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Getting Things Done is a Scam (And How to Actually Plan Your Life)

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By Wingston Sharon Wilson
1 min read

I have a confession. I have spent approximately $5,000 on productivity apps in my life.

OmniFocus. Things. Todoist. Notion. Roam. Obsidian. Trello. Jira (shudder).

I was chasing the Dragon. The Zero Inbox Dragon.

I thought: “If I just find the right tool, and the right tagging system, I will finally be on top of everything. I will be calm. I will be a god.”

Spoiler alert: It doesn’t work.

You can’t organize your way out of the fact that you have infinite desires and finite time.

The Productivity Ponzi Scheme

Most productivity advice is a Ponzi scheme. It borrows time from your future self to pay off your current anxiety. “Just work harder now, and you’ll relax later.”

Future You is going to be just as tired and just as busy as Present You. Probably more so, because Present You keeps committing them to stuff.

The Workshop: Planning for the End

This workshop is actually about Death. (Cheery, I know.)

It’s about realizng that your time is finite. You are going to die with emails in your inbox. You are going to die with uncommitted code on your laptop.

Once you accept that, you can start Conscious Planning.

The Framework: Integral Theory (AQAL)

We don’t just look at the It (The To-Do List). We look at the I (The Internal State).

  • Exterior: “finish_report.pdf” (Due Friday)
  • Interior: “I am terrified of writing this report because I feel like a fraud.”

If you don’t address the Interior, the Exterior won’t happen. You’ll procrastinate. You’ll clean your kitchen. You’ll organize your bookshelf by color.

Shadow Work: Why Are You Busy?

We ask the rude questions:

  • What are you avoiding by working 60 hours a week?
  • Is it your marriage?
  • Is it the silence in your own head?
  • Is it the feeling of insignificance?

Who is this for?

  • People who have “GTD” as a trauma trigger.
  • Project Managers who secretly hate Gantt charts.
  • Anyone who suspects that “Inbox Zero” is actually a form of spiritual bypassing.

Stop the Madness

Warning: May result in deleting Todoist and taking a nap.

workshops, presentations
conscious-planning-workshop integral-time-management mindful-productivity shadow-work-busyness AQAL-project-planning overwhelm-recovery perfectionism-workshop values-based-planning energetic-time-management
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