Don't feel you have to find the perfect "set up" right now. One of the ways I motivate my brain to stay interested is by changing up / "improving" my system. There is so much power with MLO that it's usually easy. For example, I was using Flags but decided to use Goals instead, so I created a view for all tasks with flags, selected many at once, and changed them in bulk.
I actually think it works well to add new bits to your system as you go. Maybe have a basic setup to start, then slowly add more to it. It should work for you, you don't work for it :) Lisa On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 3:34 PM, Emerelle <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Robisme,**** > > ** ** > > I totally understand what you mean - this is what I think of when I say > too many options are a total pitfall for someone like me. I spent so many > days, even weeks on finding the perfect PIM, task manager and the like! I > am obsessed with organizing things, especially because this is one of the > most difficult things for me due to my ADD. > > Thanks so much for clearing up the inbox and the project time setting, now > it does make a lot of sense.**** > > ** ** > > regards,**** > > ** ** > > Brienne**** > > ** ** > > *Von:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *Im Auftrag von *robisme > *Gesendet:* Mittwoch, 18. Juli 2012 22:17 > *An:* [email protected] > *Betreff:* [MLO] Re: Possibly a new user...feel lost LOL**** > > ** ** > > Hi,**** > > ** ** > > You say a lot of intersting thing, and I will answer you on 2 points:**** > > - INBOX is the place where you might "empty" your brain. You just put a > task, whatever the due date, the context, the project or not, it's just a > way to forget about it in a trustful place. The when you'll "organize your > organization" (be careful not to be caught in the game, ugh) you will > "process" your inbox, moving each item in the convenient outline, setting > due dates if necessary, context, etc.**** > > - REQUIRED TIME is not intended to be set within the project, but for each > subtask. Thus the project will automatically be populated with the sum of > each subtask required time.**** > > ** ** > > BTW, I'm completely caught in the game, lol !**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > > Le mercredi 18 juillet 2012 20:02:47 UTC+2, Brienne a écrit :**** > > Good evening :) > > Wow, thank you so much for your plenty replies and the warm welcome! I > feel like I've come to the right place to look for inspirational ideas on > getting a bit more organized with my to-dos. > I had a good look at the user manual today and also checked into some of > the suggestions from your postings: > The inheritance of settings such as contexts I already have found, but > here I really do have a hard time to decide what is useful for me. I ticked > that inheritance and ended up with all tasks being one or another context > - not helpful for overview I guess :-) ! > > For now I mainly work with the outline view and my tasks usually revolve > around 2 main areas (which I set up as folders): Computers and home. Okay, > there is also a category for shopping, wish list (books, other house items, > software ;) you get the point :) ) and one or two I found by looking at the > templates from the program which I have to get used to, such as a backlog > and that strange "inbox": I am not sure I know how to use these, as funny > as it sounds! > > Since all of the things I do at the computer are rather projects that > contain several steps/tasks and take some time, I almost have nothing but > projects. And since those tasks contain subtasks, I feel I should set them > to folders too, I am not sure whether this is useful? Tasks that are not > folders and not goals, in other words, that have no icon at all beside the > checkbox (right from it) somehow irritate me when looking at the list. > > For now I just see mostly folders and projects, but on the other hand, > even when I have mostly only projects, that way I can keep track of all > things at the same time, set weekly goals (for instance, one of the > subtasks could become a weekly goal). I do feel that the category project > fits best to most of the things I do. > > I guess I have to work with priorities much more to set things like daily > tasks. When I still used paper and pen for my list, I used to have just a > daily list and three tasks had to get checked off for the day (for > instance, three household chores had to be done). I find it a bit of a pity > there is no daily goal, because that would be fitting for setting the long > term project tasks apart from the chores that need to be done. > (One question concerning these: is there a way to set the words that are > used for priority, importance and urgency? I feel these categories could be > a lot more helpful if I could assign shorter words, or icons in place of > the words). > > Another thing I would love to hear your ideas on is the use of icons. I > found out you can setup almost any icon as a custom one. After playing > around with the settings I realized that too many icons are not good for me > - I for now tend to merely use the flags column to mark things aside the > icons that are inserted for projects and folders. > > Today I took a very close look at the automatic formatting and I must say > - wow! That opens plenty of possibilities too. But to be quite honest with > you, I sometimes struggle hard when I have too many possibilities. That is > one pitfall for someone with ADD. Everything is intriguing and needs to be > looked into - and in the end you find yourself spending the whole day on > writing and playing with your to do list ;) > I mainly have problems with the mentioned icons (their positioning such as > 0, 1, 2 etc is a riddle to me still) and deciding which automatic > formatting is useful. Right now I have such a colorful list full of icons > that my head is spinning just from looking at it! LOL. > > And two things about projects still remain unclear to me, even after I > have worked with the settings now quite a bit: One is the usage of the > strings for projects; does that have to do with the parsing in the rapid > task entry? By the way, thank you so much for that hint, it was exactly > what I had been looking for! > Question number two is the setting of the required time for a project: No > matter what I check or un-check, those boxes are not available for me. I > was thinking maybe I could use that estimated time to sort all projects > into short, middle and long projects. > > I guess it all boils down now to decide what is helpful to get a clearer > view on things. And that is the point where your ideas and personal > preferences are a good source of inspiration, thank you for that! > > I apologize for this scattered reply, but here comes my ADD and tells me > it had enough of computer work today lol! > > warm regards, > > Brienne > > On Monday, July 16, 2012 7:48:11 PM UTC+2, Brienne wrote:**** > > Hi all, > I just joined this group because I am in the middle of my trial of this > program and have to make a decision soon on whether I should buy it or not > (as with everyone almost, budget is always tight, so we all think twice > don't we? ;-) ) > > I feel a bit lost with all the options, though I am also intrigued by the > complexity of this program. Oh and I hope it is ok that I started a new > thread? I just felt it would be impolite to hi-jack someone's "New user" > thread. > > First of all, before I start with my questions, let me tell you a bit > about myself and why I am so interested in a program like MLO. I have not > read any of the books mentioned in this forum. I am not (yet) familiar with > all the theories and methods of to-do lists, and I must say I guess I > missed something good! > > I suffer from ADD (yes, that attention thing ;) ) and my mind is > constantly on the edge of bursting apart from ideas, do-not-forgets and > what-I-always-wanted-to-do's. So I really really need a good way to sort > things out and get them on paper sorted in a way that fits to my needs or, > rather, thinking. I am very intrigued by the idea of having these contexts, > projects and goals. That would cover a lot of the things that are on my > mind; I had a bit of a hard time finding out how far automatic the program > gets though: Is there a way to automatically asign contexts for instance, > by typing an "@" in front of a word? Or are all these settings merely done > manually through the properties dialog? > > I also read somewhere that projects always have to be marked done > manually, is that right? Sounds a little odd to me, since I do see the > percentage changing with the subtasks getting done. > > And lastly, I'd like to ask, in this group, is there anything like a files > section where people share templates or something similar? I have often > read people talking about some other user's template but I have a very hard > time to find my way around these google groups. > > I hope this wasnt much too long for a first introduction, and please > excuse my mistakes in grammar and spelling. English is my second language > and my ADD does the rest to my spelling ;))) > > *waves hi to everyone* > Brienne**** > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MyLifeOrganized" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/qJE9OG8DGF4J. > 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. > -- 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.
