College: Using Priorities as Projects
(closed account) says:
I'm one of the many students using Remember The Milk and I'd like to share of the way I use the website to manage my school life.
To start: school - each class gets it's own list. Then I can easily use a Smart List to see all things I have going on in school (using list: AND list:). Then when the syllabus is issued, I write in all Tests, Quizzes, Homework, etc that I have for the semester. I'll get to priorities and tags in a bit, but this is essential so I don't forget anything when I look at the School list for any future big things coming up.
Priorities: Things that are super important, might take a while, or I really really need to get done that day I give a priority of 1. This isn't entirely original, but when I do that weekly review every Sunday going over what's coming up in the next 7 days - I make sure to set anything big (like a test, quiz, or homework assignment) to the first priority. Otherwise, all things that require other steps to complete them (projects, homework assignments, studying for tests) are marked with a priority of 2. Those tasks that are subtasks of the bigger idea are then marked with a priority of 3 to show that they're contributing towards the parent task. If the task is at all slightly ambiguous, I'll give it a note. Any individual tasks that aren't super important and are isolated from other tasks are given no priority.
Tags: The internet is the biggest contributor for procrastination and distraction and when I'm working or sitting down to do homework it's either needed or not. When any homework or tasks require the internet, I tag them with "@online". Otherwise, they get the "@offline" tag. This is a huge step in productivity for me and if I think of anything I have to add to RTM while I'm @offline, I write it down for later (I've recently found myself actually adding the smart add flags!). Other tags I like to use are location tags like "@campus", "@home", "@errands" - it helps batch tasks when I have time.
That's about it! RTM with this method of managing tasks is the only product I've used that has lasted more than a week and actually helped me get things done!
To start: school - each class gets it's own list. Then I can easily use a Smart List to see all things I have going on in school (using list: AND list:). Then when the syllabus is issued, I write in all Tests, Quizzes, Homework, etc that I have for the semester. I'll get to priorities and tags in a bit, but this is essential so I don't forget anything when I look at the School list for any future big things coming up.
Priorities: Things that are super important, might take a while, or I really really need to get done that day I give a priority of 1. This isn't entirely original, but when I do that weekly review every Sunday going over what's coming up in the next 7 days - I make sure to set anything big (like a test, quiz, or homework assignment) to the first priority. Otherwise, all things that require other steps to complete them (projects, homework assignments, studying for tests) are marked with a priority of 2. Those tasks that are subtasks of the bigger idea are then marked with a priority of 3 to show that they're contributing towards the parent task. If the task is at all slightly ambiguous, I'll give it a note. Any individual tasks that aren't super important and are isolated from other tasks are given no priority.
Tags: The internet is the biggest contributor for procrastination and distraction and when I'm working or sitting down to do homework it's either needed or not. When any homework or tasks require the internet, I tag them with "@online". Otherwise, they get the "@offline" tag. This is a huge step in productivity for me and if I think of anything I have to add to RTM while I'm @offline, I write it down for later (I've recently found myself actually adding the smart add flags!). Other tags I like to use are location tags like "@campus", "@home", "@errands" - it helps batch tasks when I have time.
That's about it! RTM with this method of managing tasks is the only product I've used that has lasted more than a week and actually helped me get things done!
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