Horizons of Focus: organization, and writing style

[agavebob]

I'm working on a review/revamp of my horizons of focus (outline) document, and am looking for feedback on organization; and style(s) of writing (tense, etc.) in the horizons.

HORIZON 5: Purpose and Principles

David Allen's Gracie's Garden examples: Purpose: "Provide …" (active(?) tense); Principles: "Strong and lasting customer relations".

I might be splitting hairs, but I'd prefer to have a standard way of writing Purpose items. Perhaps I should just choose one and run with it.

"Be healthy for the benefit of myself and loved ones"

… or:

"I am healthy for the benefit of myself and loved ones"


For Principles, I have written this way:

Documented specific health habits maintained


HORIZON 2: Areas of focus and accountability

For an item like "Health", I have subordinate information listed such as:

I ride my bike 60+ miles per week (or: Ride my bike 60+ miles per week)


And for an item like "Cycling", I have subordinate information such as:

Perform basic maintenance and repair of my bikes


Curious if placing such subordinate, specific examples in horizon 2 is an appropriate place to do so. Those examples are, I suppose, 'standards' of these horizon two items. They don't seem to belong in HORIZON 1: Project, nor in Ground: Calendar/Actions.


I have the following two horizons working well for my needs; I've listed a couple of examples in case it helps with my higher level examples.


HORIZON 1: Projects

Complete XYZ bike maintenance course


Ground: Calendar/Actions

Clean and lubricate bike chain [frequency: after every ride, or as needed]

 

[gtdstudente]

I'm working on a review/revamp of my horizons of focus (outline) document, and am looking for feedback on organization; and style(s) of writing (tense, etc.) in the horizons.

HORIZON 5: Purpose and Principles

David Allen's Gracie's Garden examples: Purpose: "Provide …" (active(?) tense); Principles: "Strong and lasting customer relations".

I might be splitting hairs, but I'd prefer to have a standard way of writing Purpose items. Perhaps I should just choose one and run with it.

"Be healthy for the benefit of myself and loved ones"

… or:

"I am healthy for the benefit of myself and loved ones"


For Principles, I have written this way:

Documented specific health habits maintained


HORIZON 2: Areas of focus and accountability

For an item like "Health", I have subordinate information listed such as:

I ride my bike 60+ miles per week (or: Ride my bike 60+ miles per week)


And for an item like "Cycling", I have subordinate information such as:

Perform basic maintenance and repair of my bikes


Curious if placing such subordinate, specific examples in horizon 2 is an appropriate place to do so. Those examples are, I suppose, 'standards' of these horizon two items. They don't seem to belong in HORIZON 1: Project, nor in Ground: Calendar/Actions.


I have the following two horizons working well for my needs; I've listed a couple of examples in case it helps with my higher level examples.


HORIZON 1: Projects

Complete XYZ bike maintenance course


Ground: Calendar/Actions

Clean and lubricate bike chain [frequency: after every ride, or as needed

 

[gtdstudente]

@agavebob

Good GTD post . . . thank you very much

"Clean and lubricate bike chain [frequency: after every ride, or as needed]"

Like every time exiting the Bathroom and Kitchen ?

 

[mcogilvie]

You’re asking a lot of good, specific questions. In general, I think there is a lot of freedom in how you approach writing about the higher horizons (3-5). For horizons 0 and 1, you probably want simple lists for daily use. This also applies to horizon 2 if those areas are seen daily, as they would be using apps like Omnifocus. Some specific comments:

I'm working on a review/revamp of my horizons of focus (outline) document, and am looking for feedback on organization; and style(s) of writing (tense, etc.) in the horizons.

HORIZON 5: Purpose and Principles

David Allen's Gracie's Garden examples: Purpose: "Provide …" (active(?) tense); Principles: "Strong and lasting customer relations".

I might be splitting hairs, but I'd prefer to have a standard way of writing Purpose items. Perhaps I should just choose one and run with it.

"Be healthy for the benefit of myself and loved ones"

… or:

"I am healthy for the benefit of myself and loved ones"


For Principles, I have written this way:

Documented specific health habits maintained

I think you can use whatever format you like here, and you should use what speaks to you. “Documented specific health habits maintained” would not resonate with me as a life aspiration. I would put that in Horizon 2 under Health.

HORIZON 2: Areas of focus and accountability

For an item like "Health", I have subordinate information listed such as:

I ride my bike 60+ miles per week (or: Ride my bike 60+ miles per week)


And for an item like "Cycling", I have subordinate information such as:

Perform basic maintenance and repair of my bikes


Curious if placing such subordinate, specific examples in horizon 2 is an appropriate place to do so. Those examples are, I suppose, 'standards' of these horizon two items. They don't seem to belong in HORIZON 1: Project, nor in Ground: Calendar/Actions.


I have the following two horizons working well for my needs; I've listed a couple of examples in case it helps with my higher level examples.

I would have problems being so specific about cycling at this level. First of all, in my experience GTD is not particularly good for habits; I find that nothing is really good, although my Apple Watch has proven helpful. The real problem is what to do when you can’t cycle. It rains for a week. You get injured. Your life changes, but exercise is still important.

HORIZON 1: Projects

Complete XYZ bike maintenance course

OK

Ground: Calendar/Actions

Clean and lubricate bike chain [frequency: after every ride, or as needed]

You don’t want to see this every day, right? Personally, I would have it show up as a question (Clean and lubricate bike chain?) on my @home list at either a fixed interval or a fixed time interval after completion. This is easy to do in Things or Omnifocus, but you can do it in other ways.

 

[Gardener]

I prefer imperative statements ("keep the garden reliably weeded") rather than statements of..."state"? ("the garden is reliably weeded") even though I think that isn't what GTD recommends.

I would quibble that you don't have the total power to "be healthy" but only have the power to maintain (or tend to?) your health to the extent you can. I would go with:

"Maintain my health for the benefit of myself and loved ones."

> For Principles, I have written this way:
> Documented specific health habits maintained

If I wanted a sort of summary of action, I might have:

"Steadily develop new health improvement habits and maintain those already developed."

But this, and your example, feel very specific at such a high level. I'd move them down to Areas of Focus or lower.

And then the specific habits (like the 60 miles on the bike, and the maintenance and repair) I'd probably put in some sort of support material.

> HORIZON 1: Projects
> Complete XYZ bike maintenance course

This feels like a reasonable project. I assume it would have Actions like booking the course, doing any homework, etc.?

> Clean and lubricate bike chain [frequency: after every ride, or as needed]

This, on the other hand, seems to need a project above it. (Say, "Keep on top of repeating bike maintenance") But I would probably implement that with a checklist, and the Project would look like:

Project: Keep on top of repeating bike maintenance
Action: Create a checklist, with intervals, for bike maintenance tasks.
Action: (and this would repeat weekly) Check the bike maintenance checklist and make sure I'm up to date.

 

[agavebob]

@agavebob

Good GTD post . . . thank you very much

"Clean and lubricate bike chain [frequency: after every ride, or as needed]"

Like every time exiting the Bathroom and Kitchen ?

I actually made that one up when I posted, but you're absolutely right—that action should simply be internalized, and not listed as an action.

thanks

 

[TesTeq]

HORIZON 1: Projects

Complete XYZ bike maintenance course

@agavebob For Projects I use a desired outcome: "XYZ bike maintenance course completed".

 

[agavebob]

@agavebob For Projects I use a desired outcome: "XYZ bike maintenance course completed".

I like that a lot. Stated that way, the project is envisioned as being succesful (being completed). thanks

 

[agavebob]

For horizons 0 and 1, you probably want simple lists for daily use. This also applies to horizon 2 if those areas are seen daily, as they would be using apps like Omnifocus.

I use OmniFocus for horizons 0 and 1, and OmniOutliner for the higher levels. I do not see horizon 2 daily, so your point is well taken.

I think you can use whatever format you like here, and you should use what speaks to you. “Documented specific health habits maintained” would not resonate with me as a life aspiration. I would put that in Horizon 2 under Health.

I recall David (Allen) saying something to the effect that some items could be placed in either horizon 2 or 5, and to choose the horizon that resonates best with you for the item. That said, I do agree that the Principles item I listed should be moved to horizon 2.

I would have problems being so specific about cycling at this level. First of all, in my experience GTD is not particularly good for habits; I find that nothing is really good, although my Apple Watch has proven helpful. The real problem is what to do when you can’t cycle. It rains for a week. You get injured. Your life changes, but exercise is still important.

When I wrote: "Clean and lubricate bike chain [frequency: after every ride, or as needed]", by "as needed", I meant that if I went on a ride where the weather was dry and my chain didn't get dirty, that I could skip the maintenance after the ride—as opposed to possibly needing to clean it on on any kind of cycle if it is simply stored in the garage (because the chain isn't getting dirty nor the lubricant dried out in that case).

But the greater point you bring up, is that habits might be better stored outside of all of the horizons. People have mentioned 'reference material' and other places for those kinds of things. I've dabbled with mind mapping for things like habits, but ended up putting them as subordinate items for horizons items (in my HOF document). But as I mentioned in my reply to gtdstudente, I agree that this item should simply be internalized (the end of a bike ride being the mental trigger).

You don’t want to see this every day, right? Personally, I would have it show up as a question (Clean and lubricate bike chain?) on my @home list at either a fixed interval or a fixed time interval after completion.

I do have a 'home' tag, as well as a 'garage' tag (which is where the bike maintenance is done), in OmniFocus. If I were to move it from horizon 2 to horizon 0 (Ground: Calendar/Actions), I'd use the 'garage' tag. But again, I'm just going to internalize the habit.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[agavebob]

I prefer imperative statements ("keep the garden reliably weeded") rather than statements of..."state"? ("the garden is reliably weeded") even though I think that isn't what GTD recommends.

Useful to consider.

I would quibble that you don't have the total power to "be healthy" but only have the power to maintain (or tend to?) your health to the extent you can. I would go with:

"Maintain my health for the benefit of myself and loved ones."

True. I was thinking of it as an affirmation. You're correct that we can only do our best, and listing it as maintaining vs. being, is more realistic/achievable.

> For Principles, I have written this way:
> Documented specific health habits maintained

If I wanted a sort of summary of action, I might have:

"Steadily develop new health improvement habits and maintain those already developed."

Useful.

But this, and your example, feel very specific at such a high level. I'd move them down to Areas of Focus or lower.

I agree that the "maintain" item I listed as a horizon 5 Principle belongs in horizon 2.

In terms of Horizon 5, Purpose, I listed "I am healthy for the benefit of myself and loved ones", because I've increasingly found that if my health is suffering, my highest goal is to address that, because without health, many/most other parts of my life are negatively affected, and my top goal may become to improve my health. But upon review of horizons 5 and 2 (from the GTD 'literature'), even this does seem to belong in horizon 2: "…maintained at standards to “keep the engines running.”"

I wish there were examples of all the horizons from a personal point of view. I don't know of what some good personal horizon 5 purposes and principles might be. Perhaps things like: Be a good and supporting spouse/parent/son or daughter/bother or sister/friend, and/or some more altruistic/spiritual ones. The published ones are useful, but they are for a company/organizational perspective, rather than a personal one:

horizon 5:

"Gracie’s Gardens:
“Provide the highest-quality landscape and garden materials to delighted retail and wholesale customers”; “Strong and lasting customer relations;
environmentally friendly products; well-supported staff,” etc."

https://gettingthingsdone.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2016-Levels-of-Your-Work.pdf

And then the specific habits (like the 60 miles on the bike, and the maintenance and repair) I'd probably put in some sort of support material.

I've heard of a number of people (including David Sparks, in his Productivity Field Guide, which is a course I've taken and found useful) referring to support material. I do have a 'notes' database that I could use, or even text documents, but placing habits as subordinate horizons items in my HOF (outliner) document allows me to see everything in one place, and since I'm using an outliner app, I can collapse the subordinate items (or notes) if I simply want to see the 'core' items, and then expand them if I want to see what could be considered support material.

> HORIZON 1: Projects
> Complete XYZ bike maintenance course

This feels like a reasonable project. I assume it would have Actions like booking the course, doing any homework, etc.?

Absolutely.

> Clean and lubricate bike chain [frequency: after every ride, or as needed]

This, on the other hand, seems to need a project above it. (Say, "Keep on top of repeating bike maintenance")

As I mentioned in another reply in this thread, I wrote that as an example, but it actually isn't an action in my horizons 0 and 1 GTD system (OmniFocus). If it were, I'd put it in an OmniFocus GTD Single Action List, "Bike maintenance", because it isn't an action that, along with one or more other actions, leads to a (finished) outcome. But I'm confident in internalizing it, with the mental trigger being when I get home from a ride.

Your idea of a 'bike maintenance' project is good, but I would use that as a repeating project on a monthly (or whatever) cycle, where I put the bike up on the stand, inspect the brakes, clean other parts (besides the chain), check tightness of bolts, etc.

Thank you for your feedback.