General Tips
folke1883 says:
I recently moved over to RTM from another task management system (Todoist), and I have used several other systems over the years (Outlook and several others).
Here are some very basic, yet important, tips about how you can use the system effectively, and avoid making things more complex than they really need to be.
What I like in particular about RTM, and what sets it apart from other systems, is:
1) the smart lists - really useful for hiding things that you do not want to distract you.
2) the notes with blue headings - really useful for keeping things "on the system but out of the way" until you need them - for example checklists or future sub-tasks.
3) the graphical representation of priorities - subtle, yet very clear (no coloring of the texts, which I abhor). (More priority levels would have been useful, though, but I will show you a way around that. See below.)
KEEP IT SIMPLE
The main purpose of the task management system is to help you:
1. Avoid forgetting to do things that you might otherwise forget
2. Avoid committing to do more than you can handle
In other words, you need to be able to see your current undertakings and manage your "pipeline" of upcoming and possible undertakings.
Do not put in more information in the system or use more of its features than you really need. The bigger it all gets, the more time it takes for you to manage, and you may even cloud your most important commitments.
Task management is not intended as a cure for motivational issues and procrastination. Neither is it intended as an academically exhaustive documentation of the things you do. Neither is it a performance measurement tool (not a "tasks completed" race). First and foremost, it is a remembrance and prioritization tool. Keep it simple. Just put down the things you might forget.
BEWARE OF THE TOO OBVIOUS
Make use of the fact that your brain can often keep track of even very complex things automatically. Sometimes you may not need to remind yourself at all about anything at all that relates to such a task, or sometimes you just need a big general "task reminder" high up on your list (to prevent you from losing yourself in other tasks and forgetting about the whole thing). Sometimes you may need just a few reminders about specific details you feel that you may risk forgetting in a big task.
Therefore, do not worry if you have huge or inconsistent "blanks" in your task list or if you have big sweeping overall tasks inconsistently mixed with seemingly arbitrary detail tasks. If those things is all you need to be reminded of to be able to remember the whole thing, then leave the list like that, and leave the rest to your auto-pilot. If you like, you can make use of the Notes facility to put in all kinds of other reflexions and sub-tasks if you think you might to want to double-check your own understanding of the task from time to time.
The same goes for tags. Implement those tags that are necessary for your smart lists to work, but do not implement other tags just for the sake of "completeness".
USE SMART LISTS
RTM's smart lists are the single most important reason I changed to RTM. I totally depend on them.
With smart lists you can filter down exactly what (types of) tasks you want to appear on screen - and exclude those tasks that would be in the way and blur the picture.
The built-in smart-list filtering options go a long way already as they come out-of-the-box, and if you invest a little bit of time in developing (and consistently applying) a useful set of tags (and/or task names and/or list names) you can quite easily make extremly useful lists for all your particular needs.
I advise you to develop a "Now" list. The "Now" list should give you, based on priority, due dates, tags and other criteria, all you normally need to see - and exclude everything that you do not want to distract you.
In addition to a "Now" list, you may find it useful to have lookahead lists (such as "Next" and "Future" for planning/pipelining), and one or more errands lists, and so on. Personally, I also have a "Rest" list - a safeguard list that shows everything that has been excluded from all the other smart lists.
On my own "Now" list, I keep not only the current to-do items but also (using tags) a select few "spare" tasks ("easy" and/or "waiting eagerly") that I can start with if (and only if) I temporarily run out of "do-now" tasks. On my "Now" list - being my main list - I also include various notifications and checks (e.g. new things in the Inbox).
BEWARE OF ARBITRARY DUE DATES AND PRIORITIES
Due dates and priorities are standard tools in task management systems. They are extremly useful, and extremely dangerous, just like knives and fire. Develop a very clear and restrictive set of rules for how you will use them, or they will become meaningless or even obstructive.
Typically, (I believe most of us have been there at some stage), we assign a due date and a priority when we enter a new task to somehow reflect the overall importance and urgency of the task. We do this because we want the task to show up in our lists in an appropriate way - to make us focus on the right things at the right time. This intention is good. Unfortunately it does not work out that way. What happens instead is this: Surprisingly soon, when your overall situation has evolved even the slightest bit, you can no longer trust your list. The due dates and priorities no longer seem relevant. New things have come up in the meantime and/or your assessment of the task's importance has changed for other reasons. You no longer recall nor understand what you were thinking when you put down those due dates and priorities. You cannot even see the real due dates (deadlines etc) for all the "artificial" (arbitrary) ones, and there are so many prioritized tasks that you cannot possibly finish them.
The most obvious and correct use of due dates is for tasks that actually do have a real deadline or happens at a particular time (e.g. a calendar event). In addition to that, you may have to employ due dates for certain kinds of reminders etc - things that have a reality-based approximate due date (e.g. a follow-up call on a letter), but do make sure you abide by very clear and restrictive rules for this. For the vast majority of tasks, it is best to have no due date at all.
Likewise, the safest use of priorities is to have none at all for the vast majority of tasks, and to assign a priority only if and when you decide that you will actually do something specific about it. You need to have a clear and concrete definition of what each priority level actually means to you. You must be careful not to assign elevated priority to more concurrent actions than you can handle.
MAKE THE VERY BEST USE OF PRIORITY
Using the smart list features you can get exactly the right tasks on you list, and have everything else excluded, but you still need to be able to see clearly within that list. You would want to be able to get the pig picture and be able to quickly shift your attention back and forth between different kinds of things on your list, and only then have to read the specifics about those you are interested in at the moment.
The single most powerful "overview tool" is Priority, so make sure you use it wisely:
- Priority is the only thing you can see easily without reading
- Priority can seen directly and simultaneously for all items on the list without hovering or clicking
- Priority affects the sorting of the tasks in such a way that tasks with the same priority tend to be automatically "clustered" together in the list (except when you use alphabetical sorting order)
- Priority can be changed easily with a hot key without having to move to a key entry field
No other parameter has that much going for it in a technical-optical-ergonomical sense, so make sure you really make good use of it. Define a distinct and useful meaning for each priority - something that is very important for you.
In my own opinion, the most important thing about any task is whether I have decided to do it or not, and in that case whether I am going to deal with it now or later. In other words, I use Priority as my main pipelining (scheduling) tool. I move tasks up (or down) the priority ladder when appropriate.
Priorities 1 & 2 are for "now" (rush or normal), and priorities 3 & 4 are for "not now" (later or only maybe). Priorities 1 & 2 are the cornerstones of my "Now" list.
I also need to make use of the four available priority levels for certain other things, and I use priorities 3 and 4 for these purposes, regardless of whether the task is for "now" or "later":
All repeating routine reminders (e.g. pay bills etc every month) go into Priority 4, and so do all calendar events, regardless of how urgent or important they are. I have these things appear one day ahead in my "Now" list.
Special one-time reminders with an approximate due date, such as follow up action on a letter, go into Priority 3. I have all such actions for the entire current week appear in my "Now" list (as they usually can be done "any day now").
ABSENCE/PRESENCE OF A DUE DATE
Another thing you can see fairly easily without actually reading antything is whether a task has a due date or not. Furthermore, the absence/presence of a due date affects the sorting order such that tasks without a due date tend to be clustered together.
What this means is: In addition to using priority to distinguish between different "classes" of tasks, you can quickly shift your attention to those that have (or do not have) a due date. If you have been consistent about how you use due dates, this implicit grouping within the list will have a certain significance to you.
I my case, if I look at, say, the light blue tasks (priority 3), all the ones without a due date are my "candidates" for next actions, which means I have to assess and promote one or more of these for action when I begin to run out of level 1 & 2 tasks. The ones with a due date are just simple follow-up actions.
TAGS FOR PIPELINING
In your spare time you can look ahead at tasks that you have not yet made a firm decision about. Among all these tasks, obviously there are many shades of uncertainty about when or whether you will do them.
Even though these tasks may not be ripe for action yet, and even though your opinion aboy them may change later, it may still save you some time if you can prearrange them in some sensible "likeliness" order, such that you do not have to sit and read every single task every time you look at one of these "lookahead" lists.
In my case, I use priorities 3 and 4 for the "not now" tasks. I would have liked to have another half a dozen priority levels available for prearranging these tasks in some sensible order, but the fact is that I do not. Four levels seems to be the standard in task management systems.
So I use tags instead. It is a bit clumsy, they are difficult to see, they do not result in any grouping within the list like the priorities do, etc etc, but tags are still better than nothing.
Since I use only priorities 3 and 4 for these possible upcoming tasks, I carefully choose just a few (very few) of these tasks and tag them with attributes such as "hot3", "easy3", "hot4" etc. Then, in my smart lists, I can make exceptions for some of these and have them included on lists where they would otherwise have been excluded.
For example, I keep my hot3 and easy3 tasks on my "Now" list for the simple reason that I like to always have a "sneak preview" of what is around the corner, and also because I may sometimes have some spare time to do something quick which is not in the "now" category.
THANKS TO RTM
Thanks to the above principles and the elegant features of the RTM system I can now:
- trust my due dates. If something has a due date, I know it is for real.
- see at a glance, in clear colors on the left, what I need to do now and what I can look at later.
- look ahead, and prioritize/prepare my pipeline.
- have heaps of useful secondary information neatly stashed away in notes with easy-to-read blue headings.
Thanks everyone at RTM!
Here are some very basic, yet important, tips about how you can use the system effectively, and avoid making things more complex than they really need to be.
What I like in particular about RTM, and what sets it apart from other systems, is:
1) the smart lists - really useful for hiding things that you do not want to distract you.
2) the notes with blue headings - really useful for keeping things "on the system but out of the way" until you need them - for example checklists or future sub-tasks.
3) the graphical representation of priorities - subtle, yet very clear (no coloring of the texts, which I abhor). (More priority levels would have been useful, though, but I will show you a way around that. See below.)
KEEP IT SIMPLE
The main purpose of the task management system is to help you:
1. Avoid forgetting to do things that you might otherwise forget
2. Avoid committing to do more than you can handle
In other words, you need to be able to see your current undertakings and manage your "pipeline" of upcoming and possible undertakings.
Do not put in more information in the system or use more of its features than you really need. The bigger it all gets, the more time it takes for you to manage, and you may even cloud your most important commitments.
Task management is not intended as a cure for motivational issues and procrastination. Neither is it intended as an academically exhaustive documentation of the things you do. Neither is it a performance measurement tool (not a "tasks completed" race). First and foremost, it is a remembrance and prioritization tool. Keep it simple. Just put down the things you might forget.
BEWARE OF THE TOO OBVIOUS
Make use of the fact that your brain can often keep track of even very complex things automatically. Sometimes you may not need to remind yourself at all about anything at all that relates to such a task, or sometimes you just need a big general "task reminder" high up on your list (to prevent you from losing yourself in other tasks and forgetting about the whole thing). Sometimes you may need just a few reminders about specific details you feel that you may risk forgetting in a big task.
Therefore, do not worry if you have huge or inconsistent "blanks" in your task list or if you have big sweeping overall tasks inconsistently mixed with seemingly arbitrary detail tasks. If those things is all you need to be reminded of to be able to remember the whole thing, then leave the list like that, and leave the rest to your auto-pilot. If you like, you can make use of the Notes facility to put in all kinds of other reflexions and sub-tasks if you think you might to want to double-check your own understanding of the task from time to time.
The same goes for tags. Implement those tags that are necessary for your smart lists to work, but do not implement other tags just for the sake of "completeness".
USE SMART LISTS
RTM's smart lists are the single most important reason I changed to RTM. I totally depend on them.
With smart lists you can filter down exactly what (types of) tasks you want to appear on screen - and exclude those tasks that would be in the way and blur the picture.
The built-in smart-list filtering options go a long way already as they come out-of-the-box, and if you invest a little bit of time in developing (and consistently applying) a useful set of tags (and/or task names and/or list names) you can quite easily make extremly useful lists for all your particular needs.
I advise you to develop a "Now" list. The "Now" list should give you, based on priority, due dates, tags and other criteria, all you normally need to see - and exclude everything that you do not want to distract you.
In addition to a "Now" list, you may find it useful to have lookahead lists (such as "Next" and "Future" for planning/pipelining), and one or more errands lists, and so on. Personally, I also have a "Rest" list - a safeguard list that shows everything that has been excluded from all the other smart lists.
On my own "Now" list, I keep not only the current to-do items but also (using tags) a select few "spare" tasks ("easy" and/or "waiting eagerly") that I can start with if (and only if) I temporarily run out of "do-now" tasks. On my "Now" list - being my main list - I also include various notifications and checks (e.g. new things in the Inbox).
BEWARE OF ARBITRARY DUE DATES AND PRIORITIES
Due dates and priorities are standard tools in task management systems. They are extremly useful, and extremely dangerous, just like knives and fire. Develop a very clear and restrictive set of rules for how you will use them, or they will become meaningless or even obstructive.
Typically, (I believe most of us have been there at some stage), we assign a due date and a priority when we enter a new task to somehow reflect the overall importance and urgency of the task. We do this because we want the task to show up in our lists in an appropriate way - to make us focus on the right things at the right time. This intention is good. Unfortunately it does not work out that way. What happens instead is this: Surprisingly soon, when your overall situation has evolved even the slightest bit, you can no longer trust your list. The due dates and priorities no longer seem relevant. New things have come up in the meantime and/or your assessment of the task's importance has changed for other reasons. You no longer recall nor understand what you were thinking when you put down those due dates and priorities. You cannot even see the real due dates (deadlines etc) for all the "artificial" (arbitrary) ones, and there are so many prioritized tasks that you cannot possibly finish them.
The most obvious and correct use of due dates is for tasks that actually do have a real deadline or happens at a particular time (e.g. a calendar event). In addition to that, you may have to employ due dates for certain kinds of reminders etc - things that have a reality-based approximate due date (e.g. a follow-up call on a letter), but do make sure you abide by very clear and restrictive rules for this. For the vast majority of tasks, it is best to have no due date at all.
Likewise, the safest use of priorities is to have none at all for the vast majority of tasks, and to assign a priority only if and when you decide that you will actually do something specific about it. You need to have a clear and concrete definition of what each priority level actually means to you. You must be careful not to assign elevated priority to more concurrent actions than you can handle.
MAKE THE VERY BEST USE OF PRIORITY
Using the smart list features you can get exactly the right tasks on you list, and have everything else excluded, but you still need to be able to see clearly within that list. You would want to be able to get the pig picture and be able to quickly shift your attention back and forth between different kinds of things on your list, and only then have to read the specifics about those you are interested in at the moment.
The single most powerful "overview tool" is Priority, so make sure you use it wisely:
- Priority is the only thing you can see easily without reading
- Priority can seen directly and simultaneously for all items on the list without hovering or clicking
- Priority affects the sorting of the tasks in such a way that tasks with the same priority tend to be automatically "clustered" together in the list (except when you use alphabetical sorting order)
- Priority can be changed easily with a hot key without having to move to a key entry field
No other parameter has that much going for it in a technical-optical-ergonomical sense, so make sure you really make good use of it. Define a distinct and useful meaning for each priority - something that is very important for you.
In my own opinion, the most important thing about any task is whether I have decided to do it or not, and in that case whether I am going to deal with it now or later. In other words, I use Priority as my main pipelining (scheduling) tool. I move tasks up (or down) the priority ladder when appropriate.
Priorities 1 & 2 are for "now" (rush or normal), and priorities 3 & 4 are for "not now" (later or only maybe). Priorities 1 & 2 are the cornerstones of my "Now" list.
I also need to make use of the four available priority levels for certain other things, and I use priorities 3 and 4 for these purposes, regardless of whether the task is for "now" or "later":
All repeating routine reminders (e.g. pay bills etc every month) go into Priority 4, and so do all calendar events, regardless of how urgent or important they are. I have these things appear one day ahead in my "Now" list.
Special one-time reminders with an approximate due date, such as follow up action on a letter, go into Priority 3. I have all such actions for the entire current week appear in my "Now" list (as they usually can be done "any day now").
ABSENCE/PRESENCE OF A DUE DATE
Another thing you can see fairly easily without actually reading antything is whether a task has a due date or not. Furthermore, the absence/presence of a due date affects the sorting order such that tasks without a due date tend to be clustered together.
What this means is: In addition to using priority to distinguish between different "classes" of tasks, you can quickly shift your attention to those that have (or do not have) a due date. If you have been consistent about how you use due dates, this implicit grouping within the list will have a certain significance to you.
I my case, if I look at, say, the light blue tasks (priority 3), all the ones without a due date are my "candidates" for next actions, which means I have to assess and promote one or more of these for action when I begin to run out of level 1 & 2 tasks. The ones with a due date are just simple follow-up actions.
TAGS FOR PIPELINING
In your spare time you can look ahead at tasks that you have not yet made a firm decision about. Among all these tasks, obviously there are many shades of uncertainty about when or whether you will do them.
Even though these tasks may not be ripe for action yet, and even though your opinion aboy them may change later, it may still save you some time if you can prearrange them in some sensible "likeliness" order, such that you do not have to sit and read every single task every time you look at one of these "lookahead" lists.
In my case, I use priorities 3 and 4 for the "not now" tasks. I would have liked to have another half a dozen priority levels available for prearranging these tasks in some sensible order, but the fact is that I do not. Four levels seems to be the standard in task management systems.
So I use tags instead. It is a bit clumsy, they are difficult to see, they do not result in any grouping within the list like the priorities do, etc etc, but tags are still better than nothing.
Since I use only priorities 3 and 4 for these possible upcoming tasks, I carefully choose just a few (very few) of these tasks and tag them with attributes such as "hot3", "easy3", "hot4" etc. Then, in my smart lists, I can make exceptions for some of these and have them included on lists where they would otherwise have been excluded.
For example, I keep my hot3 and easy3 tasks on my "Now" list for the simple reason that I like to always have a "sneak preview" of what is around the corner, and also because I may sometimes have some spare time to do something quick which is not in the "now" category.
THANKS TO RTM
Thanks to the above principles and the elegant features of the RTM system I can now:
- trust my due dates. If something has a due date, I know it is for real.
- see at a glance, in clear colors on the left, what I need to do now and what I can look at later.
- look ahead, and prioritize/prepare my pipeline.
- have heaps of useful secondary information neatly stashed away in notes with easy-to-read blue headings.
Thanks everyone at RTM!
(closed account) says:
Wow, this is very conprehensive and informative and wise. Thanks. Have you had much experience with GTD? I'm keen to use RTM to incorporate this system but am not sure where to start.
Also, I like the idea of the "Now" list. Just wondering how you define "now". How far ahead (or not) do you work?
Thanks again
Also, I like the idea of the "Now" list. Just wondering how you define "now". How far ahead (or not) do you work?
Thanks again
folke1883 says:
Catherinem70:
Thanks for your comment and questions.
I'l get back to your question about GTD in a separate post, As far as the "Now" list is concerned, I have set it up like this:
I have three similar lists - "Now", "Next" and "Later". They all contain:
- everything in priority 1 and priority 2
- anything at all that is due today or tomorrow
In addition to this, in the "Now list I also include:
- all follow-up reminders (Priority 3 tasks with a due date) that are due sometime during this calendar week
- a few "spares" which I have handpicked from my "Next" list (using tags)
In smart list terms, the "Now" selection looks like this:
priority:1 OR
priority:2 OR
((dueBefore:Monday OR tag:hot3 OR tag:easy3) AND priority:3) OR dueBefore:"2 days of today"
My "Next" list is very similar, but has a slightly wider scope:
priority:1 OR
priority:2 OR
((dueBefore:"14 days of Saturday" OR (due:never NOT list:Ute)) AND priority:3) OR
(dueBefore:"14 days of Saturday" NOT tag:rw OR tag:hot4) OR dueBefore:"2 days of today"
In other words, in addition to what appears in the "Now" list, the "Next" list also includes:
- all "Next" type items (priority 3 with no due date) that I need to consider promiting to active ("Now") status
- all kinds of tasks that are due during this calender week or next (except for those reminders that repeat on a weekly basis, which are filtered out - they take up too much space)
- a few "hot spares" handpicked from my "Later" list (using tags)
And the "Later" list is also very similar to these, but a bit expanded. It has a "this week plus 4" lookahead horizon for dated tasks, and it includes all "Later/Maybe" type tasks that I will need to consider whether I will do or not (priority 4 with no due date). I use tags to filter out various types of unwanted things (e.g. checklists/info, frequent reminders etc).
COMMENTS
As you can see, I tend to take a "weekly" perspective on things, except if a specific real due date says otherwise. My "Now" list usually has a dozen or so tasks on it (varying between, say, 6 and 24), and I normally display it in Priority order. If I get more on my list than I can handle concurrently, I try to lower the priority on some. The reason I have as many things on my "Now" list as I do is the fact that many tasks are of an intermittent "stop-go" nature (e.g. call, wait for email, call again etc) and it is too cumbersome to adjust priorities and tasks (or due times, for that matter) to reflect all these highly temporary stop-go shifts.
My "Now" tasks sometimes can be quite large and time-consuming (enire "projects") and can stay on the list for weeks. Other tasks can be really tiny and take just a few minutes. I rely on my knowledge of my own personality to know what things I need to put down as tasks and in what level of detail.
I use Priority 1 as a "red flag" - rush, which i strive not to get into, and if I handle my affairs properly I should rarely need to, but I do slip into those situations sometimes. Even if something does not have a due date as such, it can be getting "too darned embarrasing" not to have done it yet.
Thanks for your comment and questions.
I'l get back to your question about GTD in a separate post, As far as the "Now" list is concerned, I have set it up like this:
I have three similar lists - "Now", "Next" and "Later". They all contain:
- everything in priority 1 and priority 2
- anything at all that is due today or tomorrow
In addition to this, in the "Now list I also include:
- all follow-up reminders (Priority 3 tasks with a due date) that are due sometime during this calendar week
- a few "spares" which I have handpicked from my "Next" list (using tags)
In smart list terms, the "Now" selection looks like this:
priority:1 OR
priority:2 OR
((dueBefore:Monday OR tag:hot3 OR tag:easy3) AND priority:3) OR dueBefore:"2 days of today"
My "Next" list is very similar, but has a slightly wider scope:
priority:1 OR
priority:2 OR
((dueBefore:"14 days of Saturday" OR (due:never NOT list:Ute)) AND priority:3) OR
(dueBefore:"14 days of Saturday" NOT tag:rw OR tag:hot4) OR dueBefore:"2 days of today"
In other words, in addition to what appears in the "Now" list, the "Next" list also includes:
- all "Next" type items (priority 3 with no due date) that I need to consider promiting to active ("Now") status
- all kinds of tasks that are due during this calender week or next (except for those reminders that repeat on a weekly basis, which are filtered out - they take up too much space)
- a few "hot spares" handpicked from my "Later" list (using tags)
And the "Later" list is also very similar to these, but a bit expanded. It has a "this week plus 4" lookahead horizon for dated tasks, and it includes all "Later/Maybe" type tasks that I will need to consider whether I will do or not (priority 4 with no due date). I use tags to filter out various types of unwanted things (e.g. checklists/info, frequent reminders etc).
COMMENTS
As you can see, I tend to take a "weekly" perspective on things, except if a specific real due date says otherwise. My "Now" list usually has a dozen or so tasks on it (varying between, say, 6 and 24), and I normally display it in Priority order. If I get more on my list than I can handle concurrently, I try to lower the priority on some. The reason I have as many things on my "Now" list as I do is the fact that many tasks are of an intermittent "stop-go" nature (e.g. call, wait for email, call again etc) and it is too cumbersome to adjust priorities and tasks (or due times, for that matter) to reflect all these highly temporary stop-go shifts.
My "Now" tasks sometimes can be quite large and time-consuming (enire "projects") and can stay on the list for weeks. Other tasks can be really tiny and take just a few minutes. I rely on my knowledge of my own personality to know what things I need to put down as tasks and in what level of detail.
I use Priority 1 as a "red flag" - rush, which i strive not to get into, and if I handle my affairs properly I should rarely need to, but I do slip into those situations sometimes. Even if something does not have a due date as such, it can be getting "too darned embarrasing" not to have done it yet.
folke1883 says:
Catherinem70:
(and action.manager: thanks for the good tip! I'll comment briefly)
Yes, I am familiar with GTD (and DIT, its rival sibling), and I think you could well start with the "Now" lists etc as I described, if you think it suits you, and then continue to add more contexts etc to your system to the extent that your situation requires.
One of the most basic, but really, really important, common denominators of all of these systems is the fact that you should contionuously review and process your ideas and your "pipeline" of actions, and conciously decide - commit yourself to - what you will (and will not) do now/next. Please note the important fact that this is totally contrary to the more "spontaneous" ("beginner's") approach of putting due dates on everything and waiting passively for these "monsters" to pop up on the list one fine day. If you adopt the "concious continual reassessment" approach (of, say, GTD), then you are on the right way.
As for choosing among the various "technical" RTM mechanisms for implementing the gradual promotion of ideas to action, I have chosen to use both prioities and tags. I prefer priorities, because they are easy to see and they help put the list in a sorted order, but I need tags too in addition to this. (The guest post describes how this can be done with tags only, if you prefer,)
Another key concept of GTD and DIT is contexts, in other words being able to separate those things that can be done here from those that can only be done somewhere else. Tags are often used for this purpose, often prefixed by @, e.g. @shop or @phone, because this is how tags are described in the GTD and DIT books. It is easy to implement in RTM, and it is very smart and useful, especially for people with a myriad of little tasks and/or who are constantly shifting between very different work environments.
Personally I use only a few context tags and have only one single context based smart list, called "Out", because this is all I need. In this list I can see everything I need to buy or keep my eyes open for or deliver or meet or whatever away from my home office.
(I have my office at home, where I have computers and phones and everything, so I need no tags while at home/office for @computer, @kitchen etc, and I normally use all the spare time that occurs during travel etc for overall contemplation about tricky issues, so I normally do not need to see any tasks at all during short travel, and if I do I can access by Now list via the phone (or laptop) and see "manually" what tasks I can get on with while at this location.)
Another feature of GTD is the separation of projects versus tasks. This is something I have gradually moved away from more and more over the years. (And, by the same token, I have moved away from distinguishing between tasks and sub-tasks, which you can handle so nicely in, say Todoist.) I now try to keep it more simple - I restrict myself to putting down those things that I might forget about, that's all.
(and action.manager: thanks for the good tip! I'll comment briefly)
Yes, I am familiar with GTD (and DIT, its rival sibling), and I think you could well start with the "Now" lists etc as I described, if you think it suits you, and then continue to add more contexts etc to your system to the extent that your situation requires.
One of the most basic, but really, really important, common denominators of all of these systems is the fact that you should contionuously review and process your ideas and your "pipeline" of actions, and conciously decide - commit yourself to - what you will (and will not) do now/next. Please note the important fact that this is totally contrary to the more "spontaneous" ("beginner's") approach of putting due dates on everything and waiting passively for these "monsters" to pop up on the list one fine day. If you adopt the "concious continual reassessment" approach (of, say, GTD), then you are on the right way.
As for choosing among the various "technical" RTM mechanisms for implementing the gradual promotion of ideas to action, I have chosen to use both prioities and tags. I prefer priorities, because they are easy to see and they help put the list in a sorted order, but I need tags too in addition to this. (The guest post describes how this can be done with tags only, if you prefer,)
Another key concept of GTD and DIT is contexts, in other words being able to separate those things that can be done here from those that can only be done somewhere else. Tags are often used for this purpose, often prefixed by @, e.g. @shop or @phone, because this is how tags are described in the GTD and DIT books. It is easy to implement in RTM, and it is very smart and useful, especially for people with a myriad of little tasks and/or who are constantly shifting between very different work environments.
Personally I use only a few context tags and have only one single context based smart list, called "Out", because this is all I need. In this list I can see everything I need to buy or keep my eyes open for or deliver or meet or whatever away from my home office.
(I have my office at home, where I have computers and phones and everything, so I need no tags while at home/office for @computer, @kitchen etc, and I normally use all the spare time that occurs during travel etc for overall contemplation about tricky issues, so I normally do not need to see any tasks at all during short travel, and if I do I can access by Now list via the phone (or laptop) and see "manually" what tasks I can get on with while at this location.)
Another feature of GTD is the separation of projects versus tasks. This is something I have gradually moved away from more and more over the years. (And, by the same token, I have moved away from distinguishing between tasks and sub-tasks, which you can handle so nicely in, say Todoist.) I now try to keep it more simple - I restrict myself to putting down those things that I might forget about, that's all.
(closed account) says:
Thanks so much for all of these ideas. I'm so keen to organise myself differently, (well just organise myself really) but it is a little overwhelming. My challenge is how to not spend all day every day just implementing the system - whatever it may be, a fine form of procrastination I must say. There's something very noble about it though, right? It's better than just sitting on the lounge procrastination, right? Any tips on how to use RTM to organise email according to the GTD approach, or should I do that within my email program? Would like to find a way of integrating into RTM if I can.
Thanks again
Thanks again
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