Retreating from Life Balance
- Thread starter ameasha
- Start date
U
ukphil
Guest
Life Balance
Amanda,
I wondered what you found about Life Balance that didn't work?
I have Life Balance installed on my Palm at the moment, although I am still at the trial stage.
Cheers
Philip
Amanda,
I wondered what you found about Life Balance that didn't work?
I have Life Balance installed on my Palm at the moment, although I am still at the trial stage.
Cheers
Philip
the problem
It just didn't work for me. I felt really out of control and like I needed to really master it before I would feel "safe" and that I was getting the right stuff done. I noticed that the stuff that I really needed to get done pronto just never seemed to be at the top of my to do list in LB.
On the other hand, my partner loves it and is totally addicted. I think it's just a personality thing.
Regarding how to get the info back out, in case anyone's curious, the only way is to use the export feature on the Palm. It took some doing to get back to my Vanilla Outlook/Palm implementation, but things are running smoothly again.
It just didn't work for me. I felt really out of control and like I needed to really master it before I would feel "safe" and that I was getting the right stuff done. I noticed that the stuff that I really needed to get done pronto just never seemed to be at the top of my to do list in LB.
On the other hand, my partner loves it and is totally addicted. I think it's just a personality thing.
Regarding how to get the info back out, in case anyone's curious, the only way is to use the export feature on the Palm. It took some doing to get back to my Vanilla Outlook/Palm implementation, but things are running smoothly again.
I had the same problem with LB - I knew there were things that needed to be done that weren't high on the list. The reason this happens is that item positions on the list are purely a function of their priority, and due dates can only reduce priority, not increase it.
As an example, if I have "have football & beer evening" in at a reasonably low priority, and the last item is "buy beer on sat morning", buying the beer will be low on the list, but I really need to buy the beer! The solution would appear to be that I should increase the priority of the parent nodes, however this is a) time consuming, and b) will have knock on impacts on siblings, aunts, and uncles of my beer evening node.
So, you are left with two options - remember the urgent items separately or spend 1/2 hour fiddling with priorities when a situation like this develops. I instead went with the GTD system using Palm calendar for hard landscape, Palm todo for Next Actions, and Natara Bonsai for Projects and Someday/Maybe.
There are ways to make LB work - it has a lot of happy users. It's not for me though...
Regards,
Tony
As an example, if I have "have football & beer evening" in at a reasonably low priority, and the last item is "buy beer on sat morning", buying the beer will be low on the list, but I really need to buy the beer! The solution would appear to be that I should increase the priority of the parent nodes, however this is a) time consuming, and b) will have knock on impacts on siblings, aunts, and uncles of my beer evening node.
So, you are left with two options - remember the urgent items separately or spend 1/2 hour fiddling with priorities when a situation like this develops. I instead went with the GTD system using Palm calendar for hard landscape, Palm todo for Next Actions, and Natara Bonsai for Projects and Someday/Maybe.
There are ways to make LB work - it has a lot of happy users. It's not for me though...
Regards,
Tony
U
Unregistered
Guest
LB => Entourage
Four main reasons I dropped LB for Entourage:
1. No real calendar function. I really really like my task list and calendar to be one.
2. No alarms/reminders.
3. Task outline list is a little cluttered.
4. No warning if I've accidentally tried to double book a time slot.
Now with Entourage, I can keep my notes (procedures, directions, someday-tasks, blah blah) within the same app. It's just my preference, I prefer having everything within one app and not having to go to 3+ apps to get info.
alvin
Four main reasons I dropped LB for Entourage:
1. No real calendar function. I really really like my task list and calendar to be one.
2. No alarms/reminders.
3. Task outline list is a little cluttered.
4. No warning if I've accidentally tried to double book a time slot.
Now with Entourage, I can keep my notes (procedures, directions, someday-tasks, blah blah) within the same app. It's just my preference, I prefer having everything within one app and not having to go to 3+ apps to get info.
alvin
Shadow
I also used to use Life Balance but it was so hard to keep it updated. I spent more time updating LB than I did getting things done. I use Shadow now. It is a hierarchical to do list with a lot of other nice features like Tags, linking to the Palm To Do, Palm Calendar etc. Check it out at www.codejedi.com
I also used to use Life Balance but it was so hard to keep it updated. I spent more time updating LB than I did getting things done. I use Shadow now. It is a hierarchical to do list with a lot of other nice features like Tags, linking to the Palm To Do, Palm Calendar etc. Check it out at www.codejedi.com
Ditto.
Shadow has vastly improved the speed with which I update lists and organize my NAs. While the desktop currently has some shortcomings, I've found I can input, process and organize more quickly than with LB, helping me focus on DOing rather than organizing and tweaking. For me, it's a better fit and faster than other outliners such as Bonsai, but that's personal preference talking only. I know of several among this group that swear by Bonsai, so other outliners should be 'tried on for size' (Bonsai, Progect, Handyshopper, ...).
- MB
Shadow has vastly improved the speed with which I update lists and organize my NAs. While the desktop currently has some shortcomings, I've found I can input, process and organize more quickly than with LB, helping me focus on DOing rather than organizing and tweaking. For me, it's a better fit and faster than other outliners such as Bonsai, but that's personal preference talking only. I know of several among this group that swear by Bonsai, so other outliners should be 'tried on for size' (Bonsai, Progect, Handyshopper, ...).
- MB
1. Firstly my life organized in kinda a LB clone only one which is being developed with the speed of shadow and worth checking out. Not for palms though.
2. LB: I could not live without LB. Why?
--it lets me see my life in outline form by project or at the touch of a stylus
--it lets me see my next action list by context
both of these (I think) can be done with e.g. shadow or other outliners, BUT
the next action lists that pop up are in order by priority (oops I said that word).
A. I'm not a slave to the order lifebalance suggests, but generally things on the first screen get done sooner then those on the third screen.
B. I ignore the pie chart, effort and credit. This simplifies things.
2. LB: I could not live without LB. Why?
--it lets me see my life in outline form by project or at the touch of a stylus
--it lets me see my next action list by context
both of these (I think) can be done with e.g. shadow or other outliners, BUT
the next action lists that pop up are in order by priority (oops I said that word).
A. I'm not a slave to the order lifebalance suggests, but generally things on the first screen get done sooner then those on the third screen.
B. I ignore the pie chart, effort and credit. This simplifies things.
T
Tomas D.
Guest
Exactly, everyone has to find one that fits. Shadow was fantastic, but now that I spend most of time on desktop, Bonsai's desktop wins over Shadow's desktop by leaps and bounds. Progect is useful for rather simple and clean systems.br4978 said:
Life Balance does it for me
With the new shared selection feature on the Palm, Life Balance has solved the problem I have always had with outliners for GTD: how to get around in the outline quickly to add new next actions. I also rely on the inheritance of priorities and due dates to keep on top of things. Because I have set things up so that I have a true project list, I can check relative project priorities easily and adjust as needed.
Mike
With the new shared selection feature on the Palm, Life Balance has solved the problem I have always had with outliners for GTD: how to get around in the outline quickly to add new next actions. I also rely on the inheritance of priorities and due dates to keep on top of things. Because I have set things up so that I have a true project list, I can check relative project priorities easily and adjust as needed.
Mike