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Screw GTD: The Simplicity of the To-Do List

My To-Do List GTD… GTD… GTD… I’ve had it with GTD. I’ve tried many times to implement a GTD system to manage my life: classes, personal projects, bills, and all those damned things. Every time, I’ve failed. I’ve tried web-based systems, text-based systems, specialized GTD applications, and each time it’s failed me. Something about it isn’t clicking, and honestly, I’ve had enough. For the past week or so, I’ve been using something dead, stupid simple: a single TextEdit document open on my main desktop, listing the things I need to do for the next week, and when they’re due, or scheduled for. The scariest thing about keeping track of my life this way? It works[1].

Because of this, I’ve begun to consider dropping GTD like a bad habit[2]. There’s some aspects of GTD that I rather like, and have found useful, so I will keep them in one form or another.

  • Collection device always on hand: I know my brain is like a sieve[3], and this at least gives me a bucket to catch things in. I’ve got to work better at emptying it before the top goes all scummy and moldy, and I’m going to quit this metaphor now before things get real bad.

  • Inbox: See above. It’s just great to have a place to put things and keep piles from accumulating… not that I don’t have any piles, but it’s saner with than without.

  • Tickler File: This one I’m keeping, but in a different way. Having a full 43 folders is nearly unmanageable, especially since 90% of them are going to be empty at any time. Because it’s such a mess to deal with, I find myself not bothering to check it, even just to move one folder to the next month. It’s too much for someone with comparatively so little. I’m probably going to switch to a 9 folder tickler: one for each day of the week, one for the next week, and one for things beyond the next two weeks, and see if that’s easier to manage.

  • File Folders: I know if I don’t file stuff, I’ll lose track of it. I’d rather keep my documents in a cabinet than risk them being crushed, lost, torn, or urinated on…[4].

I’m going to drop, though, things like NAs, Project lists, Someday/Maybe lists, and the GTD lifestyle thing. A simple to-do list, keeping track of due dates and things, is more than sufficient. I’ll probably tweak it some, move appointments, and hard landscape stuff to iCal, for example. I’m also thinking about putting the list-thing into VoodooPad Lite, a wonderful desktop wiki application with a UI slightly less minimalist than TextEdit. That way, I can have an overview list and separate wiki-listed pages for information about assignments and the like.

No matter what, however, I’m going to throw off the formalist shackles of the GTD system. It’s too complex, too overmanaged, too… something, for me. Instead, I’ll just focus on WSD instead.


  1. mostly ↩
  2. natch ↩
  3. This musical reference is likely to fly over the heads of all but three or four of you readers… ↩
  4. All of which has happened to various important documents of mine. ↩

One Response to “Screw GTD: The Simplicity of the To-Do List”

  1. I had a week off work recently, and used it to read Getting Things Done, and try and implement as much of it as I found useful.

    I never even attempted to implement the Tickler file, and for recording I simply relied on a jotter with a list of projects/strands at the front, and film tags to index the relevant pages.

    I now carry and use a notepad for ideas.

    I also really like the two minute rule.

    Taking the time to get an automatic labeller, and another file cabinet, and just sort out my personal filing was also really useful.

    The biggest thing I have taken away from it is to think more carefully about how I am making decisions, and allow myself the luxury of time to research, and consider options, rather than always feeling that I need to be plunging into action.