Hi SRhyse
Interesting... It looks like you've put a lot of demanding thought into
your system. I don't know if the extreme simplicity of your tagging would
work for me, but it's an interesting approach and I shall ponder on it.
One thing I still can't decide is how best to use folders within MLO. In
Particular how many root folders should one have? Indeed, how many folders
to have at all?
If I read your correctly you have about 9 folders in the root directory:
- Inbox
- Career
- Relationships
- HAF
- Learning
- Fun
- Grocery List
- Reminders
- BS
==> Yes?
But to what extent do you use the David Allen's GTD 5 stages of workflow ?
1. Capture
2. Clarify/Process
3. Organize
4. Reflect/Review
5. Engage/Execute
The main problem with having too many folders is that all new stuff needs
to be moved into the correct folder, and that can be a serious pain. How do
you do that - by copy and paste, with lots of scrolling? e.g. Do you use F7
to open up all the folders?
When I am doing a review of ALL my tasks, obviously it's easy to stick any
new tasks directly into the correct folder, BUT
when I am busy executing other tasks, I just need to get it all out of my
head and dump it somewhere ASAP so as to avoid distraction.
i.e. At this point, I am using GTD Stage #1 "Capture"
At some point, this requires me to come back and do GTD Stage #2 to
"Clarify/Process" the new stuff as to what each item is.
Personally, at the same time I would tend also do GTD Stage #3 and Organise
them - i.e. move them into the correct position within my folders. And give
everyting a Context (using a hotkey).
i.e. I can't see any point it separating Stage #2 from Stage #3.
Then about once a per day I will do a GTD Stage #4 "Reflect/Review" where I
do a pass over all my "Live" / "Active" / "Do ASAP" stuff, to decide what
to do today by giving it a Star.
Then, during GTD Stage #5 "Engagement", several times during each day, I
will then keep reviewing everything on my "Do Today" (i.e. starred) list
to see what to do next.
I will then set about anything seriously urgent.
Then if the list is too long (it generally always is), I find it useful to
step through my different Contexts [depending on my variables like my mood
/ my location tools / urgency....]
NOTE: This is a dangerous time to get lost down rabbit holes. When my
energy levels are high I take on the harder stuff - particularly anything
that I have already put off ("Frogs" - from "Eat that Frog" book).
I'm not sure I have any real answers... but one thing I like to do is time
things with a kitchen timer and force myself to move on.
What about you - where do you put your simple stand-alone tasks? Do you
even put them into the correct directory within the "root directory" or
leave them all in one place?
J
On Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 4:30:53 AM UTC, SRhyse wrote:
>
> My D and S contexts take care of the energy aspect. Deep, creative work
> always requires energy, and my success there would determine whether I felt
> energized or not. Shallow work usually adds energy because I’m
> accomplishing things and building up moment with relatively little effort.
>
> It’s your setup, but I’d be wary of having contexts for archive, do
> someday, and do soon. If you’re regularly reviewing your tasks, everything
> that’s tagged to be done at all is a someday. If something needs done by a
> certain date you can put that on it, and if not, it really is just whenever
> you can get to it. Things change as you work, so I’ve found no value in
> trying to make time commitments like that. And if something is on a list to
> be done at all, you should be committed to doing it when you can. If you’re
> not, it just shouldn’t be on that list. At least for me. I’ve actually
> taken a great deal of things out of MLO to that effect, like movies I’d
> like to see or books I’d like, or things I’d like to write or do.
>
> It would depend on the nature of your work, but if I have my iPad Pro with
> me, I can do 90% of what I’d need to do for work, whether it involved
> writing, designing, drawing, correspondence, or otherwise. I also work from
> home, so I don’t need a separate context for that. If I didn’t, I’d just
> put those tasks in a “Home” folder to ease the management of them. If I’m
> out, I’m either working, running an errand, working out, or doing something
> for leisure, so I wouldn’t need to distinguish what I could do there
> because I’m actively in the act of doing something. All errands for me
> consist of buying something, so it’s all on a grocery list.
>
> My folders largely look like the following:
>
> Inbox
> Career
> -Client
> —Specific Client folders
> ——Different projects for each client as relevant
> -Larger Project I work on folder
> -Leads
> -Sales
> Relationships
> -Friends
> -Family
> -Dating
> -Networking
> -Elly (my dog)
> HAF (Stands for Health and Fitness, don’t feel like typing it out each
> time to parse things there)
> -Various folders related to that
> Finances
> Learning
> -Different folders or projects for learning initiatives, etc, but no
> itemized lists of books or research, that’s all elsewhere, if anywhere
> -Self-improvement stuff is here too
> -Things I regularly do to stay in practice, mostly drawing, design,
> writing, and related things
> Chores
> -Admin Work, including things meant to remind me to review MLO
> -Upkeep (things around my place to do, like cleaning, etc)
> Fun
> -Exclusively things I’m planning on doing reasonably soon, usually non
> specific, like ‘see a movie’ or ‘play games’. I find I don’t like
> committing to specifics on things like this, but do better categorically,
> and it saves me the trouble of making needlessly numerous entries for
> relatively mundane things
> Grocery List
> Reminders
> -Things that won’t fit elsewhere and I exclusively want to act more or
> less like a Tickler to pop up in the starred view on a particular date
> BS
> -I throw things in here sometimes if I can’t bring myself to delete them
> yet. This often includes entire MLO databases worth of tasks, sample
> hierarchies or things I was experimenting in, project plans, etc.
>
> That’s pretty much it. Sometimes I’ll have a top level ‘templates’ folder,
> but I’ve found it’s usually easier to have subfolders in an area with
> templates because that will usually be where I’m going to place them
> eventually anyway. I sometimes have ‘waiting for’ subfolders, but I try not
> to as I’m not really waiting for very much at all. If I’ve been paid
> already and someone’s supposed to get back to me, that’s on them, not me,
> and I don’t want it sullying my attention in the meantime. Some subfolders
> might be along the lines of ‘Maybe’ or ‘Hold’ and are turned off in todo
> lists. Some might also be for notes, but I tend to keep relevant info in
> MLO on the task reminders to do them, and extended info outside of it. This
> may change with Markdown support having been added, however. Also sometimes
> have a top level Waiting folder, but I wait on so few things that it tends
> not to last.
>
> I’ve had a personal folder in the past, but really, there’s work
> commitments to others I might want to focus on, and there’s everything
> else, so there was little point in foldering all of that together.
>
> Yes, I only have 3 contexts, D, S, and W. 4 if you count the Star, which
> is kind of the super context for things I want to do that day or be aware
> of that day. Folders sometimes change, but it’s always basically something
> like that.
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