some things that have helped me
Not to belabor the obvious, of course, you do not want to put things in time slots so often or so arbitrarily or so wishfully that you become immune to these "reminders" or become allergic to looking at your calendar, but you do want to cue yourself as to how much lead time is left and when you think you might want to or might be able to work on the different actions. If you are fearful of not looking seeing the pm appt in the am, then put in a reminder to look at pm appts or if using an electronic calendar, put it in as untimed or all day. When you first enter the deadline or event, you can write in a count down of weeks or days left if you feel it would help you keep it insight. Many people do this for things like driver lic renewal.
Other considerations: 1. Do any of the actions that will lead up to "delivering" the "product" fall into a category of similar activities that you often have to do (such as writing, researching) and therefore have time designated for them? If, so make sure you include them in whatever list you use to cue yourself on the specifics. 2. Do you need to do these actions in a particular location, with special equipment? Or, perhaps because of your life/work style and personal make-up, at a particular time of day or day of the week? If so, put them in the context lists thatmake sense for your life.
3. If you are likely to forget to look at your calendar and context lists, you might want to create a routine or reminder that works for you until you make it a habit. Perhaps put a note on the coffee pot or leave your glasses and keys on your datebook or whatever you use. At first this is clumsy and awkward but after a while you won't need to do this anymore.
4. In your project list, note with the project its deadline, if there is one and even why it has that deadline. If you do the weekly review, you will see this. This is the piece that I am working on this month. That, and deciding if a project is active or not.
Good luck!
