I've been slowly working my way through Getting Things Done lately, partly on the heels of seeing idiomdrottning write about it.
The book is potentially useful, though I had to return it to my library before I could finish, but it's also just the latest piece of self-help I've read over the past few months with the goal of simplifying my life and get more done on the goals I have. But there's a deeper issue that I need to address that no amount of organizing will solve - when it comes to learning new skills, I often lose steam after the first few accomplishments (the easy ones) and then feel stress when I don't pick up something super easily. I'm also bad at doing things that I feel are tedious.
As an example, I'm working my way through an online certificate course. I did great the first week, doing a little each day and generally setting a good pace, but I've fallen off in the last couple of weeks. I'll get a little done here and there, but I don't have the steam to push through the tedious parts of the reading and doing exercises that I theoretically should be able to do easily.
I also have a lot of stress around trying to do something new. I faced this in playing Homeworld yesterday, of all things. I'm not typically a strategy game player - trying to play the game requires a certain amount of meta-management that the games I typically play don't require, so it's a new skill. And I'm reluctant to do things I'm not good at - I think it bruises my self-worth a bit, since I put so much emphasis and self-value on being good at the things I do.
Getting Things Done draws its value from clearing the clutter out and organizing you so that you can focus on the One Thing you are doing right now, but that's not really my issue. I'm fairly organized as a rule already, I just don't follow through on the things I plan out. I've made new plans over and over, it should be clear now that making a new plan won't solve the issues I face.