses... worker, boyfriend/husband, brother, son, etc... perhaps even guitarist in a band, or archer... who knows... but if these roles are important to you, if you fail to accomplish something in them regularly, you'll feel as though you are loosing that aspect of your life, and most likely won't feel whole. Covey's quotes from various fellows he's helped have run along the lines of: "I do a lot all day, I'm so busy, but I'm just not getting anywhere..." If you find yourself in this type of boat, it's likely the "what you're doing" that is the problem.

The one fault I found with Covey, which D.Allen mentions actually, is that it's a top-down approach... you have to go through a large life-compass approach. There is a lot of validity in this type of thinking, and it is very important, but when you get down to the list of phone-calls you have to do, this type of approach gets to be tedious and difficult to do. GTD simply excels in the every-day world. It's a bottom up approach, and I think it's extremely valid to take this approach. It may require us to every once in a while do our top-down type thought-process to ensure we are headed in the right directions. There are a lot more great things in Covey, but this is the most important part for this type of discussion most likely.

Hope this helps a bit!