Like many people I’m a fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) organisation and productivity system. However it’s not quite perfect for me – fortunately it’s flexible enough to be personalised.

The problem I have is with “Context”, and from what I’ve read I’m not the only one. The idea of the Context is a good one that probably works well in a traditional office. It might be a place you need to be (eg client site or broom cupboard) a person you need to see (eg boss or someone important) or an object you need to have (monthly sales figures, key to stationery cupboard, etc). This model doesn’t work so well for those of us who work at home for ourselves. My main conext for the day is simply “Mac”. I’ve tried splitting this into things like “Mac: research”, “Mac: email”, “Mac: fun” etc but this feels like a fudge.

I could just drop the idea of context completely, however most of the GTD software tools out there support it so it seemed more sensible to try and make some use of it.

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Motivation can be a tricky thing at the best of times. Even when we’re powerfully motivated that feeling can dissolve like a whisp of smoke.

A common example of this – at least for me – is the reaction just after achieving something, some sort of milestone or interim goal.

Logically I’m on a roll and should be able to follow through. However the time just after a major achievement is often when my motivation is most at risk. It’s almost as if my subconscious is saying “Go on, take a break, you’ve earned it”. Or, less positively, “Was that it? Was it really worth the effort?”

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