GTD for all the Areas of Our Lives

[pageta]

I work from home, so I really only have two contexts DA style - Home and Errands. Since my life is not very segmented according to context, I keep wavering back and forth on the idea of segmenting it according to similar items. Such "contexts" would include Homekeeping, Cooking, Hobbies/Crafts, Business - Executive, Business - Customer Service, etc.

I keep thinking it would be immensely useful to have all such NA's, projects, and Someday/Maybe's grouped accordingly. That way when I had time to, say, knit, I could see the knitting projects I have in progress including the next step on each, I could see the ones I have materials for, and I could see the ones I think I might like to do at a future date.

Such an arrangement might also help me ensure I maintain balance by devoting a certain amount of time to each area of my life. For instance, I would devote a certain amount of time every day to cleaning and maintaining my house, but once I had invested that time for the day, I would move on to something else rather than spending the entire day feeling obligated to spend more time cleaning my house.

I mean, DA gives a great amount of freedom by defining the work and knowing what the next step is, but some areas in life will always have a next step. I mean, I would love to devote an entire afternoon to a hobby or craft, knowing that everything else was under control. But when I'm reviewing my NA lists that include things like "vacuum," I begin to feel like those types of activities consume my life.

Does anyone else in the GTD world have intangible "contexts" such as the ones I've suggested above and work within that type of framework?

 

[flexiblefine]

Yes, others do it

Does anyone else in the GTD world have intangible "contexts" such as the ones I've suggested above and work within that type of framework?

You could make contexts by room at home, but never mind...

Anyway, I've seen discussions on GTD mailing lists about people who set up contexts by other things: projects, types of software to be used, types of activity for the business, etc.

In a situation like yours where you are in the same place all the time, some other sort of context system is needed to help you narrow down your next-action lists.

I don't do this myself, but I can see the lure of it -- while I have a particular program open, what group of actions can I get done?

 

[Brenda]

Whenever one of my context lists gets too long (longer than a screen full - i.e. about 30 items), I review it and break it down into two or more subcontexts. I find I'm more motivated to review and do what's on the lists if each list is a manageable size.