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How do I stop my bad habit of ploughing too deeply (i.e. too perfectionist)?

S

Ship69

0
Hello

I am working at home a lot and I have a problem with the way I am using my task manager tool (MLO) which is that I keep "ploughing too deeply". i.e. I am spending too long on tasks and being too perfectionist about things, with the result that I am not covering enough ground.

Part of the problem is that I am also not jumping into different Contexts often enough! (In fact I often do not bother to add a Context for things that must be done at the computer screen as it doesn't seem to be worth the hassle. However this may not be helping... ??)

I rather feel that I should allocate block of time for each Context. However I can see no obvious way to put this sort of thing into MLO. (i.e. You can add a Start Date and/or a Due Date easily enough for a task, but not for a Context)

Do you have any hints / tricks that you use?

e.g.
- I am toying with using a kitchen timer for this sort of thing... i.e. only allow a certain amount of time in one sitting for each context.
- The other question is should I allocate certain things to happen on certain days (and if so should I put that into a tool like MLO or put it into my calendar? [Outlook at present]...

J
 
Question is: Do you really need a special tool for it? Does it really need to be documented in your lists?

What I do is I look at my calendar and my lists in the morning and tentatively preselect a number of important or agreed things that would make up the backbone of today's work. I automatically see this list grouped by context (the context appears as a subheading in the list). I usually add a few more suitable tasks for each context. This means I automatically have a list that comprises a few contexts that I expect to be in today (but this could change later, of course). I will usually review and amend the selection for each context once I get to that stage, because at that stage I may have either more or less time and energy than I had expected, and new things may have come up meanwhile during the day.
 
Ah-ha! Yes I particularly like making my pre-selected list (i.e. Starred in my MLO system) grouped by Context. :cool::cool::cool:

Great I am trying this and shall report back later.
 
Glad you liked it, Ship. Then here's another tip, somewhat related. I like to have just ONE app to look at during the course of the day, i.e. I want to avoid having to flick between list app and calendar all day long. Therefore, I have set up my calendar to auto-forward an email reminder to my list app 15 hours in advance of each appointment. This means I have an action on my list app's "starred" list for each appointment. (Same day appointments I enter in both places manually.)

(My list app has unusually powerful calendar integration, but I still prefer this semi-manual mode. It allows me to delete or modify these reminders as I please without affecting the calendar itself, which I keep as a journal of whom I met when. I keep calendar integration turned off at all times.)

Despite having all today's appointments in my list app I still glance at the next couple of weeks' calendar entries every morning, but that's another story; that's just to maintain a decent level of awareness.
 
Some days I use something similar to Folke's approach and it works well for me, too. Other days I use a looser approach, simply scanning my lists and tackling actions based on my roles and priorities. For example as a salesman closing deals is my most important priority, so often I'll start my day tackling next actions in my Calls and Laptop contexts that have the best chance of moving a deal towards closure. If I run out of those I'll often head to my next priority which is prospecting for new deals. And so on.

It's not always as clean as that -- sometimes personal priorities will top the list. For example my father is gravely ill and just got out of the hospital. Sometimes I have to take actions to help him -- like calling doctors and home care agencies -- during normal business hours. Right now those are my top priority and I'll tackle a few of those actions (if any are outstanding) prior to starting professional tasks. (I don't feel too guilty about it since I often do work after hours.)

When I am short on time and/or energy I'll often look for actions I can complete swiftly, regardless of priority. After all, they're still things I need or want to do, even if they're not "top priority."

Hope that helps. I'm glad to see you've stayed on the GTD bandwagon and found a GTD list manager you can stick with. Good luck and best wishes for your continued success.
 
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