I just use lists. I have a project list several context lists with the very next action in context That is my whole system. I use Apple calendar for day specific items.
trying to use Leos B article on learning new skills to implement James Clear habit tracking template into my life
- Thread starter TimBourne
- Start date
-
- Tags
- atomichabits skills
Mrs-Polifax
Registered
@fooddude
Thanks for posting this, fooddude. While I'm not into dark mode, I like the apparent simplicity of your system. I've heard you say that you've crafted your system to be a simple as possible, while still meeting your needs. and it certainly looks simple on the surface. I have a lot of questions, in case you have time.
Does your system have folders and tags and dates and hidden items that will pop up later, or is it just bare bones the way it looks?
Does Apple Calendar include a calendar as well as the lists?
Do calendar items get put on one of your lists?
Do you keep your lists separate from your calendar and refer to them separately without integation into a dashboard or today or this week list?
Each of those contexts, and what looks like agendas for different people, - are they lists you can open, like your@computer?
Do you keep Project files or Project support materials anywhere?
If not, how do you plan your Projects and remember the details?
Do you have any later actions for your Projects written down? If so, where?
Do you keep email separate and have a GTD system of folders there, too?
Do you have a reference file for notes and for everything that that needs a place to be put and to be found?
Does Apple Calendar use a text-based system, so your lists could be transferred to a .txt file?
Hey, thanks a lot for sharing, fooddude. Very interesting!
Best,
Emily
Thanks for posting this, fooddude. While I'm not into dark mode, I like the apparent simplicity of your system. I've heard you say that you've crafted your system to be a simple as possible, while still meeting your needs. and it certainly looks simple on the surface. I have a lot of questions, in case you have time.
Does your system have folders and tags and dates and hidden items that will pop up later, or is it just bare bones the way it looks?
Does Apple Calendar include a calendar as well as the lists?
Do calendar items get put on one of your lists?
Do you keep your lists separate from your calendar and refer to them separately without integation into a dashboard or today or this week list?
Each of those contexts, and what looks like agendas for different people, - are they lists you can open, like your@computer?
Do you keep Project files or Project support materials anywhere?
If not, how do you plan your Projects and remember the details?
Do you have any later actions for your Projects written down? If so, where?
Do you keep email separate and have a GTD system of folders there, too?
Do you have a reference file for notes and for everything that that needs a place to be put and to be found?
Does Apple Calendar use a text-based system, so your lists could be transferred to a .txt file?
Hey, thanks a lot for sharing, fooddude. Very interesting!
Best,
Emily
Mrs-Polifax
Registered
@TimBourne
HI, Tim!
Fooddude posted the link you mentioned above. Interesting and simple system, isn't it. I see why it attracted you. What operating system are you using, Tim?
Emily
HI, Tim!
Fooddude posted the link you mentioned above. Interesting and simple system, isn't it. I see why it attracted you. What operating system are you using, Tim?
EmilyI use apple notes. You could do the same thing with evernote, one note, etc. I use contexts not dates. Anything that is date specific goes on my calendar. I use apples calendar. I have reference notes but I don't use tags and I keep very little "project support". In other words, I don't have a note for each project, just the list with the very next action on a context list.
I use apple calendar and apple notes.
Sometimes. I try not to because on the calendar it would be that context. It would be specific to that day. I use all day events for day specific and put it in a day and time if time specific.
Yes each of the contexts are individual notes. The projects and someday/maybe (which I didn't show) are seperate notes.
Not much. I have may have some support notes for a very large project.
I may do several next actions. When I stop I put the very next action on a list and I can pick up right from there. If I miss doing that I will pick it up at the weekly review.
I try not to. Again I don't have a list of all the possible next actions. It would be extremely distracting for me.
Yes I use Gmail. I have 3 folders waiting for follow up and read later. I try not to work out of email so when I do weekly review, I will put any of those items in my system. I delete a bunch of emails and unsubscribe to many.
Not much and only as needed. I have some physical reference files. Again not much. And a few working files near my lap top. There was a post somewhere asking how I decide on which to put near me. If I reach for it several time and its not there I move it to near my laptop.
It's just the calendar that comes with my phone. I can access it from phone or laptop. I really try to keep it as simple as possible. A while back I realized I was doing more trying to find the perfect system that does all these different things. I was working on my system more than actually getting things done.
Hope that helps.
TimBourne
Mr
Right I don't know what the writing means "prose poem"
TimBourne
Mr
maybe
i have been dwelling on many things for months '
S
TimBourne
Mr
I don't see it above "@TimBourne
HI, Tim!
Fooddude posted the link you mentioned above. Interesting and simple system, isn't it. I see why it attracted you. What operating system are you using, Tim?
TimBourne
Mr
'
You went back here and quoted - polifaxs post - when she wrote her large one I felt like I wrote - I didn't have time to analyze fully ...
maybe it could help me to fully analyse your writing here Food, and then the previous message also "
Mrs-Polifax
Registered
Thanks so much, @fooddude, for this in depth response. I think you have streamlined everything after a lot of weeding out to get the most mileage from your system. OneNote might work for me. It's free, and while it's not agile, it seems solid, and I like the tree structure. I find it very interesting that you are hardly using Project support or Project planning, since your use of Next Actions usually is enough to unfold your Projects spontaneously. I had never considered this.
Thanks!
Emily
Mrs-Polifax
Registered
@TimBourne
Hi, Tim. I see that you found the comments from @fooddude. I was surprised and interested to hear that it is not only the GTD system of fooddude that has interested you for many months, but as you say here:
Sometimes this happens as we try to sort things out in life and understand them better.
Take care.
Emily
Hi, Tim. I see that you found the comments from @fooddude. I was surprised and interested to hear that it is not only the GTD system of fooddude that has interested you for many months, but as you say here:
Sometimes this happens as we try to sort things out in life and understand them better.
Take care.
Emily
Thank you. I only have project support if I need it. I only have one next action for a project. Of course I may have two if I'm waiting for something and there is another action I can take to move it forward. I use the weekly review in case I missed something. Let's say I have Project-Plant Rhododendron for wife. I might have ask wife where to plant on an agenda and Find store that has them on @computer. And then I stop for the day. I would put Buy rhododendron at lowes on my @Errands list. Then I can pick up the project at the very next action. Let's say 4 days from now, I know where to plant it and the very next action is on my list. I buy the plant, come home, and plant it where my wife wants it and the project is done. I just did two or three next actions and finished the project. If I bought it and brought it home and stopped there, my very next action plant rhododendron would go on my @Home list. So I may do many next actions but at any stopping point only the very next action goes on the list. Since this is a real project for me, and its winter, I currently have "store to get rhododendrons in" on my @Waiting for list. Pic of my current project support.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMQF9DTCZez7Fq57dgfIN_lwmJQJgsHjs4C-bq_
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMQF9DTCZez7Fq57dgfIN_lwmJQJgsHjs4C-bq_
Mrs-Polifax
Registered
Project R: Plant Rhododendron for wife.
You Write on Agenda for Wife:
Where to plant the Rhododendron?
You Write on Next Actions List/@Computer context:
Locate a store that sells Rhododendrons.
Next Actions List/@Computer context:
You learn that Lowes sells Rhododendrons.
Done.
You write on Next Actions List/@Errands context:
Buy Rhododendron at Lowes.
You stop for Today.
Four days from now:
Agenda for Wife: Where to plant the Rhododendron?
Wife says to plant the Rhododendron at X location.
Done.
Next Actions List/@Errands context
You buy the Rhododendron at Lowes.
Done.
Next Actions List/@Home Context:
You plant the Rhododendron at X location.
Done.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you, @fooddude. I remember the Rhododendrons in Golden Gate Park long ago when I lived in San Franscisco. I love examples, especially ones about typical things around the house. It really clarifies how it works to have these details.
I think you want to point out that you have only one Next Action for a Project until you complete that Next Action. It is a little hard to see that because of not knowing exactly when things happened, but I get the idea.
I'm sorry I can't see the links you posted. Google won't let me see them unless I sign in. I see the photo, though, and you do have Project Support Folders (and nice bright colors). I am pretty sure I will need Projects folders.
I happened to find this article online from (I'm pretty sure) David Allen. It is a fortuitous find because it mentions the conditions under which we might have more than one Next Action for any Project.
1. Projects are defined as outcomes that will require more than one action step to complete and that you can mark off as finished in the next 12 months.
2. Think of your Projects list as a current table of contents of the current outcomes on your plate.
3. Most people have 10-100 current projects, personally and professionally.
4. Current projects have at least one next action, waiting for, or calendar action, in order to be considered current.
5. Projects that have no current next action, waiting for, or calendar action are either no longer projects for you, or should be incubated to Someday/Maybe.
6. Future actions (i.e., actions that are dependent on something else happening first) do not go on the Next Actions lists until you can take action on them. They get stored with project plans.
7. The Projects list and project plans are typically reviewed in your GTD Weekly Review, ensuring each project has at least one current next action, waiting for, or calendar item.
8. It’s fine to have multiple next actions on any given project, as long as they are parallel and not sequential actions (e.g., “Buy stamps” and “Mail invitations” would not both be on Next Actions lists for the “Put on Party for David” project given that you need to buy the stamps before you can mail the invitations).
9. Projects are listed by the outcome you will achieve when you can mark it as done (what will be true?).
10. Effective project names motivate you toward the outcome you wish to achieve, and give you clear direction about what you are trying to accomplish.
###
Thanks, again.
Emily
You Write on Agenda for Wife:
Where to plant the Rhododendron?
You Write on Next Actions List/@Computer context:
Locate a store that sells Rhododendrons.
Next Actions List/@Computer context:
You learn that Lowes sells Rhododendrons.
Done.
You write on Next Actions List/@Errands context:
Buy Rhododendron at Lowes.
You stop for Today.
Four days from now:
Agenda for Wife: Where to plant the Rhododendron?
Wife says to plant the Rhododendron at X location.
Done.
Next Actions List/@Errands context
You buy the Rhododendron at Lowes.
Done.
Next Actions List/@Home Context:
You plant the Rhododendron at X location.
Done.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you, @fooddude. I remember the Rhododendrons in Golden Gate Park long ago when I lived in San Franscisco. I love examples, especially ones about typical things around the house. It really clarifies how it works to have these details.
I think you want to point out that you have only one Next Action for a Project until you complete that Next Action. It is a little hard to see that because of not knowing exactly when things happened, but I get the idea.
I'm sorry I can't see the links you posted. Google won't let me see them unless I sign in. I see the photo, though, and you do have Project Support Folders (and nice bright colors). I am pretty sure I will need Projects folders.
I happened to find this article online from (I'm pretty sure) David Allen. It is a fortuitous find because it mentions the conditions under which we might have more than one Next Action for any Project.
Managing projects with GTD
Having a complete and current projects list is one of the cornerstones to GTD mastery. To support you in getting there, here are 10 keys to defining and managing projects:1. Projects are defined as outcomes that will require more than one action step to complete and that you can mark off as finished in the next 12 months.
2. Think of your Projects list as a current table of contents of the current outcomes on your plate.
3. Most people have 10-100 current projects, personally and professionally.
4. Current projects have at least one next action, waiting for, or calendar action, in order to be considered current.
5. Projects that have no current next action, waiting for, or calendar action are either no longer projects for you, or should be incubated to Someday/Maybe.
6. Future actions (i.e., actions that are dependent on something else happening first) do not go on the Next Actions lists until you can take action on them. They get stored with project plans.
7. The Projects list and project plans are typically reviewed in your GTD Weekly Review, ensuring each project has at least one current next action, waiting for, or calendar item.
8. It’s fine to have multiple next actions on any given project, as long as they are parallel and not sequential actions (e.g., “Buy stamps” and “Mail invitations” would not both be on Next Actions lists for the “Put on Party for David” project given that you need to buy the stamps before you can mail the invitations).
9. Projects are listed by the outcome you will achieve when you can mark it as done (what will be true?).
10. Effective project names motivate you toward the outcome you wish to achieve, and give you clear direction about what you are trying to accomplish.
###
Thanks, again.
Emily
The only thing here is if I did it all in one day or was focused on that one project I wouldn't write the next action down at each step. But say I got home with the plant and didn't plant it right then I would put plant Rhododendron on @Home list. I only write down the very next action if I come to a stopping point and lose focus or interest in the short term. But yes that is about all I do. And I try not to have more than one action on my next action list. Currently, that project is @Waiting for- "Lowes to get in Rhododendrons." Because of season. So I would check periodically till they came in.
I think this is one of the most important keys to the whole system. And one where many make a mistake. Or they have some project note with all the next actions and try to use that instead of contexts. I try not to do that unless it is a large project and I need it to get it off my mind.
TimBourne
Mr
Sometimes this happens as we try to sort things out in life and understand them better.
right so I need to deal with things
TimBourne
Mr
you show a pic of type of filing system and an in-tray that looks organised "
erm your writing about project support , trying to answer Emily's question? erm writing continuing explaining
off of what you previously wrote in this thread?
what are you trying to explain?
Mrs-Polifax
Registered
Mrs-Polifax
Registered
@TimBourne
TimBourne said:
i have been dwelling on many things for months '
Mrs-Polifax said:
Sometimes this happens as we try to sort things out in life and understand them better.
I hear you, Tim. When something in us needs to dwell on things, and something in us needs to deal with things, it can be tough to know which direction, if any, is best.
See the photo for a graphical representation of this.
Warmly,
Emily
TimBourne said:
i have been dwelling on many things for months '
Mrs-Polifax said:
Sometimes this happens as we try to sort things out in life and understand them better.
I hear you, Tim. When something in us needs to dwell on things, and something in us needs to deal with things, it can be tough to know which direction, if any, is best.
See the photo for a graphical representation of this.
Warmly,
Emily