ad hoc GTD concern/question regarding: Calendar and Daily Routine

[gtdstudente]

Given that only that which must be done on certain day and 'also' at a certain time is on the Calendar, what do you, as fellow GTDers say that Daily Routines . . . those done every day in living everyday . . . at perhaps certain times daily be on the calendar?

Thinking to do so, might best optimize one's Contexts Lists prior to next 'Calendar commitment' to best know what one can best do from one's Context Lists until one's next 'Calendar commitment' and thus clearly/realistically align both realities with one commitments?

Aside from what any of you do regarding the Calendar commitments relative to Daily Routine(s) commitments, if you so please, anyone who recalls this Calendar and Daily Routine dynamic, or anything close, in any of David Allen's publication, then please cite where it can be found. Most appreciated, thank you very much.

Again, Thank you very much

 

[cfoley]

I have heard him say that some things you don't need to track because the ick factor will remind you to do them. Examples are things like showering and brushing your teeth.

I have also heard him say that you don't have to track things that the universe will remind you of. I think the implication was that this applies when the universe will remind you at the right time. For me, that is things like putting a wash on or doing the dishes.

No citations, sorry. Maybe you can google these two if you really need the citations.

 

[mcogilvie]

Like many others, I have looked for some master key to handling routines and habits within GTD. I have come to the conclusion that such a master key does not in fact exist, but that GTD is flexible enough to do what I want, if I think clearly enough about it.

Here’s an example: My wife and I walk together nearly every day. Recently, she was out of town at a conference so I walked by myself. Sometimes the weather is bad or something comes up so we don’t walk. How should I remind myself of this activity? I don’t think it truly belongs on my calendar. It’s a routine activity but it’s not some thing that needs to be done every day. it is something that I would like to do every day. So I put it on the list for my wife as something that repeats the day after it is finished. If she is unavailable, I may walk without her, and I may or may not move that activity to another list. For example, when she was out of town, I went to several nearby parks and did some walking and hiking there. I think there are two things worth pointing out about the way I handle this simple, routine activity. First, I’m handling it in a very flexible and personal way. I wouldn’t necessarily handle another routine or habit is exactly the same way. Second, I’m really familiar with the way my list app of choice, Things 3, works. I’m trying to use it in the simplest possible way to give me the flexibility I want. I think it’s reasonably clear how to do the same thing with paper lists, but I’m not sure exactly how I would do it in another app.

 

[René Lie]

I keep a list of daily tasks in my list manager. Not all of them have to be done every day, but I want to be reminded every day.

After a while, they become a habit, and I delete them from my list...

 

[bishblaize]

I use reminders rather than calendar appointments. While I generally do want to do them, they're not committed events, so a quick alert on my phone is sufficient. I probably have 4 or 5 on any given day.

I keep them in Apple Reminders, I find they just get in the way if they're in Omnifocus. Plus some of them are shared with my wife and we're both on iPhones so its easier that way.

Fantastical will let you toggle your reminders in your calendar view. So when I sit down at my desk each morning, I turn on the reminders in my calendar to get an overview of what's coming in the day. But the rest of the time I toggle it off, so it doesn't clog up my calendar view.

I also use a checklist app extensively. So anytime I want to remember a long list of daily tasks - eg everything I need to do to get the kids ready for school in the morning - I keep it in the checklist app

 

[cfoley]

An aspect of daily tasks that I find difficult to put into words is the feeling of sacrificing agency when checking them off. I know that I am not really losing agency. I can do whatever I want. It's more the negative feeling of surrendering to a system. On the third month of looking at the same daily tasks, being gently scolded if I neglect them, being told to do them by an uncaring machine, knowing that the system will keep presenting them to me every day in perpetuity, I can't help but feel that I have sacrificed a little part of my humanity.

This is in contrast to the absolute joy of doing a mundane task mindfully, choosing to give it my whole attention, noticing small ways I can improve and taking pride in a job well done.

 

[bishblaize]

An aspect of daily tasks that I find difficult to put into words is the feeling of sacrificing agency when checking them off. I know that I am not really losing agency. I can do whatever I want. It's more the negative feeling of surrendering to a system. On the third month of looking at the same daily tasks, being gently scolded if I neglect them, being told to do them by an uncaring machine, knowing that the system will keep presenting them to me every day in perpetuity, I can't help but feel that I have sacrificed a little part of my humanity.

This is in contrast to the absolute joy of doing a mundane task mindfully, choosing to give it my whole attention, noticing small ways I can improve and taking pride in a job well done.

The end game for daily routines is habitual behaviour of course, at which point you don't need reminding. I doubt many people need a reminder to brush their teeth in the morning, its just habit. But reminders are useful for when things are not yet habitual, since the alternative is oftentimes just forgetting to do them altogether. If you can reliably do something without your phone chirping at you, that's definitely preferable.

 

[gtdstudente]

An aspect of daily tasks that I find difficult to put into words is the feeling of sacrificing agency when checking them off. I know that I am not really losing agency. I can do whatever I want. It's more the negative feeling of surrendering to a system. On the third month of looking at the same daily tasks, being gently scolded if I neglect them, being told to do them by an uncaring machine, knowing that the system will keep presenting them to me every day in perpetuity, I can't help but feel that I have sacrificed a little part of my humanity.

This is in contrast to the absolute joy of doing a mundane task mindfully, choosing to give it my whole attention, noticing small ways I can improve and taking pride in a job well done.

cfoley,

What a great GTD healthy perspective and self-understanding of one's humanity/reality in distinguishing oneself from one's tool to have agency over one's tool in order to prevent being sabotaged/undermined from one's tool . . . supreme mastery . . . wide application(s) . . . huge
thank you.

Bonus: appropriately expressed on 'the Friday's Weekly Review' to boot, thank you

Thank you very much

 

[gtdstudente]

The end game for daily routines is habitual behaviour of course, at which point you don't need reminding. I doubt many people need a reminder to brush their teeth in the morning, its just habit. But reminders are useful for when things are not yet habitual, since the alternative is oftentimes just forgetting to do them altogether. If you can reliably do something without your phone chirping at you, that's definitely preferable.

bishblaize,

Agreed, kind of like understanding inboxes for 'guardrails' with one uses with as few inboxes as GTD possible, which fellew GTDer is informing that an 'inbox reflection/review' is new Spring current project for GTD cost/maintenance reduction. Thank you

Thank you very much

 

[Cookie]

I manage my system in Outlook for calendar and OneNote for tasks, reference and checklists. I don't add daily tasks to the calendar, but I copy (and adapt) the checklist to a new page. I either cross the item or delete it. The OneNote app allows to add a page to the home screen of the phone, so it is really easy to have the daily routine list in front of me, but also separated from the calendar.