Reset your task list
Dealing with an out of control task list
David Allen’s blockbuster self-help book Getting Things Done explained everything perfectly, but putting it into practise caused problems.
One of the key pieces of advice is in the book is about complete capture. The idea is that by capturing everything, we can
If you have let’s say 500+ items in your todo app you might be stuck in one or both of these states:
- Spending an absurd amount of time organising all the tasks
- Avoiding to open the task app all together due to the anxiety if gives you
In both senarios your not getting the actual tasks done.
My new strategy when I find myself in this situation is to archive everything and starting over. I don’t delete the items because I like the knowledge that I could come back and reference them later if I ever wanted to, although I know it’s extremely unlikely.
A clean slate resparks my motivation, makes me focus on my tasks and allow me to test new structures to manage my work (with the knowledge of what failed last time) that are almost impossible to implement once things get out of control.