One of the things I found with GTD is that I get items Off my mind but onto lists, where they continue to haunt me. The system hovers like a spectre – still saying “I need to be done”.
The system hovers like a spectre.
Ruthlessness in reviews may be the answer.
These ideas are things we gave birth to! Was it Cronos who killed his children and ate them? One of the fathers of the Gods? Maybe if we followed his example we’d have more time! (Bad pun)
The trouble is that if I knock them off they might just get back into my mind…
Arggg!
I like this entry in a discussion I found on this. Not only the Sometime/Maybe list either, all projects… I will see how it goes in the reviews in the next few months…
During your weekly review, you should be pruning items off of the someday/maybe list. If something no longer has the relevance it once did, or if you feel the value of completing it is outweighed by the stress of having it on a list, then deleted it; kill it; destroy it; obliterate it from your consciousness. Then feel good that you have said, “once and for all, NO. I am NOT going to do that. I don’t have the time or energy to spend another moment thinking about this thing that has no value in my life”.
Edit: If you promised someone else that you WOULD do that thing, then be sure to tell them that you no longer plan to do it.