The Unbelievability of GTD

[elfs]

One of the things that happens (to me, at least) with GTD is that I find myself at a loose end precisely because the To-Do list is empty. I reach the stage where I have nothing to be anxious about; everything is under control. When this happens, though, I get anxious again: I must be missing something. And because I must be missing something, the system isn't working. And since the system isn't working, I stop using it, and boom, the old (and comfortably familiar) anxiety comes back.

I find I do the same thing with programming. Although I'm not allowed to use Literate Programming by fiat where I work, there are LP techniques that I can apply to everyday programming. But I don't use them until I'm at my wit's end ("You are in a maze of twisty passages, all different") and remember "Oh, yeah, go literate, comment heavily, when you're stuck you've found out where something is wrong."

It's really annoying. I must find a way to stop thinking these ways.