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Use priorities to plan your time within a single list

jansona Pro says:

My RTM system is GTD-inspired; I wanted a simple way to plan out my day, while avoiding time-consuming tag/list changes. The three core tenants of my system-

- I use a unique tag for each project.
- I use priorities to bubble tasks upward to higher levels of visibility. Hotkeys make this very fast.
--- No priority: A task that will get attention, some day.
--- Priority 3: A "next action" for a project. Most projects have one, occasionally two next actions.
--- Priority 2: Tasks I'm dedicating time to today/soon.
--- Priority 1: Tasks in progress. (includes delegated, waiting on, etc.)
- I have my main list include all tasks due/overdue and all tasks with any priority level, and sort that by priority.
--- (dueBefore:tomorrow OR priority:1 OR priority:2 OR priority:3)

This means that most of my day is spent on a single list, and that list is color-coded so that I can focus on small bits at a time, greatly reducing my mental space. Tasks bubble upward through quick presses of 3, 2, and 1.


During my morning, I spend a few minutes reviewing the entire list, and promote "next actions" to priority 2 until I feel I have an appropriate amount of work for the day. I also mark due tasks as priority 2. (or postpone, etc.) Now, as I need work to do, I pick a priority 2 task, mark it as priority 1, complete it, then move on. If a task becomes stuck (waiting on an email reply, delegated to a coworker, waiting on a program to run, etc.) then I can start a second task and still remember the first. If I run out of priority 2s, I can promote more "next actions". In this way, tasks bubble up the sorted list, and I can focus my attention on a small portion of my todo list at any time.

The only time I need to visit other lists is to move more tasks from "no priority" to a higher priority. How often I do this depends on the project; some projects I do this whenever a task is completed, others I don't bother until my weekly review period. Moving tasks to the main list is as simple as pressing "3". :)

Posted at 6:54am on February 24, 2010

scotto says:

Nice idea and KISS simple. I like it.

Posted 1 year ago

bigbugger says:

I really love this idea, I am only new to this program but I think working from one list is ideal and prioritising :)

Posted 1 year ago

tgl Pro says:

Nice idea jansona!

How do you manage your projects? Do you have a list/smart list for every project you tag?

Posted 1 year ago

folke1883 says:

I use priorities in almost the same way - to bubble tasks upward, and to be able view my tasks chiefly via a single smart lis (called "This Week"), and to tackle these tasks in the right order (top to bottom), but I rely on priorities perhaps even more heavily than jansona:

1) I tend to avoid using due dates at all, unless I really have to. I use due dates mainly for REAL due dates (deadlines set by others, which I cannot influence) and for important reminders, but I do not use due dates as a general scheduling tool.

2) When I review my list(s) (which I do every day, although my smart list covers the full current calendar week Monday-through Sunday) I gradually increase the priority to:

- priority 1 for things that I absolutely need to complete very quickly (like today or very soon - no unnecessary delays, no excuses). These always show up first in my "This Week" smart list, even if they have no due date.

- priority 2 for larger or less time critical tasks that I really need to work away on now, but which I cannot or need not complete right now. These always show up second in my "This Week" smart list, even if they have no due date.

- prioritty 3 for things that are firmly decided, but on hold.

- priority 4 for ideas about possible future tasks.

Priorities 3 and 4 do not show up at all in my "This Week" smart list unless they have a due date this week.

I currently use priority 4 also for a secod purpose - routine reminders with repeating due dates. They will show up at the bottom of my "This Week" smart list. (Had there been more prioriity levels available in RTM, I would have used a level between 3 and 4).

This means that my priority 3, light blue, normally should not show up at all in my "This Week" smart list. I tend to make use of this fact as a warning tool:

Light blue tasks will show up in my "This Week" smart list if it does in fact have a firm due date and I have overlooked it.

Also, more deliberately, I use light blue for certain "waiting for ..." type tasks. For example, if I am sending a letter to someone quite urgently, and I need a response witjhin a week, I first set up "Send X letter" as a red priority (1) until I have sent it, and then change it to a "Follow up X letter" with a light blue priority (3) on a specified date next week. If I get the response promptly I will update my lists accordingly with an appropriate set of actions (and the follow-up action should then disappear), but if I do not get a response and I forget all about it, I will see the light blue warning in my list.

Posted 1 year ago

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