In my planner there is a roadmap starting with a wishlist organized by time categories: 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, and lifetime. Once I have filled those out the first time around, the next steps are: prioritize, visualize, add specifics, strategize, schedule, work at it. Exhausting! It sounds like a New Year's resolution plan, that will last only a few months. It is the proverbial exercise class. People fill up the aerobics classes and exercise machines for the first 2-3 months. By April, attendance has shrunk and by June you can pick any machine you want, anytime. 

It took me 81 years to figure it out ... Last week I wrote about David Allen's levels. I am already tired of just reading that again. That's not how life works.  We got a quick lunch today, so we would be here in time, but when we get home, I still have to do the dishes. That is not on my "wishlist". How big is your e-mail list? Is your desk cleaned off, ready for your next project? Mine isn't! I keep papers lying around so I won't forget. 

Filling in that "Ground Level" as to what tasks that include, I realized there are many things in life we have to do. My bed does not get made up by itself. The clothes I have worn for exercise are a bit raunchy, but don't get clean by themself. My car does not get serviced unless I get it to the shop. Big jobs? No, but they are not exactly on my "wish list".  When I go back and schedule the tasks from my "wish list" it looks good, but by the middle of the week I am frustrated because I am not as far as planned. Other things get in the way. Things I have not planned for. Granted, some of those I could not have for-seen, but I did not allow time for them in my plan. 

The four categories in the first sentence seem to be comparable to four levels, but the lifetime level can also include the ground level because I learned washing dishes from my mother, probably before I even was a teenager, and I am still washing dishes. No system is perfect. Many systems are right because mathematically ... etc. Why bother spending time on that? 

Making a list for each of those levels triggers my thinking process. Making those lists requires me to select what to put where, and why. I justify time spent on that by gaining insight. It does something more. When I look at those lists, it makes sense why I cannot implement my wish list as fast as I would like. It reminds me I have responsibilities. When I feel like I am lost, not making enough progress, not able to decide what to do next, looking at those lists will remind me what I should do or like to do, next. 

Believe it or not, but as a little boy I was teased for being fat. I was overweight! I did not like to be called fat boy. At 17, or 18, I lived in Haarlem, Netherlands, because the school I attended was there. Maybe it was through a girlfriend I had, that I got involved in skulling. Don't remember... You start in a wherry, which is a pretty wide boat for two rowers and a steer. From there you graduate to a four-with-one-oar each. Then it depends on the individual where you end up. I ended up in a skiff most of the time, but got in an eight as well, and a two with one oar each, which is the most difficult boat to balance. I did participate in races, but that required discipline. During the season, spring, summer, and a bit of the fall, no drinking, no smoking, and no girls. Well, the latter was somewhat ok... That is where I learned discipline. Later in life, I started bicycling because running turned into a hurt nerve in my right thigh. I also followed aerobic classes. My point is: I cannot identify with people not so lucky to be able to do all that. For a long time I believed that if people would be more disciplined, they could do a lot more. I still believe 50% of people can do better, physically. That is why I admire Jerry-Jo and  Lynn coming up with renewed exercises for 2024. Their objective: use weights one size heavier than you are used to. I am physically in better shape than residents 10 years younger. Everyone is different, so I cannot brag but believe discipline has played a big role. 

1.  My point? Progress gets stretched out over a long time, for some projects. 
2.  No program is perfect. You can keep looking forever, or scan the subject and quickly pass up on steps you have already taken. "What are you trying to accomplish? ... is a for-ever question.
3. Replace the exercise story with: filing documents once / week. In one paragraph describe the steps, just like the exercise story. Conclusion will be the same: discipline.
4. Replace filing documents once /  week with ..... Conclusion will be the same: .....  You got it.