Hi Folks,

I wrote the article brianogilvie linked to comparing Mission Control and GTD (thanks!), and I wanted to chime in on the discussion.

> whether you think the courses are worth the US $150-300 that the online courses cost?

I'd ask what's currently holding you back in your practice that makes you want to take some training. Have you been practicing GTD? What parts aren't working well for you? What have you tried to fix them? (If you have specific questions, please email me at info@matthewcornell.org so I don't miss them here.)

> whether there is a limit to one's ability to process your context lists on the fly and only schedule day-specific next actions

I definitely think there's a limit. In fact, I identified that as one of the 10 GTD "holes".

After some further study and self-experimentation I'm now teaching all clients a daily planning variation that's compatible with GTD and the like. This gets around the problem (and overwhelm) of looking through long action lists multiple times throughout the day. I find it's a nice tool for making solid progress, and helps gain a bit of the perspective David Allen is shooting for with his idea of a weekly review.

More here if you're interested: A Daily Planning Experiment: Two Weeks Of Accountable Rigorous Action.

> schedule specific time to clear out those sets of actions that I discover I've avoided during weekly review

I think this is a terrific idea. Julie Morgenstern calls these "Time Maps," and they're a good practice. My clients use them for making time for types of activities like planning, reading, and MBWA (e.g., here).

> I can vouch for the language of "accomplishment"

For me this *really* got in the way of adopting the work. It had a strong cultish flavor to it (again, this is my reaction to it) which I'm told comes from its Landmark Forum connections. Bugged the hell out of me, though the facilitators thought that was fine - good, in fact. Language *is* important, though...

> schedule every single action

Since my writing, I've not gone all the way and tried this extreme step. Up until this step, MC and GTD have a very high degree of overlap. As mentioned above, they diverge here - MC says schedule it all, and GTD says keep the list. My daily list approach is a compromise that works for me.

Hope that helps!

(Sidebar: I *tried* to adopt OF - really hard, in fact. But I simply couldn't wrap my head around it. Yes, I gave it time, but it wasn't a good mental fit. This is ironic since I teach this stuff. Very cool tool, though. I have clients who are really productivity with it.)