Ah yes. I've always tried to go fully paperless, but one of the blockers to that is that pen, paper and handwriting is known to be better for learning and memorising information. Here I am, at age 56, and I'm still dabbling with different ways to keep track of tasks and get in control of my day. I like the idea of your morning coffee, notebook planning system and maybe I'll have to try something similar.
On Thursday 21 March 2024 at 22:47:48 UTC Brian Bulkowski wrote: > Thanks, Stephanie. > > Here's what I have ended up doing for now. I agree that time blocking is > effective. I have now pre-printed paper (schedule sheets) which I use in > the morning. I transfer a small set of tasks from my general task list. > This is a little slower than doing 100% electronic with stars and task > lists, but I find it a pleasant way to consider my morning, my day, my > coffee. During the day, I use my pad of paper to track progress, and at the > end of the day (or the next morning) I cross items off my long term > (electrical) system. This is a less advanced use, honestly, and I've > transitioned to using Monday.Com for this. I'm not satisfied with Monday, > fully, because I'm paying quite a bit for team and sharing features that I > don't use, but their interface is simple. > > Good luck with MLO! > > -brian > > On Thu, Mar 21, 2024, 10:38 AM Stéph <stephane...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hello Brian, >> >> Sorry for the late reply from me - This is the first time I've taken a >> look at this forum for a few months. >> >> I agree, it takes too much time and effort to estimate the duration of >> every task and then select a set of tasks to suit the amount of available >> time in the day. MLO isn't set up for time-blocking, although you might be >> able to synchronise task dates with Google Calendar and then drag and drop >> them into blocks in your calendar. >> >> There is quite a lot of guidance and YouTube videos out there which >> suggest that time blocking in a calendar is more effective than To-Do >> lists, by the way. >> >> *Here's one workaround: * >> >> Rather than try to estimate exact durations for tasks, you could use *flags >> *or *categories *to categorise your task durations into: >> >> - All-day (8h) >> - Half-day (4h) >> - Quarter-day (2h) >> - 1h >> - <20 minutes. >> >> >> Generally, To-Do apps suggest that you plan your day each morning (or the >> evening before). They often have a system for you to click to select >> today's tasks. >> In MLO, the simplest way to do your plan for the day would be to use the >> *Star* property to select that day's tasks. If you set up a view with >> tasks grouped by flag, sorted into due date order within each group, it >> would be easy to make sure you star no more than 1 all-day task, or 2 >> half-day tasks, or 4 quarter-day tasks, or 8 1h tasks (or a combination of >> these... or actually *fewer tasks*, because there's no way most people >> can stick to a plan which fills an 8h working day, when 25 - 75% of the day >> will be filled with unplanned stuff like calls, emergencies, ad-hoc >> meetings, etc). *Before *choosing tasks, subtract the number of hours >> already allocated to* scheduled activities *(meetings, travel, site >> visits) and* routine daily activities *(lunch, 1/2 hour catching up on >> calls, daily team scrum meeting, gym, journaling 1/2 hour, whatever else). >> >> Most of the rest of the day, you'll then be going through and checking >> off the list in your "starred" view. >> >> >> I hope those thoughts are useful. >> Stéphane >> >> On Saturday 10 February 2024 at 04:49:50 UTC Brian Bulkowski wrote: >> >>> Hey. I am a n00b user and almost don't want to post my n00b questions, >>> but, on the other hand, I'm about to start using MLO because I can't really >>> find the workflow I want. >>> >>> I have a lot of projects, and a lot of subtasks. I love the idea of that >>> view, and the day's todo list. >>> >>> In order to "sweep" from projects to a day's todo, I want to have time >>> estimates for tasks. I find entering time estimates cumbersom. Min, max. I >>> guess I have to look through the keyboard shortcuts to find the right way. >>> >>> I mostly want to select the day's tasks from my big lists, and have it >>> be a set of tasks that fits the amount of time. I'd like a view that shows >>> the amount of I'm planning for the day. >>> >>> I want my recurring tasks to auto-populate, and I want that task to show >>> up in the next day's sweep, and those expired tasks I want to be removed (I >>> saw a recent post asking how to have recurring tasks auto-close, there >>> wasn't an answer). >>> >>> I'm also discouraged about the Android interface. I spend a lot more >>> time in the morning with my android tablet (with keyboard), and the >>> interface is ... not super intuitive. >>> >>> I'll go through the videos again, but I'm starting to think I"ll be >>> better off with an agile planning tool (asana, monday) than this...... >>> >>> Any tips welcome! >>> >>> Thanks... >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >> Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. >> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/mylifeorganized/Oa_ghf3cADk/unsubscribe >> . >> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >> mylifeorganiz...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/74cc022a-6424-497a-9790-6053cdb10a05n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/74cc022a-6424-497a-9790-6053cdb10a05n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. 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