4-creteria model for choosing what to do. I think I don't understand this model. Let's say I have 'Call My brother re: organizing a party for mom' at my action list. I'm at my office without access to the phone. Why should I think about the context creteria (@office) where I can't call my brother if I know that's the most important thing I have to do? I mean if I follow this model I would call my brother only when I have access to the phone. And what happens if I don't?
4-creteria model for choosing what to do question
- Thread starter Ipatove
- Start date
Hello,
I'm a relative beginner, but I thought I'd jump in on this one.
If calling your brother is a high priority and there are consequences to not doing so promptly ( or you just really want to ), then this belongs on your calendar.
In GTD, you work off your calendar first, then fill opportunistically from your contexts.
P.
I'm a relative beginner, but I thought I'd jump in on this one.
If calling your brother is a high priority and there are consequences to not doing so promptly ( or you just really want to ), then this belongs on your calendar.
In GTD, you work off your calendar first, then fill opportunistically from your contexts.
P.
let me ask you another question...
How exactly did you want to call your brother without a phone?????
Seriously: contexts don't work for "urgent, must-do-now-or-something-bad-will-happen"-things. They work for "mmm, I've got time now, what could I do that would be useful"-things.
Myriam
Ipatove;84631 said:
How exactly did you want to call your brother without a phone?????
Seriously: contexts don't work for "urgent, must-do-now-or-something-bad-will-happen"-things. They work for "mmm, I've got time now, what could I do that would be useful"-things.
Myriam
Suelin23
Registered
Call brother - this would be on my home context list.
So if I'm at my office, I check my Office context list, and think about how much time I have. I'm lucky, today no meetings until afternoon. Ok, so my context list is sorted by time (short, medium, long), so I decide to tackle a long task cos I have plenty of time.
Energy - it's the morning, I'm feeling great so I'll try something that needs lots of focus.
Priority - try a high priority action first.
Looking at my list, the action 'Plan risk assessment project' is listed as being long, high energy, high priority, so I'll do that.
When I get home at the end of the day, I check my home context, and see 'Call brother'. do I have time? Not much, I need to get dinner on, I also need a rest. After dinner I have time, I feel rested, so I check my list and decide to call my brother.
So if I'm at my office, I check my Office context list, and think about how much time I have. I'm lucky, today no meetings until afternoon. Ok, so my context list is sorted by time (short, medium, long), so I decide to tackle a long task cos I have plenty of time.
Energy - it's the morning, I'm feeling great so I'll try something that needs lots of focus.
Priority - try a high priority action first.
Looking at my list, the action 'Plan risk assessment project' is listed as being long, high energy, high priority, so I'll do that.
When I get home at the end of the day, I check my home context, and see 'Call brother'. do I have time? Not much, I need to get dinner on, I also need a rest. After dinner I have time, I feel rested, so I check my list and decide to call my brother.
There seems to be a lingering issue around what happens when people have a choice in what context they could be in, in contrast to the more GTD-default assumption that people have context thrust upon them.
Arguably all context-specific Next Actions have an implied preconditional Next Action (which itself is context-free, or anywhere): Get into that context. It might be useful to extract that into its own actual Next Action for situations such as this.
Cheers,
Roger
Arguably all context-specific Next Actions have an implied preconditional Next Action (which itself is context-free, or anywhere): Get into that context. It might be useful to extract that into its own actual Next Action for situations such as this.
Cheers,
Roger
ChristopherJones
Registered
Don't be a slave to your system.
If by "Most important thing I have to do right now" you mean that it is too important to wait, then you renegotiate. To heck with where you put the next action on your list a week ago. Change it.
If you need to call your brother now-as-in-now, and you don't have a phone, then your next action isn't "Call," it's "Go get my phone or find a payphone, borrow a phone or build one out of scrap metals like E.T." You have to change the next action in out-of-the-ordinary circumstances, and also if you renegotiate the agreement and outcome.
The trick is it's a lot easier to change the next action from the wrong one to the right one than if you have no action defined at all. You're not going, "What am I going to do about that situation with my brother?" for two weeks.
If by "Most important thing I have to do right now" you mean that it is too important to wait, then you renegotiate. To heck with where you put the next action on your list a week ago. Change it.
If you need to call your brother now-as-in-now, and you don't have a phone, then your next action isn't "Call," it's "Go get my phone or find a payphone, borrow a phone or build one out of scrap metals like E.T." You have to change the next action in out-of-the-ordinary circumstances, and also if you renegotiate the agreement and outcome.
The trick is it's a lot easier to change the next action from the wrong one to the right one than if you have no action defined at all. You're not going, "What am I going to do about that situation with my brother?" for two weeks.