LifeBalance hints Tips?
- Thread starter Oogiem
- Start date
I just migrated from LB to Omnifocus 
Seriously, LB is a great app. You might want to check out the LB forums, as there are lots of GTDers there.
You should also search the LB forums for posts by user "Ratz". If memory serves he has a detailed description of a GTD implementation in LB.
I set up my old LB with areas of focus (Work, Home, Family, Service, Fun), with sub-areas under those. I treated the bottom level items as tasks, and the level above that as projects.
- Don
Seriously, LB is a great app. You might want to check out the LB forums, as there are lots of GTDers there.
You should also search the LB forums for posts by user "Ratz". If memory serves he has a detailed description of a GTD implementation in LB.
I set up my old LB with areas of focus (Work, Home, Family, Service, Fun), with sub-areas under those. I treated the bottom level items as tasks, and the level above that as projects.
- Don
some tips I use
I've been using LB for years, and I like it very much (especially for the Mac - Palm synchronization. There are plenty of things it doesn't do, but what it does do, it does very well.
I set mine up with Areas of Focus as the top level items, and then anything with a triangle below those is a project. From Ratz's entries on the llamagraphics site I got the idea to make a separate place, always closed, for Projects. This means that if I select Projects in the Todo list (set to All), anything that appears does NOT have a next action assigned; since for any actions I assign an appropriate place (i.e. context). (I love the way LB lets you combine places under other places).
Another nice trick is that I have headings labeled "Later-Maybe Next Week" and "Someday/Maybe." After setting their importance levels to None, I put the projects and actions on-hold under these. Thus, just by moving items in and out of those headings, they become visible or invisible on the ToDo list. You can create a big elaborate project with many sub-headings, and then just put it on hold by moving it under one of the above headings, without having to change anything in the project itself.
I review the Later ones as part of my (mostly) weekly review, and the others at least monthly. I also use the importance sliders a lot -- the best thing about Life Balance is that you can tell it what overall projects are most important and then it automatically puts their tasks at the top of your list -- saves you time in deciding what to do. I don't use the balance function much, but others do and also value that unique feature of LB.
George
I've been using LB for years, and I like it very much (especially for the Mac - Palm synchronization. There are plenty of things it doesn't do, but what it does do, it does very well.
I set mine up with Areas of Focus as the top level items, and then anything with a triangle below those is a project. From Ratz's entries on the llamagraphics site I got the idea to make a separate place, always closed, for Projects. This means that if I select Projects in the Todo list (set to All), anything that appears does NOT have a next action assigned; since for any actions I assign an appropriate place (i.e. context). (I love the way LB lets you combine places under other places).
Another nice trick is that I have headings labeled "Later-Maybe Next Week" and "Someday/Maybe." After setting their importance levels to None, I put the projects and actions on-hold under these. Thus, just by moving items in and out of those headings, they become visible or invisible on the ToDo list. You can create a big elaborate project with many sub-headings, and then just put it on hold by moving it under one of the above headings, without having to change anything in the project itself.
I review the Later ones as part of my (mostly) weekly review, and the others at least monthly. I also use the importance sliders a lot -- the best thing about Life Balance is that you can tell it what overall projects are most important and then it automatically puts their tasks at the top of your list -- saves you time in deciding what to do. I don't use the balance function much, but others do and also value that unique feature of LB.
George
dschaffner;62639 said:
Ratz went through several different schemes, some of which were very far from canonical GTD. I'd stick with Focus Areas->Projects->Actions if that appeals to you. I've also seen people just set things with separate top-level items for each context, so the outline just functions as a list of list. Kind of misses the point, but it can work. Two tips: if you have an item in a context list on the desktop, you can give it a subtask without going back to the outline. Also, some icons have somewhat obscure but useful navigational capabilities. It pays to read the documentation carefully.