Some next action confusion

[ApolloTheNerd]

Going to put a disclaimer: I've not read the full GTD book by David Allen, all of my knowledge of GTD comes from the helpful Todoist guide on the subject. Reading the official book is on my list, placed in my someday pile until my crazy schedule clears up a bit.

Also adding a second disclaimer: I have ADHD and overthink the ever-loving hell out of things. If you see me putting way too much focus into one specific detail for GTD, feel free to tell me to stop it and to trim the hedges of absurdity with Occam's razor.

I've been trying to rework my productivity system over the summer, and GTD has worked well for me, helping ease my stress a bit over the summer and to work through some self-improvement. However, as school kicks back up and I start chugging through the assignments due next week, I've noticed my pattern of having an ever-growing One-Off Tasks list and several other "projects" (more than 1 step) that get pushed back. I've started trying to examine the issue, and I've found an area of confusion for my general Engaging process.

After running through all of my tasks due today (checking if there are any contexts that limit certain actions) and seeing if there's anything Upcoming that needs attention, I usually arrive at the next action list with some confusion. After you complete the next action for a project, is it advised to move to the actions that follow after it in that project, working through it until you either complete it or reach a barrier, or should you move to the next action for another project, bouncing around the subjects until you reach a dead end and must look through things one by one?

In addition, where should One-Off Tasks fit into the timeline? Projects and tasks with deadlines are usually tackled before them in my system, and I don't know how to treat the One-Offs that have no due date, rotting until I finish everything else.

 

[ivanjay205]

If I understand your question right I do not personally find that the one next action per project works for me. I do as much thinking and identifying next actions as necessary to get the project to either completion or a status of I have done what I know what I can do, and when I get to that point it will be time to identify more next actions. In fact often my last next action is Plan out Next Actions for Project X. That works best for me to keep it off my mind which is really the best case scenario according to GTD.

One off tasks fit into this same list. Projects are a separate list, their next actions get combined with both project and non-project based next actions. That is the beauty of GTD. You dont choose a project to work on, you use context, time, energy, and priority as filters to pick through next actions moving anything and everything forward.

 

[gtdstudente]

ApolloTheNerd, ivanjay205, et al.,

All sounds GTD great . . . while humbly GTD remembering . . . with all due respect . . . all that is 'Lower-Octane' necessary to actually get things going towards completion is just one Next Action?

 

[cfoley]

I think the answer to both your questions is the "Four Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment".

When choosing an action to do, filter:

• First by the context that you are in,
• next by the time available,
• then on your energy level
• and finally on a gut feeling of the priority of the remaining tasks.

So, if the new next action on the project you were already working on matches those four criteria then do that action. If not, then choose something that does.

For your second question, the single actions appear on the same lists as the next actions for projects. So just apply the above model. Sometimes a project task will come out on top but other times it will be a single action.

 

[mcogilvie]

Going to put a disclaimer: I've not read the full GTD book by David Allen, all of my knowledge of GTD comes from the helpful Todoist

Better to look at David Allen’s own stuff- there’s plenty available for free. With Todoist, the answer is always that Todoist is right for everything, and they’re not alone.

After running through all of my tasks due today (checking if there are any contexts that limit certain actions) and seeing if there's anything Upcoming that needs attention, I usually arrive at the next action list with some confusion. After you complete the next action for a project, is it advised to move to the actions that follow after it in that project, working through it until you either complete it or reach a barrier, or should you move to the next action for another project, bouncing around the subjects until you reach a dead end and must look through things one by one?

It depends on you, your life, your needs. What has to be done today? What can you do do now (context)? How much time do you have? How much energy do you have? What are your priorities? This can be pretty daunting to consider when choosing between the laundry and paying bills, so what does your intuition tell you? (Mine often wants chocolate.) In most cases, it’s better to do something rather than debate what’s absolutely best. Personal work style counts too.

In addition, where should One-Off Tasks fit into the timeline? Projects and tasks with deadlines are usually tackled before them in my system, and I don't know how to treat the One-Offs that have no due date, rotting until I finish everything else.

If you fill your days and hours with Important Projects, you will eventually find you have neglected something simple, easy and very important. Every next action on your lists is a candidate to be done soon.

 

[ApolloTheNerd]

For your second question, the single actions appear on the same lists as the next actions for projects. So just apply the above model. Sometimes a project task will come out on top but other times it will be a single action.

So One-Off Tasks should also be within my list of next actions (without the next tag but still in the filter)?

 

[ApolloTheNerd]

Better to look at David Allen’s own stuff- there’s plenty available for free. With Todoist, the answer is always that Todoist is right for everything, and they’re not alone.

I plan on reading through his book sometime soon, although my other projects are taking priority at the moment. I do prefer Todoist since it provides a clean digital solution compared to writing a list physically, but I definitely understand that some areas are lacking (like the piss-poor GCal integration).

If you fill your days and hours with Important Projects, you will eventually find you have neglected something simple, easy and very important. Every next action on your lists is a candidate to be done soon.

I'm viewing my tasks to complete after running through anything in the Today section as a filter in Todoist for actions tagged @next. Should I expand this filter to include all of the One-Off Tasks present?

 

[schmeggahead]

I've not read the full GTD book by David Allen

I have ADHD

For my form of ADHD, my solution to reading something like Getting Things Done (more of studying really), I use Kindle and Narration on my iPad to accomplish reading. Having David read the book to me while the words he is reading are highlighted is worth the price for me to purchase these. I have used it over and over again to have a section of the book re-read to me when I'm stuck in a certain area.

After you complete the next action for a project,

Here there is a nuance for me:
I write down every action I have thought of for a project, unordered (on what I call a project control sheet, title at the top and outcome). Then I make sure I put the next physical visible next action on the context list which matches the context I must be in to do the task. If more than one are independent of each other and can be done now, I add those to the appropriate context.

This gives me the freedom when completing a task for a given project to go to that project support material (my project control sheet) for additional potential tasks (I may still need to clarify that they are a next physical visible next action) to do while I'm on that project.

The key for me is once I think of something that is required to be done to complete a project, I capture that in my project support materials.

Hope all of this helps along with the other's helpful posts.
Clayton.

You need not have the same thought twice, unless you enjoy having that thought. - David Allen

 

[mcogilvie]

I plan on reading through his book sometime soon, although my other projects are taking priority at the moment. I do prefer Todoist since it provides a clean digital solution compared to writing a list physically, but I definitely understand that some areas are lacking (like the piss-poor GCal integration).

I'm viewing my tasks to complete after running through anything in the Today section as a filter in Todoist for actions tagged @next. Should I expand this filter to include all of the One-Off Tasks present?

There’s nothing wrong with using Todoist. I think it’s probably the best cross-platform app for GTD lists. However, you need to see what GTD looks like without thinking about any particular implementation, because only then will you make it what you want and need it to be, rather than some other person’s version. In response to your specific question, yes, all those one-off actions are next actions if you intend to do them as soon as you can get to them, just like next actions in projects.

 

[Jeremy Jones]

I've been using Todoist for over 5 years, and find it to be the best platform for me in terms of capturing and organizing my items.

However, I agree that one needs a firm grasp of GTD before diving into Todoist beyond using it as a simple task list. There are a lot of features, and they are adding new ones all the time like Kanban board views. You can really get swallowed up trying all the features.

I recently came to realize that I have been clarifying my items in my head, which is no longer working well for me at all. Todoist makes it so easy to capture and organize that I didn't realize just how bad I was at clarifying.

 

[Gardener]

I think the answer to both your questions is the "Four Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment".

I also focus on how much reward I get from the task.

So if I'm out in the garden and I've opened the shed and dragged out the shovel and the hula hoe and the broadfork and the bucket of fertilizer and the ground staple insertion thingie and the ground staples and the roll of weed barrier, and I remembered to bring the good hat for sweaty work, then I've created a context for preparing beds. After I finish preparing the first bed it would be logical for me to proceed to keep preparing every other bed that's empty and not-prepared, until I'm too tired to keep preparing beds.

But if preparing that ONE bed, and then switching to irrigation debugging mode, and then hauling out a couple more tools to achieve planting mode, means that I get the peonies planted TODAY, and that makes me ultra happy...then I may do that.

And in general I do tend to get more reward by continuing toward the same goal, even if that means changing contexts.

There's also urgency, which may override everything else. If those peonies really really need to GET IN THE GROUND or they're extra likely to die, then that's what I'll do.