Hi Lisa: You're describing a situation that is somewhat like mine.
Here's what I do to maximize MLO for sorting through tasks that are urgent, while staying focused on big picture projects. This is not perfect, but I am comfortable with it. 1. Sort clients into their own top level category in Outline. 2. Create the following Contexts: Today Focus Waiting For AllSet 3. Each day, I go through my most important projects and toss the most important tasks into the Today Context. 4. Go go to the To-Do tab where I have a Context View that contains, TODAY, FOCUS, WAITING FOR ALLSET. 5. I manually sort all my Today tasks and then start working through them, each time double clicking which takes me back to the bigger picture project the task is a member of. 6. For tasks that I work through, until they have to be handed off to someone else (for approval, for their part etc) I change the contact from Today, to Waiting For. I wait until the other person has completed their piece of it and then put it back into Today. 7. If I complete my entire responsibility for a task, I change the context to AllSet. The reason I do that instead of check it off as complete is the 9 times out of 10, the task is part of a much large project that is not yet completed. 8. You might ask, what is FOCUS for? I use that when there are so many to-do items that I have to drill down and focus only what is most urgent. In those cases, I assign the context Focus and then I go to that context. I really don't know if I'm missing some functionality of MLO that would make all of this easier. But example, I used to use the project setting, but I sort of drift away from that because it was too restrictive for "spur of the moment" changes of plan. I hope this helps. Eddie On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 5:57 AM, Lisa Stroyan <[email protected]> wrote: > I was reading a newsletter from David Allen of GTD about how it doesn't > make sense to use ABC priorities, because they are always changing, and he > suggested using Context (where you are) and energy levels instead (look > through the task list and see what you are up for). It reminded me that my > current use of Contexts is "broken" -- not working for me, and I thought > I'd see if anyone else has creative ideas of how to revamp either Contexts > or something else in my MLO setup to be more effective in a world in which > computers are always available. > > Currently I use Goal to narrow down tasks to how soon I want to make sure > I look at them, but as it always happens with my system, Week has been > collecting more and more tasks and everything else has been being ignored. > (Is there a word for this? When your tasks slip and get further into the > background noise of life?). I use Starred to choose what I should focus on > Today (ideally, "Starring" those tasks each morning, in reality I have way > more Starred than I ever get done). > > Yes, I know better Contexts won't solve all this, but I think it could > help a little. The problem is, I'm almost always at my computer, in my > house, with a phone right next to me, so @Computer, @Phone, @Home, don't > help. Even my "HomeOutside" tasks are never picked because I happen to be > outside -- they are chosen because I need to get outside and can do them > while I'm there. @Errands and @Agendas are the only context that sort of > works, though even with @Errands, since I haven't been disciplined enough > to break down my tasks in advance, they often require prep work to do. (I > do have an @ErrandPrep context that works well if I use it). > > Oh, another context that works for me sometimes is "@Quick" - because > sometimes in the morning I can go through them all at once (most are > repeating tasks that I do daily). I do use @Routine to have separate lists > to look at non-routine and routine tasks (drink water, make dinner, etc). > > I guess what I'm looking for is a way to group tasks for either a better > way to choose "what to do next" or some way that helps get efficiency. > Maybe I'll try something based on how much energy tasks take so I can get > back into the idea of doing "high energy tasks" at "high energy times". > > Thanks for any thoughts you have! > > -- > Lisa > > ------------------------------ > Lisa Stroyan, mailto: [email protected] <[email protected]> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MyLifeOrganized" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en.
