How to avoid repeating Next Actions ?

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amartin

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Hello Folks :

I just bump into another common situation (in my case) when starting GTD : a bunch of repeated NA ... a common thing I found in my daily catch-up (at least before GTD) is having "stuff" repeated in my calendar / todo´s :

- maybe what GTD calls "a project" includes a few NA that are identical / very similar to other issues previously created in my calendar / todo list;
- sometimes the todo lists is so long / unstructured that I find myself at times having issues repeated (with different "names", but at the end are the same "open loops")

In both cases is a lot of energy wasted clearing / reentering same "stuff"

My question :

- How is this "handled" or "managed" in GTD ?
- Just the fact of having "a system in place", with different categories for NA + the other buckets with well-defined borders between them minimizes this potential situation ?
- Any suggestions on how to "manage" this ?

Saludos

Arturo
 
amartin said:
Hello Folks :

I just bump into another common situation (in my case) when starting GTD : a bunch of repeated NA ... a common thing I found in my daily catch-up (at least before GTD) is having "stuff" repeated in my calendar / todo´s :

- maybe what GTD calls "a project" includes a few NA that are identical / very similar to other issues previously created in my calendar / todo list;
- sometimes the todo lists is so long / unstructured that I find myself at times having issues repeated (with different "names", but at the end are the same "open loops")

In both cases is a lot of energy wasted clearing / reentering same "stuff"

My question :

- How is this "handled" or "managed" in GTD ?
- Just the fact of having "a system in place", with different categories for NA + the other buckets with well-defined borders between them minimizes this potential situation ?
- Any suggestions on how to "manage" this ?

Saludos

Arturo
Click to expand...

- How is this "handled" or "managed" in GTD ? - The Weekly Review
- Just the fact of having "a system in place", with different categories for NA + the other buckets with well-defined borders between them minimizes this potential situation? - Not sure what you mean
- Any suggestions on how to "manage" this ? - The Weekly Review

Basically, the Weekly Review is the lynch-pin of the entire system. If you reviewed your lists and calendar at least weekly, I think you'd find that you'll have a minimum (if any) NA's that are being entered more than once.
 
I would agree that the Weekly Review is a good time to consolidate all the repeating NAs.

I too, would have (still do, sometimes) a lot of the same NAs, just worded differently. Part of it is because you don't trust the system yet. Part of it is that you don't trust that the NA IS in your system and will not be forgotten. It's still coming up in your mind, your psychic ram, and you are writing it down again and again.

It's difficult for a lot of us to be consistent in our project language. It's something we are having to learn at the same time as we are struggling with GTD.

Maybe another part of it is that, there is still something vague about that NA and it's bugging you. If it's coming up more than once, it might need to be rewritten so that you have not only a successful solution (the end) but some kind of time reference, so that you know when it's going to get it's due.

If it's not time specific, then it can go into Someday/Maybe. Those you look at every week in the review. If it's time specific, then it needs to go into a tickler or calendar. You might have to make up the deadline yourself.

I think part of the problem is that it does take WEEKS to start trusting your weekly review. So in the mean time, your mind is going to keep it all in front of you.

I'm not sure if any of this helped. I wish you good luck! Persevere!

Elena
 
Thanks a lot for the comments everybody !!!

Sorry for taking so long to get back on this ... I was waiting for the system to let me know but I guess this time I didn't check the option "Instant email notification" ...

The Weekly review seems to be the place to do the "cleaning" of any reiterative NA ... I guess I was thinking the GTD by itself (magically ;-) would prevent this situation form happening ... the answers provided makes so much sense an sounds very "GTD" : "as simple as possible, but not simpler"

Thanks again everybody for the feedback

Saludos
Arturo
 
I have my lists broken down a bit more so I generally don't have this problem. If I was, I don't know that I would necessarily wait until the weekly review to clean up my list.

So two things:

A - I have my lists broken down. I work from home, but I still have an office list. I have a list for personal things to do around the house as well as a list of domestic tasks (cleaning, etc.). I have my calls broken down into calls for my business (subdivided into customers and non-customers) and personal calls. Having the lists broken down like this helps me keep my lists to no more than a dozen items, which I can quickly scan to see if I have something on them or not. Doing it this way just evolved for me, but it works very well.

B - I do a 15 minute daily review where I review my lists in all the contexts that I will find myself in today. If I'm going to town, I check my errands list; if I'm not going to town, I skip that one. But that quick review helps me pick out the things that are most important to me today so that I get them done. Then I work on the others as I'm able. I also review my context lists as I switch contexts during the day.

So between having everything subdivided into specific contexts and reviewing my lists often, I can only think of one instance where I had the same item down twice...and it was phrased very differently in each notation but the same none the less.

Simply stated, if you go to write another item down, check your list to make sure it isn't there before you write it down.

That would be my advice.
 
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