The physics most of us are familiar with is called Newtonian physics. You can use it to calculate how fast a ball will fall when dropped from the Eiffel tower, where a canon ball will land when shot at a particular angle and all kinds of other useful things. However, if you start dealing with things that are very small or very large, Newtonian physics is no longer accurate.
When dealing with very small things like computer processors, individual photos and other partials, you have to use Quantum Theory to produce meaningful results. When dealing with very large things, distances and objects, you have to use Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. With Newtonian physics, the GPS in your car would be impossible to build.
Most of the normal advice you read about productivity is like Newtonian physics. It is very useful for the normal things in our experience, but it is unusable if you are operating at the edges.
For example, most people believe that writing down all of the tasks you can think of is a good productivity practice and is part of GTD. This is true for most people working normal jobs. However, for people who are extremely productive, there is a fundamental shift in how they work. Keeping track of trivia would only distract them from their larger goals. Also, their accomplishment is based on picking the right things to do and not as much on doing as many tasks as possible.
When you are operating at the edges, be very careful what advice you follow. Just like Eistein had to come up with new theories to deal with very fast and very large objects, you will probably need to discover new (and sometimes unintuitive) rules that work for you.
“…for people who are extremely productive, there is a fundamental shift in how they work. Keeping track of trivia would only distract them from their larger goals. Also, their accomplishment is based on picking the right things to do…”
This is indeed entirely counter-intuitive and demands elaboration, I think.
If the accomplishment of highly productive people is dependent on their picking the right things to do, from what do they pick if not a comprehensive list of tasks/projects? How can “the right things” be chosen if they are not available in the pool of choosables? How exactly do these highly productive people benefit from keeping some things in their heads, and some things outside of their heads?
Thank you for this post. It is a very interesting concept that we often can take the ideologies and methods developed in productivity and apply them to other sciences. I have noticed that productivity involves many sciences like psychology, physics, neurology, as well as my personal favorite of economics.
You briefly mentioned “…for people who are extremely productive, there is a fundamental shift in how they work. Keeping track of trivia would only distract them from their larger goals. Also, their accomplishment is based on picking the right things to do…”.
I wanted to hit your note that extreme productivity is related to the “how” of someone may decipher their tasks, projects, and goals. From here, I think it is very basic: the way in which you translate your lists will create the priorities, and you work throughout the day by working through the priorities on your task list. I think this is what you meant by “their accomplishment is based on picking the right things to do”.
To answer hyperbolist, I think the answer is developed over time. You learn to pick from your lists or task pools based on your goals, your current priorities, and the deadlines coming up. A highly productive person must know his or her goals in order to forward them.
I agree with hyperbolist. GTD doesn’t say write “everything” down. The crux of the matter is write down “everything that matters” so that your mind doesn’t have to remember it later. GTD doesn’t advocate keeping track of “trivia”
@Dustin: “.. A highly productive person must know his or her goals in order to forward them…”
That is absolutely inline with GTD’s 30000 feet view, and not at all anti-GTD :)