How detailed should the calendar be?

[manynothings]

Hello,

I have many recurring tasks, such as routines, daily tasks, and some other tasks with longer repeat timeframes such as 2W. Should I be putting all of these day-specific actions on my calendar, or is there a better method to handle them?

I've been thinking of using checklists for these things, but I'm not sure how reviewing them would work (especially for the "tasks with longer repeat timeframes such as 2W". Those timeframes don't come naturally as 1D or 1W would.

Thanks,

manynothings.

 

[René Lie]

The way I organize these is by having a daily, weekly and monthly recurring list in my list manager. The daily and weekly only live in my list manager, but the monthly is synced to my calendar so that I can see those tasks together with the rest of my "hard landscape". The reason for this is that my daily and weekly tasks are mostly small things and kind of checklist, where as the monthly list is more of a collection of deadlines...

Works for me!

 

[mcogilvie]

Depends on your tools and your presences. You want to see things where and when you can act on them. Most digital list tools handle this problem decently, a few exceptionally well. I don’t use my calendar for that sort of thing at all, ever.

 

[ivanjay205]

Agreed with the above comments. I personally use my recurring actions in Omnifocus as next actions. I do not want them on my calendar as I do not have to do them on that specific day. I find that actions with short time requirements and high frequency are more effective when I "flag" them so that when they appear I knock them off the day they appear. This way I stay current on them. But again they are not time dependent or day dependent so I do not put them on the calendar.

On a personal level I have to maintain two fish tanks in my house. Those are recurring tasks for every day 2x a day to feed the fish and 1x a week to clean the fish tanks and 1x a month to clean the filters.

Feeding the fish is flagged as I dont want to miss that, this way I see it everyday and dont forget. Since the tanks are in my kids rooms they are out of sight out of mind so easy to do that. And fish dont nag for food The cleaning the tanks is also flagged as I really need to do that every week or the tanks get really dirty. It recurs on Saturday but I could do it Saturday or Sunday. The monthly filter cleaning is not flagged. I need to do it regularly. But it really doesnt matter if it is week 1 or week 2. It is set to recur the next action 4 weeks from whenever I complete it.

 

[Murray]

I've been using a separate app (android) called Daily Checklist for the last couple of weeks, just for my morning and evening routines.

It works fairly well. It gives me one notification in the morning to start using the app, and then doesn't intrude again after that. I like that it just resets every day rather than incomplete tasks piling up and turning red/overdue.

Daily Checklist - Apps on Google Play

The best daily recurring checklist app

play.google.com

 

[Murray]

For tasks recurring over longer timeframes you could try one of the "days since"/"days counter" apps. Will tell you how many days since you last did something. If you put the desired frequency in the task name then you can use that to check what's due.

 

[DavidAllen]

My life has gotten simpler in the last few years, so here's what I do: I let life remind me of what I need to do, when I can trust that. Feed and walk the dogs; get a haircut; get a pedicure; take a shower; etc. That's a sufficient system. When I need to do something that's not life-obvious, it goes on my calendar as a day-specific tickler. Eg. replacing the auto dishwasher soap dispenser (every 20 days); get our city bikes serviced (every 6 months). If I don't handle it the day it shows up, it becomes a next action on the appropriate list.

 

[Jeremy Jones]

...If I don't handle it the day it shows up, it becomes a next action on the appropriate list.

That last sentence is a great suggestion. Seems obvious in hindsight, but was not clear before I read it.

 

[YannCharlou]

Most of GTD apps like https://www.nirvanahq.com , https://everdo.net/ , https://culturedcode.com/things/ and many other, includes a feature extremely well suited for that : recurring task.

You can set a date to add it to your TODAY box. At a specific date, recurring or not, with a due date or not.
Personally I use this for everything that is date related except meetings (date + hour + reminder alert) that still goes to my calendar.

 

[Jared Caron]

Hello,

I have many recurring tasks, such as routines, daily tasks, and some other tasks with longer repeat timeframes such as 2W. Should I be putting all of these day-specific actions on my calendar, or is there a better method to handle them?

I've been thinking of using checklists for these things, but I'm not sure how reviewing them would work (especially for the "tasks with longer repeat timeframes such as 2W". Those timeframes don't come naturally as 1D or 1W would.

Thanks,

manynothings.

I use google calendar for these “less frequent” recurrences. not as a calendar but specifically for the email reminder feature. Single day events with an email reminder on the day of, i can puta checklist into the description and get that in the body of the email. also useful for a digital tickler file system for things like anniversary dates, etc.

 

[kelstarrising]

Hello,

I have many recurring tasks, such as routines, daily tasks, and some other tasks with longer repeat timeframes such as 2W. Should I be putting all of these day-specific actions on my calendar, or is there a better method to handle them?

I've been thinking of using checklists for these things, but I'm not sure how reviewing them would work (especially for the "tasks with longer repeat timeframes such as 2W". Those timeframes don't come naturally as 1D or 1W would.

Thanks,

manynothings.

Once it becomes a habit, I typically don't track it anywhere. It just gets done in my day-to-day activities.

If it's not yet a habit, I typically put it on my calendar as an all-day untimed event. Although sometimes I might put a time if I know my calendar could fill otherwise and I have an ideal time in mind to do it.

I have also dabbled in a "Routines" list in my list management tool, with varied success. The trick was looking at the list. I went back to my calendar because it seemed more logical to me.

 

[gtdstudente]

Hello,

I have many recurring tasks, such as routines, daily tasks, and some other tasks with longer repeat timeframes such as 2W. Should I be putting all of these day-specific actions on my calendar, or is there a better method to handle them?

I've been thinking of using checklists for these things, but I'm not sure how reviewing them would work (especially for the "tasks with longer repeat timeframes such as 2W". Those timeframes don't come naturally as 1D or 1W would.

Thanks,

manynothings.

I use as little detail as possible for all/any lists, including the Calendar, to keep lists as 'inviting' as possible . . . the last thing I need is an intimidating list(s) of my own making. Details are in the Support File usually as a One-Sheet Mind Map with any 'extras' paper clipped to it

 

[TheSeiglerGroup]

My life has gotten simpler in the last few years, so here's what I do: I let life remind me of what I need to do, when I can trust that. Feed and walk the dogs; get a haircut; get a pedicure; take a shower; etc. That's a sufficient system. When I need to do something that's not life-obvious, it goes on my calendar as a day-specific tickler. Eg. replacing the auto dishwasher soap dispenser (every 20 days); get our city bikes serviced (every 6 months). If I don't handle it the day it shows up, it becomes a next action on the appropriate list.

That is a great nugget - Add it to a date and if not done, it’s goes to the Next Actions list… wow. So simple yet something I’ve missed.