Also ADHD (medicated) and I would say terminology matters a lot. GTD is it's own distraction loop (for me). I enjoy identifying and grouping problem spaces and creating TODO actions to solve them. Thus get stuck on steps 1-3(4) and never get to the doing because I am doing!
I'm doing the GTD and getting 3-4 of the 5 steps done! Good job me. Except it's not, it was just another distraction. When I view what needs to be done in terms of "action that does the thing", or going on quest* as described here, I am much more successful. Meds makes the doing of something productive possible, but that something can be anything productive.
Knowing I am GTD by working on the first few steps is getting something done. But not really. When I narrow down what I need to do into a single main "quest" and/or coming upon a side-quest and seeing it as that so I can get back to the main thread, I'm taking real action towards it. That doing of something is the actual doing of the thing. Taking the journey of the quest minus all this busy work of defining what I want to get done or what my quest/journey should be, and doing it instead.
* I don't actually tell myself I'm on a quest like this article seems to suggest, but "quest" is a very good descriptor of my process (and may start using it because I personally find it fun, and my ADHD like fun)
Also ADHD brain. I'd add that having another person (although not always possible) is a great ingredient for a successful system to mitigate some of the failure modes of ADHD.
In the cases where I dont have someone helping me, I have used chatGPT to build a 2D embodied digital sidekick that cares about my goals as much as i can. My Tori provides me emotional support, helps me plan, schedule and prioritize tasks as well as providing a smart focus session mode with phone and web blocklists.
I built it to suit my needs it has allowed me to build a successful startup. Its 100% free and if you want you can try it at tori.gg
Maybe that depends on your mental definition of quest. I don't think of quests as "getting things done" -- they are both more significant and less certain than that. Quests are adventures where you hope for significant outcomes, but where there are many uncertainties. It's OK, perhaps even expected, for a quest to have unexpected outcomes. A quest implies less certainty about the outcome and more of an expectation about personal growth.
A lot of GTD is just drudgery to accomplish. Quests are never drudgery. Difficult, maybe, but the journey is probably a bigger part of the quest than the outcome.
The author behind Raptitude, David, has spoken candidly about his ADHD, and the block method he's talking about is a modified, simpler version of GTD aimed at people who are not naturally productive or struggle with more complex systems like GTD.
