Finding the task to work on today from different projects

[KatyP]

I've been running into this problem any time I've tried to stick with using GTD. I have a lot of different projects that I need to make progress on. But I become overwhelmed and I am not sure how to efficiently look through the different tasks I might want to be working on today. I don't want to review all my projects every day, that's a lot of work. I use Things, and I started tagging the projects and tasks with the tag "SOON" that I need to make a lot of progress on with in the near future or things that are time sensitive, so I can search for that tag and then pull some of those tasks into what I plan to work on today. But even that list gets overwhelming.
Also I'll end up with a bunch of tasks in Today that I didn't get to, which gets carried over to the next day. So they shouldn't really be in Today unless they will definitely get done today. But I don't want to go through this processes several times a day to put tasks into today.

I know that if we have some projects we are not really working on currently that we can move them into a "Someday / Maybe" lists. And I have a "Someday Soon", "Someday Later", and "Someday Maybe" lists.

But it's specifically the plethora of projects I need to be making some consistent progress on that overwhelm me.

Any thoughts on how to go about deciding what to work on every day without getting overwhelmed and also not dropping the ball on making progress on many projects?

 

[fooddude]

I've been running into this problem any time I've tried to stick with using GTD. I have a lot of different projects that I need to make progress on. But I become overwhelmed and I am not sure how to efficiently look through the different tasks I might want to be working on today. I don't want to review all my projects every day, that's a lot of work. I use Things, and I started tagging the projects and tasks with the tag "SOON" that I need to make a lot of progress on with in the near future or things that are time sensitive, so I can search for that tag and then pull some of those tasks into what I plan to work on today. But even that list gets overwhelming.
Also I'll end up with a bunch of tasks in Today that I didn't get to, which gets carried over to the next day. So they shouldn't really be in Today unless they will definitely get done today. But I don't want to go through this processes several times a day to put tasks into today.

I know that if we have some projects we are not really working on currently that we can move them into a "Someday / Maybe" lists. And I have a "Someday Soon", "Someday Later", and "Someday Maybe" lists.

But it's specifically the plethora of projects I need to be making some consistent progress on that overwhelm me.

Any thoughts on how to go about deciding what to work on every day without getting overwhelmed and also not dropping the ball on making progress on many projects?

Are you using contexts? Are you putting just the very next action on a context list? Are you doing the weekly review consistently? Those are the major sticking points of GTD. I use Projects and Someday/Maybe only. I wouldn't muddy the water with all those other someday lists. Anything that I can complete in a year goes on Projects. Anything else including stuff I just might want to do goes on Someday/Maybe.

 

[KatyP]

Are you using contexts? Are you putting just the very next action on a context list? Are you doing the weekly review consistently? Those are the major sticking points of GTD. I use Projects and Someday/Maybe only. I wouldn't muddy the water with all those other someday lists. Anything that I can complete in a year goes on Projects. Anything else including stuff I just might want to do goes on Someday/Maybe.

I do use a Context list. And if I have all the things I need to work on within a year in my project list, I get completely overwhelmed and stop using GTD. I also break things out into Areas of Focus that's "Personal" and "Work". But even the organizational projects in my home seem endless and I get overwhelmed. Basically having it all lumped together into one big project list makes the system completely unusable for me.
I've adapted breaking things down into shorter lists and Area of Focus because I can't get my brain to deal with it all otherwise.

I try to put just one next action into projects, but I think of a lot of things that can be done in parallel to that first acton. But maybe I should just put one this down so I don't overwhelm myself.

I try to do weekly reviews but again, can't seem to stick with it for too long and get overwhelmed.

I don't know why my brain makes this so complicated. I've tried to use GTD for over 20 years like this.
I keep trying to simplify things for myself, but I keep hitting that overwhelm and stop using it consistently.

 

[mcogilvie]

Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up, David Allen advises. As a fellow Things user, I know how easy it is to overflow your Today list, and how daunting the full inventory of all your next actions in Anytime can be. I recommend trying the 3-3-3 method of Oliver Burkeman, a journalist and writer on productivity. It’s extremely lightweight and flexible: 3-3-3 :

Every normal working day, my intention is:

• to spend three hours on my most important current project, having defined some kind of specific goal for the progress I aim to make on it that day;

• to complete three shorter tasks, usually urgent to-dos or "sticky" tasks I've been avoiding, usually just a few minutes each (I count calls and meetings here, too); and

• to dedicate time to three 'maintenance activities', things that need my daily attention in order to keep life running smoothly.

This is not designed to fill your day or even your workday, but it sets a realistic intention which can turn a day in which nothing seems to have been accomplished into a not-bad-at-all day. It’s easy to implement, GTD-compatible, and if you don’t find it helpful, you haven’t lost much. Don’t be afraid to change it; I don’t follow its prescription rigorously.

 

[fooddude]

I do use a Context list. And if I have all the things I need to work on within a year in my project list, I get completely overwhelmed and stop using GTD. I also break things out into Areas of Focus that's "Personal" and "Work". But even the organizational projects in my home seem endless and I get overwhelmed. Basically having it all lumped together into one big project list makes the system completely unusable for me.
I've adapted breaking things down into shorter lists and Area of Focus because I can't get my brain to deal with it all otherwise.

I try to put just one next action into projects, but I think of a lot of things that can be done in parallel to that first acton. But maybe I should just put one this down so I don't overwhelm myself.

I try to do weekly reviews but again, can't seem to stick with it for too long and get overwhelmed.

I don't know why my brain makes this so complicated. I've tried to use GTD for over 20 years like this.
I keep trying to simplify things for myself, but I keep hitting that overwhelm and stop using it consistently.

The following are examples of my project list. Actually 57 total items. My next action contexts and my agendas. I may add an agenda for a large project that will take some time to complete. And there is a person attached to it. Then my @home context wit the very next action for some project on my project list. Remember, you can only do the very next action only in the context you can do it. I keep it really simple. I used to have a complicated system. I found I was working more on the system than actually getting things done. I did notice you said you use contexts, but didn't say if only the very next action was on that list. Hope this helps All the best.

 

[KatyP]

Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up, David Allen advises. As a fellow Things user, I know how easy it is to overflow your Today list, and how daunting the full inventory of all your next actions in Anytime can be. I recommend trying the 3-3-3 method of Oliver Burkeman, a journalist and writer on productivity. It’s extremely lightweight and flexible: 3-3-3 :


This is not designed to fill your day or even your workday, but it sets a realistic intention which can turn a day in which nothing seems to have been accomplished into a not-bad-at-all day. It’s easy to implement, GTD-compatible, and if you don’t find it helpful, you haven’t lost much. Don’t be afraid to change it; I don’t follow its prescription rigorously.

Do you put your maintenance activities in a separate area? Or is there like a maintenance Project list? That's another thing I get hung up on. I have things I continuously have to do to maintain whatever that never get complete and I'm not sure where those should go.

 

[KatyP]

The following are examples of my project list. Actually 57 total items. My next action contexts and my agendas. I may add an agenda for a large project that will take some time to complete. And there is a person attached to it. Then my @home context wit the very next action for some project on my project list. Remember, you can only do the very next action only in the context you can do it. I keep it really simple. I used to have a complicated system. I found I was working more on the system than actually getting things done. I did notice you said you use contexts, but didn't say if only the very next action was on that list. Hope this helps All the best. View attachment 2175View attachment 2176View attachment 2177

I am a farmer, and majority of projects and actions are executed @Home, inside my house, or @Farm, outside but basically on the property. So that doesn't cut down on the number of actions I would suddenly see if I search by contexts. What I'm saying is that this number of actions that I could choose from on any given day is overwhelming to the point where I don't want to use the system.. And it's a lot of reading and deciding what to pull into Today. Searching by Context doesn't help with the overwhelm.
Hence why i created different Someday/Maybe lists, so I can move some of the pending things I am currently not doing there, to minimize how much I see by context.

 

[Mrs-Polifax]

I do use a Context list. And if I have all the things I need to work on within a year in my project list, I get completely overwhelmed and stop using GTD. I also break things out into Areas of Focus that's "Personal" and "Work". But even the organizational projects in my home seem endless and I get overwhelmed. Basically having it all lumped together into one big project list makes the system completely unusable for me.
I've adapted breaking things down into shorter lists and Area of Focus because I can't get my brain to deal with it all otherwise.

I try to put just one next action into projects, but I think of a lot of things that can be done in parallel to that first acton. But maybe I should just put one this down so I don't overwhelm myself.

I try to do weekly reviews but again, can't seem to stick with it for too long and get overwhelmed.

I don't know why my brain makes this so complicated. I've tried to use GTD for over 20 years like this.
I keep trying to simplify things for myself, but I keep hitting that overwhelm and stop using it consistently.

Hi, @KatyP

I have been learning GTD ever since I bought David Allen's first GTD book, which was published in 2001, so like you, I've been learning GTD for a couple of decades. I am still struggling with it, so please do not feel alone. We are all different, and we all need to go at our own speed. I really hear you that even organizational household projects seem endless and overwhelming, and I have the same experience.

I have learned in the GTD Forum and from the GTD coaches in their videos on You Tube at GTD Focus is that there is no right way to do GTD. There are best practices, but they are flexible. What matters is that you feel attracted to your GTD system, so it is easy and fun for you to use, and that you feel free to experiment and to do GTD in whatever way works best for YOU.

You said you feel overwhelmed when you put the many projects that need to be done in the next year on your projects list. It may be that you need a projects list with fewer projects on it. How did it work when you tried to break down your projects list into Areas of Focus?

Another way to do that is to morph your projects list into a projects binder that contains one project per page. You could still see each one of your projects by turning the pages in your binder, but you might feel more ease and peace because you would not see them all at once, which could be more manageable for you.

Another way to have fewer projects on your projects list is to move ALL your projects to your Someday-Maybe list, leaving your Projects List empty. Then you could choose ONE project, and move it back to your Projects List, and see how it goes when you have only one project to manage. If you do not feel overwhelmed, you could add another project the next week, and you could continue this each week. When you notice that you feel overwhelmed, you could put one or more projects back into Someday-Maybe. This will start to define your boundaries, so you are not overwhelmed.

One important feature of GTD is that we are making a commitment only to our active lists. We do not have any commitment to our Someday-Maybe list. We can relax, knowing we have not committed to it. We can also renegotiate our commitment to an active matter, if we need to do so.

I know it can be difficult to decide what NOT to do when we have many projects, and we cannot possibly do all the things we want to do or need to do or would love to do in life. There is simply not enough time. The result of trying this impossible task is overwhelm, so we need to choose.

But how will we choose? This is where your higher horizons come in. You need to know what truly matters to you in order know where you want to put your energy. I haven't worked on this yet, but I can see how valuable it is to know what really matters to me, so I will feel good when I choose.

I think it is great to be curious and experiment. The way your brain works is fine. Your brain is giving you a message about what it needs. Give what it needs a try and see how that works. Also, if you think something might appeal to you, then try it and see.
Best Wishes,

Emily

 

[fooddude]

I am a farmer, and majority of projects and actions are executed @Home, inside my house, or @Farm, outside but basically on the property. So that doesn't cut down on the number of actions I would suddenly see if I search by contexts. What I'm saying is that this number of actions that I could choose from on any given day is overwhelming to the point where I don't want to use the system.. And it's a lot of reading and deciding what to pull into Today. Searching by Context doesn't help with the overwhelm.
Hence why i created different Someday/Maybe lists, so I can move some of the pending things I am currently not doing there, to minimize how much I see by context.

I only do by context. Even though I now work from home, I used to have Work and Home contexts. So the two you have would be good to keep one from encroaching on the other. I never have a "today" list unless it has to be done today. And time specific items go on the calendar. If it is day specific, it is an all day event. If it is time specific it goes on my calendar at that time. I don't have separate systems for personal and work. Especially with time specific items, all appointments personal or professional, need to be on the same calendar. I like to keep the system simple. I have one project list and one Someday/ Maybe list.
What I'm saying is that this number of actions that I could choose from on any given day is overwhelming to the point where I don't want to use the system.. But you can only "do" one action (right now). It doesn't really matter how many you have. The steps for choosing are: you have to be in the right context, you have to have the mental energy to do it. And are you sure it is the very next action or is there more clarifying that needs to be done? Do you want to do it? I have someday maybes that just don't interest me anymore. I delete those during weekly reviews. Would you give us an example of a project and the very next action to move it forward?

 

[mcogilvie]

Do you put your maintenance activities in a separate area? Or is there like a maintenance Project list? That's another thing I get hung up on. I have things I continuously have to do to maintain whatever that never get complete and I'm not sure where those should go.

I do, but that’s still a relatively new practice for me. Right now that area is called Recurring. I used to put them in an area for things that were critical today, but I found that the routine items were getting in the way of things that were critical that particular day. I have a few areas at the top of areas which are not areas of focus, but buckets for next actions and projects: Focus, Critical, Recurring. Projects and next actions move in and out of these areas as needed. The rest of the areas are conventional: Health, Money, et cetera. I’ve found I don’t have a strong need to attach contexts (tags in Things) or Areas to projects and next actions, but right now I do use them. I’m not good with long unbroken lists, so breaking them is better for me.

 

[Oogiem]

I am a farmer, and majority of projects and actions are executed @Home, inside my house, or @Farm, outside but basically on the property. So that doesn't cut down on the number of actions I would suddenly see if I search by contexts

I am also a farmer, so make the lists appropriate. We have different barns, 2 separate properties that are about a 15 minute drive, several distinct fields and more. I have context lists for Hay barn, Sheep flock, orchard pasture, back cedars pasture, Juniper 2, ship building, red barn and guest house. I also have contexts, for outside with help, outside by myself (note, some things require 2 people at least to perform safely.)

But it's specifically the plethora of projects I need to be making some consistent progress on that overwhelm me.

I can usually separate things by season. Each year at the equinoxes and solstices I can sort through the bunch of projects and move those that can’t continue to be worked on in the next 3 months into someday/maybe. So now in Winter into early spring, can’t do any fence building, or irrigation upgrades but I can burn the brush pile from the fire mitigation work if weather and assistance permits. I can plan for and start making lambing food for the freezer so in April when it's lambing time I have stuff I can pop in the microwave for dinner between lambs. I can Collect all the tax paperwork and have it ready to go to the accountant. I can schedule the ewe ultrasounds for february and I can also track hay conumption and see how we are doing. Checking weather and planning future irrigation and major maintenance. also happens now.

Do you put your maintenance activities in a separate area? Or is there like a maintenance Project list?

All ym maintenance taks are in themselves projecgs that repeat. I use them like a cehcklist. I have a template of rhte project with all the tasks with the dependencies (do this, then this, then that). I have start dates for all of them. Then on the start date the first task is to make a copy of my checklist and make it active. I can work down the checklist and things come up avaulable in my next action lists as I can do them.

A lot of folks just use a checklist and they just work it and then clear it ready for the next instance of that task but I need to pleasure of checking things done and being able to go back and see that I did them so I make each instance of using the checklist its own set of tasks. It took a while to set up but it's working well now.

Here's an example from this season. The project is Weigh lambs at Post weaning and here are the tasks in my checklist template. The dates vary from year to year as they are dependent on when the lambs actually are born

- [ ] Figure out days to weigh early lambs #Context/InsideByMyself
- [ ] Figure out days to weigh middle lambs #Context/InsideByMyself
- [ ] Figure out days to weigh late lambs #Context/InsideByMyself
- [ ] Weigh early lambs for post weaning weights #Context/OutsideWithHelp -- I add the start and end dates once I figure them out
- [ ] Weigh middle lambs for post weaning weights #Context/OutsideWithHelp -- I add the start and end dates once I figure them out
- [ ] Weigh late lambs for post weaning weights #Context/OutsideWithHelp -- I add the start and end dates once I figure them out

 

[FocusGuy]

@KatyP

I red your post and found it interesting. I was like you until I understood some GTD Principles. Here are my 2 cents

1) Making a list of project doesn't mean you have to do them immediately. The only "must do" is to put in your next action list, only but the very next action physical and visible.
2) Your next action list is not a must do list. It is a list of option. It is different than what you have on your calendar wether it is really on it or on your context/ Tag list. Calendar list is a must do list.
3) Working with GTD doesn't mean you have to get rid of planning and strategies. Eg take time to get a bird eye about your engagement. Decide a short list of results (eg projects) and stick to it these are yours priorities. Make list by year, quater, month, week and day. Don't make it to hard. It must be obvious. Then plan what you want to accomplish and when. It doesn't mean yo will stick to that plan but it gives bigs rocks that can be moves according to crucial circonstances.
4) work one thing at a time with full focus cut everything else if you can...
5) Trust yourself and just do it ! . No system, nothing, no one knows better than you what you have to do. You can lesson, take advice but decide on your own.

That's what I learned after 17 years of GTD. Of course there are some little tricks and tips like using a someday may be list for later stuff or someday stuff but the core is here for me and it is only my own experience.

 

[Gardener]

I minimize my current lists and maximize Someday/Maybe. A Project will be in Someday/Maybe if:

- I don't expect to work on it this month.
- It consumes the same resources as another project. (That is, I keep just one of the group of projects that consume the same resources.)
- It depends on another project.
- After all that, I still have too many projects.

For example, I want to finish all of the following gardening projects by May--along with dozens of other projects:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Dig/amend cutting garden space
- Dig/amend annual vegetable bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Transplant raspberries
- Transplant artichokes
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 2
- Update raspberry watering
- Update Asparagus Bed 1 watering
- Update Asparagus Bed 2 watering
- Dig/amend row 2A
- Dig/amend row 3A

What goes to Someday/Maybe?

Well, all of "Dig/amend" involve the same resources--suitable weather, suitable soil moisture, and my back being in reasonable health for digging. So only one of those will be active and the others will be in Someday/Maybe. When I finish the one, I'll go dig into Someday/Maybe and activate another.

I choose "Dig/amend raspberry bed".
I can't do the other raspberry tasks until that's done.
I don't want to do any watering work until I'm ready for all watering work. (That's a rule that's specific to watering work, not a general rule.)

That takes us down to:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Transplant artichokes
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 2

The artichokes go in where the coreopsis come out. And prune and amend takes the same resources as prune and amend. So we end with the following list:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1

That's a nice small workload, suited for a variety of conditions. It doesn't include anything suitable for pouring rain, so I deliberately go into Someday/Maybe to find something that's suitable for pouring rain:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1
- Declutter the shed

That's my gardening workload. Nothing gets added until one of those is done, OR something comes along that's clearly a higher priority, in which case one of the existing projects get demoted back to Someday/Maybe.

Edited to add: If the final workload had been much too large, I would have set priorities--for example, I might decide that I'll prune before I dig, and demote the digging projects until I've done some or all of the pruning projects.

 

[TesTeq]

And prune and amend takes the same resources as prune and amend. So we end with the following list:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1

@Gardener Isn't it a little recursive to prune the Prune Project from your list?

 

[KatyP]

I only do by context. Even though I now work from home, I used to have Work and Home contexts. So the two you have would be good to keep one from encroaching on the other. I never have a "today" list unless it has to be done today. And time specific items go on the calendar. If it is day specific, it is an all day event. If it is time specific it goes on my calendar at that time. I don't have separate systems for personal and work. Especially with time specific items, all appointments personal or professional, need to be on the same calendar. I like to keep the system simple. I have one project list and one Someday/ Maybe list.
What I'm saying is that this number of actions that I could choose from on any given day is overwhelming to the point where I don't want to use the system.. But you can only "do" one action (right now). It doesn't really matter how many you have. The steps for choosing are: you have to be in the right context, you have to have the mental energy to do it. And are you sure it is the very next action or is there more clarifying that needs to be done? Do you want to do it? I have someday maybes that just don't interest me anymore. I delete those during weekly reviews. Would you give us an example of a project and the very next action to move it forward?

I think putting more projects into the Someday Maybe list is a way to go. And only keeping the projects that I will be working on this month or even this week in the active projects list.

I do have things broken down into Areas of Focus but still feel like there are too many projects in both.

The main issue I have is deciding which tasks to choose out of the different active project list, and pull them into today. Because this requires reviews a bunch of these projects on daily basis and selecting the tasks. So I need to be doing the full weekly review every week, but need to be doing some minor review every day to know what I need to be working on. And when there are too many projects to choose from, that's when the overwhelm happens.

Searching by Context doesn't really help because when I'm at home, that fits many context. I am @Home and also @Farm which is outside my home. I am also @Computer and @Phone. All this opens up too many projects and tasks. But I need to be aware of pending projects in all these context to decide how to direct my time that day. Like do I need to get some things done inside the house? Or maybe I need to go start on a farm project outside. Or I need to make some phone calls or do something on the computer. I need to be able to review what I have pending to decide on what to do. And I also can't forget or neglect something.

So I think keeping more things in Someday Maybe lists and reviewing those once per week is the only way to go here.

 

[KatyP]

@KatyP

I red your post and found it interesting. I was like you until I understood some GTD Principles. Here are my 2 cents

1) Making a list of project doesn't mean you have to do them immediately. The only "must do" is to put in your next action list, only but the very next action physical and visible.
2) Your next action list is not a must do list. It is a list of option. It is different than what you have on your calendar wether it is really on it or on your context/ Tag list. Calendar list is a must do list.
3) Working with GTD doesn't mean you have to get rid of planning and strategies. Eg take time to get a bird eye about your engagement. Decide a short list of results (eg projects) and stick to it these are yours priorities. Make list by year, quater, month, week and day. Don't make it to hard. It must be obvious. Then plan what you want to accomplish and when. It doesn't mean yo will stick to that plan but it gives bigs rocks that can be moves according to crucial circonstances.
4) work one thing at a time with full focus cut everything else if you can...
5) Trust yourself and just do it ! . No system, nothing, no one knows better than you what you have to do. You can lesson, take advice but decide on your own.

That's what I learned after 17 years of GTD. Of course there are some little tricks and tips like using a someday may be list for later stuff or someday stuff but the core is here for me and it is only my own experience.

I totally understand that making a list of projects doesn't mean I have to do them now and that the action list is a list of options.
The problem I am having is choosing the actions I need to pull into today because it requires reviewing a whole bunch of the projects that I really need to move forward with. Not just because they are on my list but because they really are important and time sensitive. But there are A LOT of them. And maybe this is just a matter of logistics of my life. But maybe everything I am not going to be working on this week needs to go on a Someday/Maybe list to minimize what I am looking at on daily basis.

 

[KatyP]

I minimize my current lists and maximize Someday/Maybe. A Project will be in Someday/Maybe if:

- I don't expect to work on it this month.
- It consumes the same resources as another project. (That is, I keep just one of the group of projects that consume the same resources.)
- It depends on another project.
- After all that, I still have too many projects.

For example, I want to finish all of the following gardening projects by May--along with dozens of other projects:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Dig/amend cutting garden space
- Dig/amend annual vegetable bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Transplant raspberries
- Transplant artichokes
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 2
- Update raspberry watering
- Update Asparagus Bed 1 watering
- Update Asparagus Bed 2 watering
- Dig/amend row 2A
- Dig/amend row 3A

What goes to Someday/Maybe?

Well, all of "Dig/amend" involve the same resources--suitable weather, suitable soil moisture, and my back being in reasonable health for digging. So only one of those will be active and the others will be in Someday/Maybe. When I finish the one, I'll go dig into Someday/Maybe and activate another.

I choose "Dig/amend raspberry bed".
I can't do the other raspberry tasks until that's done.
I don't want to do any watering work until I'm ready for all watering work. (That's a rule that's specific to watering work, not a general rule.)

That takes us down to:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Transplant artichokes
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 2

The artichokes go in where the coreopsis come out. And prune and amend takes the same resources as prune and amend. So we end with the following list:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1

That's a nice small workload, suited for a variety of conditions. It doesn't include anything suitable for pouring rain, so I deliberately go into Someday/Maybe to find something that's suitable for pouring rain:

- Dig/amend raspberry bed
- Remove Coreopsis
- Prune and amend Asparagus Bed 1
- Declutter the shed

That's my gardening workload. Nothing gets added until one of those is done, OR something comes along that's clearly a higher priority, in which case one of the existing projects get demoted back to Someday/Maybe.

Edited to add: If the final workload had been much too large, I would have set priorities--for example, I might decide that I'll prune before I dig, and demote the digging projects until I've done some or all of the pruning projects.

The gardening projects examples are helpful because I deal with this kind of thing.
How do you structure your Someday/Maybe lists? Do you have several? I have broken mine down into Someday Soon, Someday Later, and Someday Maybe. Otherwise just one gets too long. And I think some of them I can review every week, and some maybe once per month.

How often do you review your Someday/Maybe lists?

 

[fooddude]

I think putting more projects into the Someday Maybe list is a way to go. And only keeping the projects that I will be working on this month or even this week in the active projects list.

I do have things broken down into Areas of Focus but still feel like there are too many projects in both.

The main issue I have is deciding which tasks to choose out of the different active project list, and pull them into today. Because this requires reviews a bunch of these projects on daily basis and selecting the tasks. So I need to be doing the full weekly review every week, but need to be doing some minor review every day to know what I need to be working on. And when there are too many projects to choose from, that's when the overwhelm happens.

Searching by Context doesn't really help because when I'm at home, that fits many context. I am @Home and also @Farm which is outside my home. I am also @Computer and @Phone. All this opens up too many projects and tasks. But I need to be aware of pending projects in all these context to decide how to direct my time that day. Like do I need to get some things done inside the house? Or maybe I need to go start on a farm project outside. Or I need to make some phone calls or do something on the computer. I need to be able to review what I have pending to decide on what to do. And I also can't forget or neglect something.

So I think keeping more things in Someday Maybe lists and reviewing those once per week is the only way to go here.

So where do you put the very next action for a project? You shouldn't be looking so much at projects as the next action. I try to only look at projects during my weekly review. Does your system integrate personal and professional? And the contexts would still work. There are some things you can only do on the phone. (Calls and Texts). @Computer for me is anything that can be done on the computer or phone that is computer-like. It's a little more fuzzy but I put that in @Computer. Do you "work" the farm like a job? I mean go out to the farm and work 8 hours? I'm not a fan of time blocking but maybe you could do that. Then do the @farm stuff @farm. Do you put day specific items on your calendar?

But I need to be aware of pending projects in all these context to decide how to direct my time that day. Like do I need to get some things done inside the house? Or maybe I need to go start on a farm project outside. Or I need to make some phone calls or do something on the computer.

That is why you need to put your very next action on you N/A list. It appears you are trying to do projects not next actions. GTD theory is you can't do projects you can only do the very next action to move that project forward. I'm in no way trying to suggest I know your business but I'm guessing the following example might be close.
Project-Plant 16 acres of corn.
@Farm-Get tractor and Plow 16 acres on the North Side.
That's it. I don't write down any next action til I've completed the first. I may do several next actions on that project. when I stop I write down the very next action and I can pick up the project where I left off. For example, If you finish plowing and stop for the day, Your next action could be @Farm- fertilize 16 acres.
And don't neglect the @Waiting For context. Sometimes you can still move a project forward with a waiting for item. Sometimes your project is on hold til the waiting for item is taken care of.
Hope this helps.

 

[Gardener]

The gardening projects examples are helpful because I deal with this kind of thing.
How do you structure your Someday/Maybe lists? Do you have several? I have broken mine down into Someday Soon, Someday Later, and Someday Maybe. Otherwise just one gets too long. And I think some of them I can review every week, and some maybe once per month.

How often do you review your Someday/Maybe lists?

I just counted--I have 29 lists in my Lists area.

Some are project-like, some are more purely list-like.

Examples:

Media
Shopping - Theoretical
Gifts
Sewing Ideas
Food Ideas
Thoughts for the Novel
Declutter Ideas
Household Ideas
Garden Ideas
Paperwork Thoughts
Writing Thoughts
Travel Thoughts
Finance Thoughts
(Etc., etc., etc.)

This is all personal--my work stuff is in a different system at work.

There are also various forms of project support material, such as a diagram of the garden with every area showing the current crop and the next crop.

Edited to add: I'd say that I do a formal review of these lists somewhere between once a month or once a quarter, depending on the list. I pull items out of them more often than that--as in the example, if a soil prep project gets done, I'll go pull another soil prep project.

 

[RomanS]

First of all: I use Microsoft To Do.

I formulate projects as main-projects and, if possible, sub-projects. Instead of moving projects to Someday/Maybe (which is a good option), I mark a maximum of 15 (sub-)projects in the Weekly Review that I need/want to work on in the coming week. They automatically appear in a separate list. During the week, I only look at this list.

Every morning, I look at the appointments in the calendar and the list with the marked projects. I then mark in the lists of today's expected contexts those tasks with "Today" that I want to complete in the time remaining that day (allowing for a time buffer for unplanned work). For the rest of the day, I then only look at the "Today" list if possible.

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