{"id":15551,"date":"2016-12-14T08:58:50","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T16:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?p=15551"},"modified":"2016-12-14T08:59:21","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T16:59:21","slug":"should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I separate personal and professional?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-15552\" src=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" \/>Question:<\/strong> I&#8217;ve recently implemented GTD in my life and it has helped immensely, but I can&#8217;t bring myself to mix work and personal lists. My question is&#8230;is it really necessary to mix personal and work lists? I don&#8217;t want to think of work while I&#8217;m outside of work! (And I don&#8217;t, for the record, as a rule.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coach Julie Ireland:<\/strong>\u00a0This question comes up frequently during coaching sessions, so you&#8217;re not alone! We don&#8217;t necessarily recommend trying to keep a clear point of demarcation between our personal lives and work lives because for most people, that line isn&#8217;t feasible \u2014 e.g., when we&#8217;re at work, we&#8217;re thinking about our kids; and when we&#8217;re at home, we&#8217;re thinking about the meeting we&#8217;re going to the next day. As David Allen has stated many times, it&#8217;s more about &#8220;what&#8217;s next?&#8221; Having said that, due to certain companies&#8217; security regulations, some people are simply not permitted to keep anything personal on their work computers, so they are forced to maintain dual systems.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is that how you want to work\/use your lists truly is a personal preference, and it has to resonate with you. For example, I learned a long time ago that my preference is to keep 2 @computer lists \u2014 @computer-work, and @computer-Julie. I found that during the day, when I&#8217;m at work, I don&#8217;t really want to sort through my personal stuff while I&#8217;m in &#8220;work&#8221; mode. My @computer-Julie list is really more for fun activities that I prefer to do in the evenings, after \u201cwork\u201d hours, so it&#8217;s helpful for me to keep the lists separate.<\/p>\n<p>There really isn&#8217;t a right or wrong here. I recommend giving yourself permission to implement GTD into your life in ways that work best for YOU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I&#8217;ve recently implemented GTD in my life and it has helped immensely, but I can&#8217;t bring myself to mix work and personal lists. My question is&#8230;is it really necessary to mix personal and work lists? I don&#8217;t want to think of work while I&#8217;m outside of work! (And I don&#8217;t, for the record, as &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Should I separate personal and professional?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[716,32],"tags":[108,303,397,774,775,776,777],"class_list":["post-15551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-resources","category-productivity-tips","tag-coaching","tag-julie-ireland","tag-workflow-coaching","tag-gtd-workflow-coaching","tag-gtd-virtual-coaching","tag-personal-vs-professional","tag-worklife-balance","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Separating personal and professional<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GTD Coach Julie Ireland gives advice on separating personal from professional in your GTD system.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should I separate personal and professional?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GTD Coach Julie Ireland gives advice on separating personal from professional in your GTD system.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-14T16:58:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-14T16:59:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"313\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"Should I separate personal and professional?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-14T16:58:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-14T16:59:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/\"},\"wordCount\":321,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"coaching\",\"Julie Ireland\",\"Workflow Coaching\",\"GTD Workflow Coaching\",\"GTD Virtual Coaching\",\"Personal vs. Professional\",\"Work\/Life Balance\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Free Resources\",\"Productivity Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/\",\"name\":\"Separating personal and professional\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-14T16:58:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-14T16:59:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"GTD Coach Julie Ireland gives advice on separating personal from professional in your GTD system.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":313},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should I separate personal and professional?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\",\"description\":\"David Allen&#039;s GTD\u00ae Methodology\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"width\":370,\"height\":338,\"caption\":\"Getting Things Done\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/gtdtimes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\",\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"GTD Times Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Separating personal and professional","description":"GTD Coach Julie Ireland gives advice on separating personal from professional in your GTD system.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Should I separate personal and professional?","og_description":"GTD Coach Julie Ireland gives advice on separating personal from professional in your GTD system.","og_url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/","og_site_name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","article_published_time":"2016-12-14T16:58:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-14T16:59:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":250,"height":313,"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"GTD Times Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gtdtimes","twitter_site":"@gtdtimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GTD Times Staff","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/"},"author":{"name":"GTD Times Staff","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4"},"headline":"Should I separate personal and professional?","datePublished":"2016-12-14T16:58:50+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-14T16:59:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/"},"wordCount":321,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg","keywords":["coaching","Julie Ireland","Workflow Coaching","GTD Workflow Coaching","GTD Virtual Coaching","Personal vs. Professional","Work\/Life Balance"],"articleSection":["Free Resources","Productivity Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/","name":"Separating personal and professional","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg","datePublished":"2016-12-14T16:58:50+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-14T16:59:21+00:00","description":"GTD Coach Julie Ireland gives advice on separating personal from professional in your GTD system.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/julie-e1481734718680.jpg","width":250,"height":313},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/12\/should-i-have-separate-list-for-personal-and-professional\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Should I separate personal and professional?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","description":"David Allen&#039;s GTD\u00ae Methodology","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization","name":"Getting Things Done","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","width":370,"height":338,"caption":"Getting Things Done"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gtdtimes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4","name":"GTD Times Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"GTD Times Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}