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GTD for Emotions - Imploding the Universe

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Saved by 1 people (0 private), first by anonymouse user on 2006-09-20


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My proposed steps for the Emotional Getting Things Done system:
1. When you begin the system for the first time, write down every emotion that still plagues you from your past (e.g. the death of a loved one), problems that are on your mind about current events or events in the very near future (e.g. worrying about failing that test this week), and problems in the forseeable future (e.g. dilemmas over how to spend your life). The examples that I listed are all bad feelings, but the same should go for happy ones: you are included in a promising opportunity, you just lost 30 lbs, etc.

2. During your day, whenever a meaningful emotion hits you, right it down immediately! "Gee, I sure am pissed that my best friend Billy would say something about <insert person>. I'm going to write down my anger so as to not let it fester and ruin my happiness/productivity." The Hipster PDA would be perfect for this.

3. Process: Look through all of your emotions and decide which are good and which are bad. The good emotions need no next step - throw them away or file them (haha, yeah right). The bad ones need one more step:

4. Resolution or next action: Write down how these emotions could be resolved. For example, if I were processing "I'm incredibly pissed at myself for failing that test," I'd write down, "It's ok. It's only one test. I'll just study harder next time, and I'll be on top of the world again."

5. If a bad emotion takes physical tasks to resolve, then add those steps to your GTD inbox and process them as a normal task. For example, maybe a feeling of guilt could be resolved by calling someone and apologizing - or just talking to a person about your problem in general. Or, maybe you're feeling lonely; schedule some time to spend time with friends!

I have no idea if this will work, but it seems very logical to me. The same idea applied to GTD also applies to this: get things out of your head. Productivity and happiness? That's something I'd love to maintain on a regular basis. It's the GTD equivalent of a journal.

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