43 Folders

Back to Work

Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

Join us via RSS, iTunes, or at 5by5.tv.

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Discrete-izing amorphous blobs

There is one part where I end up not knowing what to do with GTD. And that's when I can't figure out a way to break down my 'next action' into discrete actionable tasks. At the risk of being too abstruse, these are tasks that you 'measure like water' -- one part flows into the next too smoothly; you can't count the individual drops.

For example:

If I'm reading a book for research, my next action might be 'read chapter 3.' But I could read half of chapter 3; I could read a quarter of chapter 3; I could read all of chapter 3 and go on to 4; and the line between one chapter and another is totally arbitrary anyway. In terms of thinking of a discrete action, it might make more sense to view reading the whole book as a discrete action (albeit one that might take me several hours over the course of a week).

When I am in the midst of writing fiction, in one session I usually write until I get tired or bored, or don't know what's going to happen next. I can make discrete goals for myself - 'write the scene where she finds out her bike has been stolen' - but I generally don't follow them anyway.

Come to think of it, most of my concerns are about either (1) long actions that are hard to divide, except arbitrarily, into shorter ones; (2) things that should be habits but aren't. It's more of the same, over and over; and do you really put them on your next action list over and over and over?

CuriousGeorgeGuy's picture

Agree...

Yes, I'm having that problem currently. I'm working on a "literature review" and aside from "read 100 articles and summarize them" I'm not sure how to break that up into steps. I mean the review of the articles is one step. Writing up the literature review is a second step. But all in all, I don't have to do a lot of thinking, planning, etc., I just need to do it.

I think, though, there are two possibilities. One is we're thinking too narrowly. In addition to all of that we all still have to go by the grocery store, e-mail so-and-so, pay such and such bill, etc. I think that's where GTD helps -- "horizontally" I believe is the word. Vertically it probably depends on the project.

What augmentedfourth is implying is important too. If you set a specific goal of reading "at least chapter 3" or "review/summarize at least 10 articles tonight" then I think that's how those kinds of things can be managed. I think it's a matter of holding yourself accountable for making progress on your "project" whatever that project might be. But I don't think anywhere anyone says if you find you can finish your project in one sitting that you're not allowed to.

In sum, I think it's a matter of finding what works for you! Does any of this help?

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

Popular
Today

Popular
Classics

An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »