GTD and scheduling

In an earlier posting I wondered out loud if the GTD methodology was incompatible with school. My work with To Do lists seemed to be getting me no where in my school work.

Upon further reflection, I think I have found the reason why it did not work. For me GTD is about a To Do list that is generated based on very small tasks that need doing in the near future (i.e. the next things for me to do). As a result of this, I never fully implemented the calendar part of the GTD system. The calendar/tickler works by “remembering” things for you that will happen in the future. Since I was only concerned about the near future, I’ve never really done anything with the calendar.

School is built around calendars. Everything, every lesson, every test, is scheduled on a calendar. Combining this information with the topics being covered in the class can yield a To Do list that is several weeks out.

Most people probably know this as a syllabus. One day I’ll learn to look at it.