putting single action projects in life areas instead of the single action project cat

[dwayneneckles]

Since using GTD I find that though I have projects in my professional roles.. in my personal areas( finance , health etc.), i may not need projects in each but just 1 step tasks that should be filed in Single Action Projects right?

All you GTD'ers would say yes. but my Feeling and intuition is not to place them in the SAP section but instead to place them in the actual personal area that I have setup instead of a Single Action category.

I am about to try this and see if it works. I thought some one out there might have came across the same FEELING I had.

Recap:

Instead of normally putting :

Single Action Projects
- Print out bank statement ( 1step action)

I say I should put it:

Personal
- Finance
- Print out bank statement ( 1 step action)

It makes more sense to me, but its against GTD rules. I am about to read the book and see what it says eventuall doing thought what feels best..

 

[dwayneneckles]

single action projects

let me give you a background. I use Kinkless GTD and now IGTD two programs on the mac that implement GTD. Sooo they allow you to organize tasks by project or context.

Hence, there is a time where you may have 1 task that belongs in the appropriate context like you suggest BUT ALSO when view in terms the projects view is placed in a single action project ( which is a project that contains nothing but single actions.

So thats why I need Single Action "project" which is really a category for all tasks that arent apart of a mult-step project.

in essence thats the way the programs i used on the mac generally organize the tasks...maybe u dont use those progrms on the mac os.. so thats why u may not be familar with my methor.

But so basically my earlier question was if should I keep the task in a single action projects list or should I place it in the category that i feel it goes .. see above for a better example?

 

[dwayneneckles]

Is my question clear?

 

[Nellas]

Is my question clear?

What you described is the benefit I found using Tony Robbin's RPM Planning approach - detailed in the "Time of Your Life" audio program. Life planning starts with identifying what areas of your life you want to focus on to improve and then making your plans from there.

Some here on these board have previously discussed how the two (GTD & RPM) compliment each other. There are also great resources on TR's boards themselves where users have provided their feedback on integrating the two approaches.

 

[dsmccormick]

Why are you doing the action?

Are you doing it because it's a one-off action, or is it part of a recurring (eg, monthly) activity, or is it part of a larger project (eg, doing a financial review). If it's monthly, say, you could have a calendar or monthly review item for that.

 

[madalu]

Recap:

Instead of normally putting :

Single Action Projects
- Print out bank statement ( 1step action)

I say I should put it:

Personal
- Finance
- Print out bank statement ( 1 step action)

I'm not sure what you're describing here. Could you please clarify? It looks as if the list above is a mixture of areas of responsibility, projects, and actions.

Is "Finance" a project? If so, it might be helpful to rewrite it as a "desired objective" (e.g., "Manage finances"). Or is "Finances" rather an area of responsibility (20,000 feet), beneath which you would then put the various projects that are part of that area of responsibility? (E.g., set up new savings account, diversify my retirement portfolio, etc.)

"Print out bank statement." Why are you doing this? Are you printing it out to keep a paper file of all your bank statements? In that case, you might schedule this as a recurring task in your tickler or on your calendar. Or are you printing the bank statement as part of a larger project, such as "look into strange withdrawal from my checking account" or "gather financial documents for taxes"? Often things that seem like single actions actually belong to projects.

There is no such thing as a "Single Action Project," since a project, by definition, requires two or more steps.

Which raises a third question. Why would you be putting a single action on your projects list? This should go on your next actions list. Otherwise you waste time writing/storing it twice. Or are you using some specific software package that requires this? If so, could you please clarify what that is.

You say putting "print out bank statement" under areas of responsibility is against the rules? I don't believe there are any "rules" in the book about how you map out the "higher levels" of your life. The "rules" rather have to do with making sure you really do have concrete next actions on all of your action lists (i.e., runway items).