Just Do The Worm

 

 

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Introduction:

Mind worms are not just songs stuck in your head. They are uncaptured next actions, un-clarified projects, recurring next actions, and freshly hatched thoughts needing capture. Mind worms should be no big deal, GTDers will catch them every Friday when conducting their weekly review. Except, for me, I’m always falling off the wagon about weekly reviews.  

RestartGTD:

So, one way I restart GTD is to do mind-worm-sweeps. I find that mind worm sweeps are best done in the shower (Raise your brain temperature 1 degree, double your efficiency in thinking!) first thing in the morning. I use a Scuba Slate under water writing tablet, if I have more than a couple of mind worms. 

Normally, one big mind worm to start off the day will arise as the water heats up my frontal lobes. Then, I knock the mind worm off first thing.

The Tradeoff:

The essence of a mind worm is that you spend more time worrying, not-forgetting, and generally fussing about the worm, than it would take to do the worm. Consequently, when you do the worm … for free, a sense of relief floods you. Today I knocked off two mind-worms and then realized I should drop my other projects and post this. 

Been putting off calling your father to check in? Putting off is more work than doing, so “just do the worm.” 

The End:

So, what are you dreading? Write down the worm. Then do the worm! Then feel the relief. GTD all over again!  

bill meade 

RestartGTD is a blog about getting back on the GETTING THINGS DONE bandwagon after falling off. RestartGTD best viewed posts are about four subjects: