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

G

gtdstudente

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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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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
 
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 said:
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.
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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.
 
cfoley said:
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.
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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
 
bishblaize said:
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.
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bishblaize,

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

Thank you very much
 
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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.
 
gtdstudente said:
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
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I do not calendar most of this daily routine stuff. One thought I had though is that if times you do your daily routines could potentially conflict with other requests for your time, then you should at least block the time off so that it isn't available for anyone or anything else. For example, I send Bookings links to people I agree to meet, and I try to make sure that everything I plan to do at a specific time is on my calendar so that someone can't schedule a meeting during that time. But most of my daily routines are done early in the morning or late at night, and my Bookings calendar only allows meetings during regular business hours, so it hasn't been an issue.
 
nlemon3434 said:
I do not calendar most of this daily routine stuff. One thought I had though is that if times you do your daily routines could potentially conflict with other requests for your time, then you should at least block the time off so that it isn't available for anyone or anything else. For example, I send Bookings links to people I agree to meet, and I try to make sure that everything I plan to do at a specific time is on my calendar so that someone can't schedule a meeting during that time. But most of my daily routines are done early in the morning or late at night, and my Bookings calendar only allows meetings during regular business hours, so it hasn't been an issue.
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@nlemon3434,

Thank you for your very timely reply

ROUGH-DRAFT:

Likewise, in another post . . . I am trying to also remove 'Numbness' were some good feedback was received and have been unable to rep[y to the very good feedback like yours

Meanwhile, saw a resent post via Mr. David Allen also had a recent post through social media about doing what you can on a given day

With GTD those concerns above plus the Weekly Review, I am currently GTD experimenting with Four-Sectioned Daily Routine Check-List, limited Calendar entries, and appropriate Contexts lists and appropriately plugging in [Cut-&-Paste] from the Next Actions Inventory(ies) into the Four-Sectioned 'Non-Negotiable' Daily Routine Lists allowing the the 'Best Choosing' to be daily-fresh and aligned with the Daily Routine to look forward . . . without looking too forward . . . to help with the Weekly Review

Hopefully clear . . . yikes

Thank you
 
One of the things that appealed to me the most about the GTD methodology is that it is merely a system of ideas, the specific application of which can be personalized to each person depending on what he or she wants to accomplish. So my lists will look different than yours, and someone else's lists will look different than either of ours, and that is okay. I love the idea of a daily Routine Check-list, I may steal that idea from you. I think everyone understands the power of Habit and the ideal is that we make these things such a habitual part of our day that we don't have to think about them, but the reality is our world is very distracting and it can be hard to remember to do all the things we told ourselves we wanted to do. Whether you want to make sure you get some exercise, engage in some prayer/meditation/daily devotion depending on your faith, read books, connect with people who are important to you, learn the guitar or study a language every day, having a recurring To-do list that pops up every day could help you keep yourself on track, especially when you are trying to build a new habit. I'm currently working on building a list of Recurring Actions that will pop up when due so that I don't forget them, but I also don't want to see them every time I look at my other lists. I run a business, so once I complete my monthly review, I don't want to see next month's review on my regular Next Action lists because there is nothing I can do about it until next month. I think a lot of this stuff you just have to experiment with-set up a list that you've been considering and use it for a few weeks and see if it makes it easier to keep track of your action or not. Good luck with implementing your ideas, I sincerely wish you the best. I have been sharing GTD with everyone I know since I learned about it and I'm always happy to see someone regain some control over their life. There's enough negativity and stress in this world, I choose to support and uplift anyone I can if I have the chance.
 
@nlemon3434,

Wow . . . have "Recurring" on the "Daily Rhythm"

This is the current experimental "Daily GTD Rhythm":


Daily GTD Rhythm
for Anti-Numbness, Fresh-Relevancy. and easier Weekly Review

I. + R E C U R R I N G +
Items that might be Copy-&-Pasted to "Guts to Get Done [Today]"
xA Supermarket
xO Credit Card payment for 15th
xP Distance Family, Friends, Colleagues
xP Bob



II. + R O U T I N E +
Empty Dish Strainer
Wash Floors
etc.



III. + R A D A R +
A few Cut-&-Pasted from Contexts / Next Action(s) Lists . . . moved to "+ G U T S t o G E T D O N E [Today] +" seeing done today . . . if not . . . within three days . . . definitely by the end of the Week
If not, remove the strike-through and from "+ G U T S t o G E T D O N E [Today] +"
xP Joe Smith, Helen Keller
xO Order new Keyboard



IV. + G U T S t o G E T D O N E [Today] +
Appropriate Item(s) Copied-&-Pasted from + R E C U R R I N G +:
xA Supermarket

Appropriate Item(s) Cut-&-Pasted from + R A D A R +:
xO Order new Keyboard

Items Cut-&-Pasted from + C A L E N D A R +
xP Bob . . . "Just keep my word by calling follow-up. . . ."



-------------------------------
As you or any fellow GTDer might see fit . . . all GTD good!
 
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In recent years some books on "habits" and "routines" gained popularity. In some of these, forming patterns of daily repetition is presented to the reader as the ultimate success technique. This is a very different idea from just calling your daily rhythm of care taking of your bodily functions (sleep, grooming, meals etc) your "daily routine."

There may be an array of tasks that you want to do every day repeatedly. A third thing in this discussion.

Habit forming reminders can best be organized as tickler items. Your electronic calendar can ring alarms to remind you of your schedule for meal times etc, until they stick.

Mission critical "dailies" can be handled by a checklist. Probably the best place to check this list is during a sort of shutdown routine. Just to make sure you did everything that is on the list.

There are things you want to do daily, say, taking a shower, and then there is the idea, that doing these in the same order every day would consist a "daily routine" that somehow produces a better life or working style.

The automatic daily repetition as a device to overcome procrastination or other forms of inertia…

Others speak of routines as a set of tasks your repeat in order to accomplish a goal, maybe daily. E.g. "your writing routine."

But what is the goal behind "I want to do this daily"? To be as successful as possible? To quench your anxiety of missing the deadline? Fear of falling into procrastination? Completing the work as fast as possible? Using your time to the fullest?

The original hipster said it best: "Most people lead a life of quiet desperation."

And a habit tracking app aint gonna change that.
 
Cpu_Modern said:
In recent years some books on "habits" and "routines" gained popularity. In some of these, forming patterns of daily repetition is presented to the reader as the ultimate success technique. This is a very different idea from just calling your daily rhythm of care taking of your bodily functions (sleep, grooming, meals etc) your "daily routine."

There may be an array of tasks that you want to do every day repeatedly. A third thing in this discussion.

Habit forming reminders can best be organized as tickler items. Your electronic calendar can ring alarms to remind you of your schedule for meal times etc, until they stick.

Mission critical "dailies" can be handled by a checklist. Probably the best place to check this list is during a sort of shutdown routine. Just to make sure you did everything that is on the list.

There are things you want to do daily, say, taking a shower, and then there is the idea, that doing these in the same order every day would consist a "daily routine" that somehow produces a better life or working style.

The automatic daily repetition as a device to overcome procrastination or other forms of inertia…

Others speak of routines as a set of tasks your repeat in order to accomplish a goal, maybe daily. E.g. "your writing routine."

But what is the goal behind "I want to do this daily"? To be as successful as possible? To quench your anxiety of missing the deadline? Fear of falling into procrastination? Completing the work as fast as possible? Using your time to the fullest?

The original hipster said it best: "Most people lead a life of quiet desperation."

And a habit tracking app aint gonna change that.
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"Mission critical "dailies" can be handled by a checklist."

Agreed, at the risk of 'overreaching', attempting to strategically 'plug-in/piggy-back' Next Actions to "Mission critical 'dailies' "


"But what is the goal behind 'I want to do this daily'?"

Among other things, perhaps the goal could be as small as maintaining desired spiritual, health, relationship/social, home, etc. standards without expending 'rethinking energy' to maintain those 'goals'?
 
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gtdstudente said:
Among other things, perhaps the goal could be as small as maintaining desired spiritual, health, relationship/social, home, etc. standards without expending 'rethinking energy' to maintain those 'goals'?
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@gtdstudente It seems to be an interesting question: who desires these standards? If I desire something I have no problem to remembering that. It's even worse: I have a big problem forgetting about it when I choose to. Are there any unhabit tracking apps? ;)
 
TesTeq said:
@gtdstudente It seems to be an interesting question: who desires these standards? If I desire something I have no problem to remembering that. It's even worse: I have a big problem forgetting about it when I choose to. Are there any unhabit tracking apps? ;)
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@TesTeq,

'Standards' definitely self-determined/subjective in accordance to living ones' life as one best see's fit

Like to keep remembering the mundane on auto non-remembering while continuing to take much delight in 'mundane doneness' if that makes any sense?

In other words . . . always wishing the the 'Jones' well whatever they might be up to in their lives


As far as 'de-habiting/unhabitings' are concerned . . . on this end making the 'habit' more of a hassle than it is worth has been an effective for 'habit-shedding'

Thank you for your invaluable GTD perspective(s)
 
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