Too Many Smart Lists?
With the amazing flexibility offered by RTM it can be easy to get carried away and create too many Smart Lists and your Tasks view can easily become way too cluttered.
I have started using RTM following a slightly modified GTD approach to suit my style and I have been modifying and tweaking this as I go. I may detail this in another post later on but for now the tip I wanted to share is as follows.
My approach to avoid having too many Smart Lists is to create a List called "RTM". In that list I have created tasks that serve as a reference to things about RTM that I want to have at my fingertips until they become embedded in my memory , if that ever happens!!
I also create tasks here which are links to RTM pages I also want to have at my fingertips. For these I complete the URL field of the task. then all I have to do is click on the link I want and the page is there. I find this faster than using the search box from the Help page each time I want to navigate to a page to check something about RTM.
Finally I have created a task called Search Criteria Phrases in this RTM List and use the Notes tab to list search phrases which I may not use often and do not want to create a separate Smart List for but which I want to have available to access quickly.
This also saves me having to remember the syntax for a search I may have used several weeks or months ago. I can look it up in the Notes for this task and copy and paste it into the search box.
I hope some may find this useful.
I have started using RTM following a slightly modified GTD approach to suit my style and I have been modifying and tweaking this as I go. I may detail this in another post later on but for now the tip I wanted to share is as follows.
My approach to avoid having too many Smart Lists is to create a List called "RTM". In that list I have created tasks that serve as a reference to things about RTM that I want to have at my fingertips until they become embedded in my memory , if that ever happens!!
I also create tasks here which are links to RTM pages I also want to have at my fingertips. For these I complete the URL field of the task. then all I have to do is click on the link I want and the page is there. I find this faster than using the search box from the Help page each time I want to navigate to a page to check something about RTM.
Finally I have created a task called Search Criteria Phrases in this RTM List and use the Notes tab to list search phrases which I may not use often and do not want to create a separate Smart List for but which I want to have available to access quickly.
This also saves me having to remember the syntax for a search I may have used several weeks or months ago. I can look it up in the Notes for this task and copy and paste it into the search box.
I hope some may find this useful.
(closed account) says:
Hmm. I'm not sure I get it - you were being generic enough that i'm missing something maybe. This is what I hear you say - is this what you meant?
Re: the 3rd paragraph: Can you give me an example of the reference things about RTM that are tasks until they become embedding in your memory?
Re; the 4th paragraph: You create a list called RTM. Then you write a search and display the results on the screen. You copy the URL for the results from your browser and put it into a task in the RTM list. When you want to see that search's results, you just click on the URL in the task. Did I understand this correctly? And if so, does this gives you updated results or are you looking static data? If so, I LIKE this idea.
I like the syntax idea very much (and why aren't these part of the RTM 'things I have at my fingertips until they become embedded in my memory" bucket?)
Re: the 3rd paragraph: Can you give me an example of the reference things about RTM that are tasks until they become embedding in your memory?
Re; the 4th paragraph: You create a list called RTM. Then you write a search and display the results on the screen. You copy the URL for the results from your browser and put it into a task in the RTM list. When you want to see that search's results, you just click on the URL in the task. Did I understand this correctly? And if so, does this gives you updated results or are you looking static data? If so, I LIKE this idea.
I like the syntax idea very much (and why aren't these part of the RTM 'things I have at my fingertips until they become embedded in my memory" bucket?)
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