Best Practice in Tracking/Reviewing RECURRING Actions/Projects?

H

HappyDude

0
Hi all,

So I come to this forum about 6 times a year, usually with a pressing concern; having been a GTD user for the past 8 years since I was 18 and it has brought my unbridled success.

With that being said, there are more than a handful of recurring actions that I've decided within myself that I must undertake on a daily, bi-daily or weekly basis in order to keep the ship running smoothly. As David Allen calls this, "Maintenance."

I use OmniFocus for the bulk of my projects, in which I have current projects under one of 4 folders:

1) Health
2) Wealth
3) Love
4) Clean

Health from physical to mental health. Wealth from work, finances, job errands. Love from family, friends, girlfriends, community service. And Clean for those little tasks such as clean the grill, vacuum the room etc. (Current projects)

Secondly, I have 2 folders titled Someday and Maybe, respectively. Each of these two folders lists the same 4 areas I listed above, just consisting of action items that I may someday will probably do (though no anytime soon) and the Maybe folder lists things I don't feel committed to ever doing, but may for kicks and fun.

With that being said, it's important for me to mention that those 4 areas I listed above nestled under Current Projects NEVER EVER list any recurring actions/projects. I love seeing projects and actions come in and leave for good in this Current Project area.

However there is one folder called "Maintenance" in which my recurring projects/actions live. This folder lists items such as:

A. Read to my kid
B. Read myself
C. Exercise/Lift weights
D. Meditate
E. Track Daily Calories
F. Write in Journal
G. Manage Finances
H. No Alcohol Today
I. No Marijuana Today
J. No Caffeine Today

It is these recurring actions that are all "On Hold" in OmniFocus because they are live in my Lift app. For those of you that don't know, Lift is a recurring to-do list that tracks your progress on recurring items; however it's all online based and in no way talks w/ my OmniFocus or any GTD product. Furthermore, this Lift application and website is in a growing phase where they're introducing a ton of new features and ridding what doesn't work for them; something of which I'm not wanting to be in the process of. The only benefit I see with Lift for myself is that it shows me green tickers telling me how much progress i've accomplished in the past recents weeks and months. Admittedly, it's thanks to this app i've stopped drinking any alcohol, and have read to my kid on a more recurring basis; however of course all is a work in progress and have noticed myself drinking a ton of Coca-Cola lately.

The Reason Why I'm Posting & Ask of You, Fellow Experienced GTD'er

I need something that can track my progress (or lack of) and am very simply wondering what others in this forum are doing themselves.. even if at the very least in helping marinate some ideas as to how to better see my progress so I can feel comfortable dropping them and knowing I've attained a new habit.

*Edit, I uploaded the side pane of OmniFocus (Maintenance is Lift) and the second shot of Lift and my not drinking alcohol since April 14th, though it says I drank on May 7th, it wasn't the case.. this Lift app just won't let me check off a task once 5 days have passed; another limitation with this app... though I do love that it gives me a monthly view of my successes)

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Sounds like your recurring tasks are actually hoped-for changes in normal routine, and once you make them habits, they will just happen automatically.

I've heard it takes about 3 weeks to make a new habit.

Given that we review every week, you might want to put the new behaviors on your calendar for a week. Do them and check them off. Then, consciously decide whether you can do another week. If you can, do the same for the next week. And then one more time.

What I find when I do this is other things come in with higher priorities, and I can't do everything. So progress is not as straight-line as I would like. But it IS progress.
 
I have an app called "Consistency" that I use for these types of things. It lets you set categories and add separate tasks within each category and it lets you schedule the ideal frequency along with a buffer. You get stars and colour coding for rewards (green = meeting your target and red = not). And you can go back and look at your results to see how you're doing.
 
I try to do something similar with a "!Today" note in Evernote that has a checklist of habits I want to build (meditate) and chores I don't want to track in my system (mow the grass). Looking at Lift and Consistency I am reminded of the spreadsheet I use to note each time I exercise and weigh myself. It's not as slick and automated as the apps mentioned here but it is quick and easy and I can always make graphs from the data to look for trends. I may have to expand my use of that spreadsheet as I tend to only look at the Evernote checklist on the weekend.
 
ArcCaster said:
Sounds like your recurring tasks are actually hoped-for changes in normal routine, and once you make them habits, they will just happen automatically. I've heard it takes about 3 weeks to make a new habit. Given that we review every week, you might want to put the new behaviors on your calendar for a week. Do them and check them off. Then, consciously decide whether you can do another week. If you can, do the same for the next week. And then one more time. What I find when I do this is other things come in with higher priorities, and I can't do everything. So progress is not as straight-line as I would like. But it IS progress.
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My only expected friction with this is that say 5-6 weeks down the line, I'll feel comfortable dropping any said instilled habit and continue working on the others, but since I see this "recurring" list as containing all that'll be recurring for the next year or two of my life, if I don't see it at all, and if I don't see it with my other recurring actions, then I'll just simply either forget about it (losing consistency) or feel it okay that's it tapering off.
 
SiobhanBR said:
I have an app called "Consistency" that I use for these types of things. It lets you set categories and add separate tasks within each category and it lets you schedule the ideal frequency along with a buffer. You get stars and colour coding for rewards (green = meeting your target and red = not). And you can go back and look at your results to see how you're doing.
Click to expand...
I have to tell ya, this one post affected me the most. I got the app your were talking about and researched the hell out of it. I found the forum, discovered there's a Mac version which made me happy but was disappointed to discover there's only syncing via iTunes file share. The app is totally basic but functional and with purpose. Not bad for $2 but the syncing is a huge hurdle for me.
 
fusilli.jerry89 said:
It turns out this 3-weeks-to-create-a-habit isn't true. It is different for different types of habits, and also depends on the person.
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I agree. For decades i've heard people tell me it takes 3 weeks but it never felt right. This study came out and though it's not definitive, it does feel a little more solid about creating and instilling habits:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0908/09080401

TL;DR essentially is it takes 60 some odd days with varying factors.
 
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