Y'know what upsets me about GTD gurus?

[elfs]

I read all of these how-tos about become more efficient, being more effective. Most of the stuff is straightforward and simple. But then I read about how these guys put their own stuff into practice, the polyphasic sleepers, the "I get to bed at 8:30pm every night without fail" dudes, the "I simplify so that nothing gets between me and accomplishment" people, and I realized today: none of them have children. Or wives. Or girlfriends. Or lives.

Comments

[amberite2112.livejournal.com]

selfish and lonely.
i'd rather leave some things undone.

[urox.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Up In The Air?

Oh, also, my husband and I kept being told that having children would "change our lives." No one ever told us *how* it would change them. Oh how that would have been better if we had known the how.

Truth.

[anh-irrsinn.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I tend to agree. I keep my task lists and calendars and do a reasonable amount of the GTD stuff, but I'm not going to give up dance class to sort files, or quality time with the SO to get in a smidge more coding. And I can't imagine getting *anything* done if I had children. :-)

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Or maybe they're gay (wife/girlfriend-less and childfree)?

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

Yeah, life interferes with routine a whole lot. If you're so inflexible that you can't handle that, you fall down.

Does http://yesthattom.livejournal.com/ fall into your definition of GTD? He's got a book Time Management for System Administrators and while it's focused on sysadmins, most of it is pretty translatable to other tech-centric work. And I happen to know he has a wife, and a life, and yet gets things done, so figured I'd mention it.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. You can be VERY efficient and career-minded when you don't have a family to think about. Move to Switzerland to take a VP position? Just have the movers pick your stuff up and be on the plane in the morning. But when you have wife and kids, life just isn't that simple.

[amberite2112.livejournal.com]

gay doesn't mean you pay less attention to the people in your life.
or that you are partner-less.
just how would having a same-gendered partner free up time?
i am way confused by your apparent lack of logic here.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Well, Elf seems to suggest that these GTD people don't have children, wives or girlfriends. I suggested that perhaps it's because they have chosen a childfree lifestyle and are gay - thus, boyfriends or domestic partners, no wives or girlfriends.

Ironically, David Allen, the guy who gets credit for coining the GTD thing, has been divorced 3 times (thus, married three times, three ex-wives) and started GTD with his fourth wife, Kathryn.

GTD means freeing up your free time to do the things you really want to do: spend time with family, etc. We "waste" so much time which keeps us from doing those things ... which is why a system like GTD that eliminates that waste necessarily means giving us MORE time to do those things.

I think Elf's perception that GTD gurus have no lives is skewed and incorrect, but, whatever.

[codeamazon.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine and his partner who are about our age had a well-crafted life of home, career, partners, etc. They were happy engaged DINKS, in the poly-geek model who were choosing a childless path.

Then they inherited two children from a relative, for an extended if not permanent period.

Reading their blogs about adjusting to sudden parenthood has been FASCINATING. They're trying out all those lovely notions about parenting that progressive non/pre-parents often have, and finding out what works and what doesn't. They're discovering that not taking a bit of work home at night is affecting careers. They're exhausted and wondering when it will improve.

I'm really impressed with how well they're adjusting, but it's been perhaps a unique glimpse into how VERY different the world is when you have kids.

[abostick59.livejournal.com]

That's not a bug, it's a feature.

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

Elf, I think your real problem here is that you *really want* to do more in a 24 hour period than could possibly be encompassed in a 48 hour period even by the best of GTD gurus. ;p