[Rickard B]

Regardless if you are a strict GTD follower or somewhat loosely do GTD or something else, It seems that we all just loose our focus.

A believer in daily task planning will fail to do this, eventually.

A believer i GTD will fail to do a weekly review, eventually.

Why is this happening? What signal are we ignoring from our brains when akrasia "surprises" us with a in the face. Because its not really a surprise is it? It seems to happen regularly, to all of us.

Common psychological responses due to this; "My system is wrong" "The menu bar has the wrong color" "Thing vs. OmniFocus" "I need more contexts" I need less contexts" "My stuff isn't clarified" "Need goals" and so on. But when motivated all is peaches. A wrinkled paper and a pink crayon would be sufficient and quite effective.

Conclusion; When motivated all is good. When not, nothing can bring us back (seemingly). But somehow we come back... how and why?

So, why is this happening? What are the "moving bits" of falling of the wagon and getting back?

I can not for the life of me figure out the cause/effect of this.

[Rickard B]

Come to think about it, I fall of LESS (but not much) regularly each time I "perfect" my system. Which would motivate the "need for improvement" behavior, but is this enough to explain the phenomena and isn't the strive for perfection a never ending game which will be more difficult every time?

Maybe someone has that killer-idea that would end this cycle?

[wilsonng]

It happens. We all fall down in life. Just get yourself off the floor and start again. This is the flow of life and nature. Everybody has the ups and downs of life.

One major reason for me falling off the bandwagon is that I get too many projects entered into OmniFocus and the projects/task list is very long.

When overwhelmed, I run away to a coffee shop and start going through my OmniFocus database and do a mini-review. I put every project to "On Hold" status and re-activate the projects (set status to "Active") that I think are important and must be done within the next 7 days. I double-check the projects/tasks to see if the due dates are real or fake. I erase the fake due dates but keep/revise the real due dates on the tasks and projects. I also flag a small number of tasks/projects to bring it to my attention in my Today perspective.

I also try to simplify my life by delegating projects and tasks to other who are better skilled or have more time/energy for a project. I also try to delete all the projects that I de-prioritised and no longer think are essential. I don't want dead weight and dead projects that will clutter up OmniFocus.

I keep my next actions list very focused by looking at my Today Perspective. This perspective has only due or flagged tasks. This is the only list I work on. Most of the time, I'll just print this perspective and quit OmniFocus. I'll work only on the tasks that are on this list and check off tasks here. Sometimes, I'll just check it off in OmniFocus for iOS app. I'll re-open OmniFocus on my Mac only to make changes.

When I keep my projects and tasks small, I am better at staying on the bandwagon.

When I got off the bandwagon, I go back to the coffee shop and do the mini-review again.

[wilsonng]

Here is an interesting read if you've fallen off the GTD bandwagon (or any bandwagon) and restart your system again:

http://www.asianefficiency.com/task-...nifocus-setup/

[Rickard B]

Thanks! Im actually doing a reboot now. Its gonna be the most crazy system ever! :)