Eddie, I love that! It is such a different way to use MLO than what I do — and I like seeing the difference! One of the truest things you said was that 'realizing a mere list of tasks and projects does nothing to motivate you'. That is what I'm coming to realize as well. Following GTD so anal-retentively has done nothing for my productivity because all the traction I *gain* by using the system is *lost* in setting contexts, urgency, importance, start dates, due dates, reminders, flags, dependencies and appropriate subtasks. I love how you use the system and may consider adopting certain aspects of it! Your tricks to motivate yourself are also inspiring. :)
Please if anyone else wants to share I'd love to glean more insights from other users as well! I can't imagine that I'm the only one that could benefit from this discussion! -Mike On Monday, April 10, 2017 at 12:30:41 PM UTC-4, Majorbillion wrote: > > Hi Mike: > > What you see below is the tip of my iceberg. What it does not include, > which I may screen grab at some later point are dozens of checklists I use > for projects I do with many moving pieces. > > [image: Inline image 1] > > USE AUTOMATIC FORMATTING: > > Notice that I use Automatic Formatting quite a bit. Automatic Formatting > changes the appearance of your tasks based on context and other variables. > That makes things stand out. > > Just everything thing I do eventually winds up in a mindmap called > Simplemind. But the hierarchy is similar to the screen grab above. > > IF YOU PROCRASTINATE HERE'S WHAT WORKS FOR ME: > > Maybe this is a little off-topic, but it is integrated into my MLO usage. > I have found, over the years, that it doesn't matter how fancy I get. I > used to use roles, priorities, effort and urgency. The truth is that I > spend more time maintaining the structure than actually getting important > things done. > > Where I'm getting the most traction has been: > > 1) Realizing that a mere list of tasks and projects does nothing to > motivate me to get them done. > 2) What motivates me are things that I want in the here and now. > > So in MLO, I have a list of things that motivate me. > > So, I use MLO and Simplemind to structure my flow of work as follows: > > 1) Prioritize tasks and projects > 2) Group them in bite-sized chunks > 3) Make a list of little things that you can reward yourself with. > > I will take a 24 oz of vanilla flavored coffee in a thermos and take one > big sip. I will place it on the other side of the room. Then, I will not > take another sip until a accomplish the set of tasks. The I'll do another > set, using perhaps some other motivation. > > There's a lot more to than that. But that gives you the gist. > > It's a big paradox. Most motivational experts tell you that the key to > success is delayed gratification. But really, it can be used to way of > tricking yourself into getting things done. > > I know this will sound stupid to a lot of people. But this is the only > approach that consistently enables me to step away from my computer at the > end my work day patting myself on the back. > > Eddie > > On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 8:38 AM, Michael Mroczka <[email protected] > <javascript:>> wrote: > >> Alright, so I know some of us have private things in our MLO lists, but >> I'm looking for this post to open up the secrecy of how you structure your >> personal MLO. In an effort to share I've provided some pics to get an idea >> of how I personally use it. You can always blur tasks that you want to keep >> private with a quick online tool like this ( >> http://www196.lunapic.com/editor/ ). >> >> It took me forever to figure out how I wanted to structure my Projects >> and Folders so that they weren't a total mess. I finally stumbled across >> this >> amazing post <http://andrewminer.tumblr.com/omnifocus> showing how to >> use Omnifocus effectively by setting up folders by ROLES in your life. See >> the picture below. >> >> >> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iEw6mHDA8xA/WOuhwbHklHI/AAAAAAAAAxM/zmiPbXsEsCUezB0t6Tw-ZBk_Dccg1keRQCLcB/s1600/omni.jpg> >> >> After I had that revelation, I modified it slightly to better fit my >> life's priorities and ended up with this... >> >> >> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yAM6I5j3ryQ/WOuiQkbMKKI/AAAAAAAAAxU/5hxL9F940A47tLpZTL4nHn0X9teQovpEACLcB/s1600/mlo.jpg> >> This is a cool configuration I've used for the last 2 years. The best >> thing about using this type of folder hierarchy is that if you prioritize >> these top level folders into what is most important to you then all your >> tasks in your default views will 'default' to this priority. So for >> example, if I looked for tasks due in the next 7 days it would first show >> me my '12 Week Year' tasks, then my 'Husband' tasks, then my 'Spiritual' >> tasks, etc. That is super cool! >> >> With this said, however, I've seen other people use simpler structures >> like just 2 folders Work and Personal with much success and many variations >> apart from this. The biggest drawback I've found with using this folder >> hierarchy is that there are many cases where a task could easily fall into >> more than one folder and you're left with either needing to duplicate the >> task (BAD) or only seeing it in one of the folders. For example, I may >> personally want to work on "Improving my Python coding skills", but should >> that go in the Hobbyist folder? Or perhaps Career Development? Or maybe >> Education? And if I need to "Do the dishes", should that go into the >> "Husband" folder or the "Owner" folder, or the "Misc" folder? >> >> >> I also found a problem with identifying tasks that were relavant to do >> NOW vs. seeing things that I may someday want to do. Grouping them by >> context can work, but for me using folders seemed to work better, so in >> each major folder I have a 2 sub-folders. I keep projects and single tasks >> that I'm actively working on this week inside the major folder and then >> sort tasks/projects that are not in progress into a folder called >> "Someday/Definitely (But Not This Week)" folder and tasks that I have not >> started or even committed myself to doing into the "Someday/Maybe" folder. >> I then hide the 2 sub folders from the task list using the "Hide branch in >> To-Do" option so that none of those tasks show up in my views unless I move >> them into the active workspace in the folder. See below for a better >> understanding. >> >> >> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H4a8UL-YBHs/WOumfL74klI/AAAAAAAAAxk/eTR2XTlbAbIUewb2F9K5ycVByo9QDhl-QCLcB/s1600/mlo%2Bsubtasks.png> >> >> >> Please post a picture on how organize your MLO tasks folders so we can >> get some other ideas! Do you organize by ROLE like I do? Maybe by EFFORT? >> Or perhaps by TIME? >> >> Let us know! Share your structure! :) >> >> -Mike >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MyLifeOrganized" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> <javascript:>. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/efb98d18-7c74-4d48-be13-11be77e43b77%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/efb98d18-7c74-4d48-be13-11be77e43b77%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/264f324f-9bb2-43ff-b2c2-032c07414592%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
