/var/log/geek

A month or so ago, I was looking into the massive cluster-fuck I call my day-to-day existence, and thought about alternatives. While thinking about different ways to "organize," "prioritize," "make life easier," and other monikers yelled from Internet mountain tops, I thought about GTD (Get Things Done). Holy shit! I need to see what has been done on 43Folders recently.

43Folders is a great site (created by Merlin Mann) based around the "getting things done" model proposed by David Allen in his book "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity." 

While reading some entries on 43folders, I decided it was time to dive in. I needed to be more productive, less stressed. I was going to go all in. I had nothing but spare time to lose, and seemingly everything to gain. I was going all in, balls to the wall, wide-fucking open, going all the way. I bought David Allen's GTD audio book and rented "The Complete Idiot's Guide to: Getting Things Done" from the local library. I has aspirations of being a getting shit done ninja.

To understand the hurdles between me and accomplishing this feat, one only has to watch me attempt this blog entry. I started this entry nearly twenty minutes ago. I realize how sad that is, but my obsession with perfection is so overbearing that I can't stand to attempt learning to touch type. I am so tied to not making a mistake that I have taught myself this weird four finger thumb method of typing, that also incorporates a science of watching both the keyboard and screen simultaneously. It's almost sickening how I've mutated mundane tasks to fit my mental illness. This also doesn't take into account that I'm also fucking with iTunes, talking to Tara, listening to the hundreds of voices in my head, and contemplating my blog entry for the Colt's loss in tonight's SuperBowl. Are we noticing a trending pattern?

Long story short, I listened to the audio book while studying the accompanying PDF, read the idiot's guide, as well as looked into some stuff on 43folders, as well as LifeHacker. I gave it my all. I tried putting all of these ideas into play. An inbox, an incubator, and a reference file, I tried to force all aspects of this thought process into my daily existence. I even tried working Gina Trapani's "todo.sh/todo.txt" into a rails application that I could run in Safari, so I could break down things into a manageable webpage. I think I may have jumped the shark with that one. It was the last straw. I spent more time working on that project than I think I could have saved utilizing it. 

At the end of the day, I believe a number of my quirks kept this from being a fruitful venture. Possibly, my ADD kept me from fully absorbing all of the material I set in front of me. I also think that a lot of the "set it and forget it" methods based in the Inbox theory were fought tooth and nail by my OCD. Ask anyone who has had the privilege of me working on their computer/car/bicycle/etc.. I have a hard time not setting up their things the way I think they should be, and not argue that their way is fucked up. 

I took some things from GTD, and I'll add in some of my own. I suggest that others look into it, even though it didn't completely work for me.