Yes I can see that happening, but do you also get stressed out by a long list of things to do? This maybe leads to avoiding the todos and then you are worse off for making a list in the first place?
For me it’s the opposite. Knowing that I have things to do but not having them written down in one place makes me anxious. Once I reliably started tracking everything (in Trello), that anxiety went away. I feel free to focus 100% on the task in front of me, without worrying about keeping the next tasks in my head.
Yes. My strategy is to do a daily review. In the first few minutes of the day, I pull maybe 14 tasks out of the big list and into a Today list. Then I see only a manageable number the rest of the day.
I don't. I've got the rest of my life to tackle some tasks on my list. I have deadlines and personal priorities, which naturally float to the top of those lists, but until I decide that I'll never do one of them, I just let them fall to the bottom of the list. No big deal.
No. Even without a list I'd still have all these things to do. Having a list doesn't change anything except I don't have to stress about remembering and forgetting.
Easy, I just make a list of things to do. I also use a calendar.
Seriously though, I'm just annoyed by some aspects of them:
1. I feel spread too thin: item 1 doesn't get the attention it deserves because I was thinking of doing item 2. The GTD book itself seems to say, "I'm a victim of this problem."
2. The longer an item stays on a list the less likely I am to do it.
3. I'm annoyed by having a long list of things to do.
4. I was optimistic when I made the list, but later when I'm doing things I become more pessimistic.
5. I like the days when I lose track of time and suddenly
it's 17:00 when I thought it was 11:00. I don't usually have that kind of day when I operate from a list.
Re 2: When I have something that's been stuck in my todo for a long time, I drop it or I push it through in a weekend or similar short period of time. Why? I drop it because it either wasn't important or I missed the deadline. If I keep it it's still important and I up its priority.
Re 3: This motivates me to reduce and focus. I stopped agreeing to obligations from other people if I didn't actually want to do it, need to do it, or if other things had higher priority. I started setting aside daily time for a specific task (before I socialize with friends during the week, I usually show up early with a book I want to read).
Re 5: I still get these, even working from a list. In fact, thanks to 2 and 3 I feel like it happens more often. Because when I sit down to do something, I can be confident I'm not forgetting something else that needs to be done first.
