As I continue to grow in my use of GTD, I’m discovering just how important the trust factor with your system can be. David Allen says that you need to really trust your system for it to work. You can say you trust it all you want, but that’s irrelevant. When it comes down to it, a trusted system works and a semi-trusted system doesn’t.
So what does it mean to really trust your system? I have a few thoughts.
Trust it like a Christian should trust God
You may or may not believe in God, but the point still works. Andy Stanley gave a great analogy for how a Christian should trust in God. He held up the stool he was sitting on and said to trust in it. To trust in the stool means to sit ON it. Not on the edge. Not with your feet on the ground a little bit. On it with your full weight. You might be nervous at first, but over time you’ll learn to trust the stool completely.
Trust it like you should trust your spouse
If you’ve been married, you can understand this. Saying you trust your spouse is one thing. Really trusting your spouse is another. For a marriage to really work, you need to completely trust in your spouse.
GTD is the same way
If you don’t really trust the system, then you can never have a “mind like water”. I’ve found that as I’ve learned the system works and I can trust it, anything I put into it is instantly out of my head. Getting the junk out of your head is the key to focusing on the task at hand, and GTD is a great way to get it done. Whether you use software, a website, your PDA or just pen and paper, make sure you use a system that you can trust completely.
