The question about actions I have to do

[Sergey Gamayunov]

Hello everybody!

Could you help me with one problem I've got? How I should to put some actions in my lists, if these actions are actually un-concrete? For example, I must practice in playing guitar. I should do it as often as I can. So, I don't want to put this action that named "play some music on guitar" every time when I check out my lists. I thought about leaving this action in to-do list and don't delete it ever, but therefore I will cannot see any progress in my playing.

 

[braintertainer]

Sergey,

I recommend to you one of these two approaches:
1. Block some time in your calendar and use it just do play in order to get some more practice.
2. Define exactly what exercise you want to do: Do exercise one, do exercise two etc. That means you should have an idea in advance what exercises to do.

But whatever you do, in the moment you want to exercise you have to know what to do. And that's just what you can name your action. For instance, learning a particular technique or piece.

 

[mcogilvie]

I play guitar too, so I understand some of the issues. You have to clarify what you want to happen. Do you want to commit to a specific program of guitar exercises? Play every day for 30 minutes? Learn a new style of playing or a new set of songs? There's a range of possibilities, and some are projects, but others are better described as habits. There is no one best way to build habits that works for everyone. Calendar, context list, and a log or diary can help, but visual reminders and low barriers are very helpful. Keep your guitar where you can see it, keep music nearby, et cetera.

 

[SiobhanBR]

Area of Focus or Project?

That is the question. And the answer is personal and can change over time. Do you have a specific goal or just enjoy playing? Is there a specific song you want to learn?

I play the oboe although I had taken about a 10 year break until last year when I was inspired to join a local orchestra with my mom (who plays violin). It seemed such a great opportunity to be able to do something regularly with my mom and this isn't something that I can just put off for another 10 years. So I made a few projects around this:
1. Source great reeds (making my own remains a someday/maybe for now)
2. Practice over the early summer to at least get to the point that I know I'll be able to be "ok"
3. Once I committed to the orchestra then I specified some specific practices over the rest of the summer either in calendar or as next actions

Now: rehearsals are in my calendar, I add "order new reeds" to my Next Action list when I see that I'll need some in a few weeks, I add "Practice from bar 86 -120 in that song" if I need to focus on something specific. Musician is an area of focus but occasionally I get projects and next actions around it. My advise, for what it is worth, is to add practice it to your calendar and/or next action list until you've got the habit. Finding a specific regular time in your schedule is likely the best way to build a practice habit, but that isn't always easy.

Good luck!

 

[Sergey Gamayunov]

Thank you all for your answers!

Sergey,
Block some time in your calendar and use it just do play in order to get some more practice.

braintertainer, I'm afraid this way doesn't accord my GTD-system. I want play guitar as possible, and my schedule can't help me with that

Area of Focus or Project?
That is the question. And the answer is personal and can change over time. Do you have a specific goal or just enjoy playing? Is there a specific song you want to learn?

SiobhanBR, thank you for these wise questions! I've just found that when I learn new song or piece I can use (if you don't mind) your tool about bar's numbers. "So, Next action is play main riff and do it perfectly".

mcogilvie, SiobhanBR.

Very often I play guitar for searching for new ideas for songs. I have to do it regurarly, but someday I don't create anything good. This action (or this is project?) I cannot split on some parts and I cannot see progress. "So, today I wrote some new music, check! But I have to do it every day, so I should create a new task - Write some new music".

I didn't read GTD in English, but in Russian version in the end of chapter 7, so there is description of "list of creative reminders". This list seems that it's right for me, but actually I don't fully understand principles of working with this kind of lists.

​Thank you, and sorry for my English

 

[TesTeq]

braintertainer, I'm afraid this way doesn't accord my GTD-system. I want play guitar as possible, and my schedule can't help me with that

If you use any calendar (you should) you can schedule things. If there's no room for playing guitar in your schedule you'll never learn to do it properly. Learning process requires consistent effort not just some "strumming on the couch".

 

[Gardener]

braintertainer, I'm afraid this way doesn't accord my GTD-system. I want play guitar as possible, and my schedule can't help me with that

I'm confused--why not? If you want to play it as often as possible, then surely it's important enough to put in your schedule. There's no rule that says that you can't play more often than you've scheduled, but if you don't block off time, that reduces the odds that you'll play as much as you'd like.

If, for example, you know that you've scheduled all Tuesday evening for playing, then you'll plan ahead to get takeout dinner, and you'll block off your schedule so that you know to decline any invitations or overtime that evening, and maybe you set the Tivo to record what you would have watched on Tuesday, and maybe you order that new music on one-day shipping instead of two to make sure it shows up by Tuesday. You clear the way to assure that time and resources are ready for the activity that you've planned.

None of that means that you can't sit down and play on Wednesday night, too.

 

[Folke]

Here's my take (beware, though, that I am perhaps an "unusual" character):

I normally do not put this kind of stuff on my lists or calendar or anywhere at all. I am quite satisfied with whatever happens to be the aggregate of my spontaneous decisions. This applies to a lot in my life - music, movies, books, sex, showers, partying etc etc. I don't see it as a problem. I have no grand vision for how many parties I must attend or books I must read etc. If I like it I do it. That's it. And I feel no inclination to measure my progress or development, either. I do it for my own pleasure, and I do not care how I rank. If I start taking showers more often and watch fewer movies, or vice versa, then I'll be just as happy either way - because it did what I liked. I'll probably notice over time that I used to do more of certain kinds of things when I was younger, and more of something else as I have grown older, but all those thought are just idle reflections, nothing I need to monitor or control - unless a real threat dawns on me.

The stuff I put on my lists are things that "scare" me in some way, or are a potential big win that I am scared I might miss out on. Either I am scared that it may simply slip my mind to do it, or I am scared that I may forget the appropriate sequence or balance of required actions that I have thought out with some degree of careful deliberation that I must do, or I am scared that I may repress or procrastinate it unless I really force myself to do it against my natural will.

In order for me to write down "play the guitar" would require some concrete "scare", such as being scared that I will disappoint a loved one, or scared I might lose a large bet, etc etc. Otherwise, I'd just keep playing as often as the impulse to play arises.

 

[TesTeq]

I normally do not put this kind of stuff on my lists or calendar or anywhere at all. I am quite satisfied with whatever happens to be the aggregate of my spontaneous decisions.

Your statement sounds strange to me. Sergey Gamayunov wrote: "For example, I must practice in playing guitar. I should do it as often as I can." It sounds rather "scary" so I advise him to schedule his practice sessions - at least one hour/day or more.

 

[Folke]

Scheduling on the calendar certainly is one way. Setting up repeating next actions is another. Checklists is another. Personally I'd probably avoid the calendar approach.

One way that has not been mentioned is a weekly performance assessment - "how well did I do with my guitar playing last week". It can be based on just memory and overall impression; no checked-off tasks to count, no statistics, no nothing, just a heuristic assessment of whether you did well or not. The assessment will still give you signal to do more or do less next week. It depends on how exact it needs to be. Gathering statistics, and assessing it, takes effort. And tasks of all kinds clutter up you calendar or lists, so if you don't need all that overhead then you can gain simplicity by omitting it. But some things you must write down, and that is where GTD (calendar, lists) enters the picture.

I have the impression, reading these forums, that many people take a whole lot of life's pleasure's much more seriously than I do. And we have discussed this in other threads, too. I simply would not enter things like watching movies, reading novels or playing music, because in most cases I do not see those as an obligation; just as a nice pastime/pleasure that I do not need to worry about whether I do or don't do. Even truly important absolute needs, such as eating food, I do not put on my list or calendar, simply because I am not worried, not because I do not care. I have full faith that my hunger nerves will inform me, or that some kindhearted person will point out to me that I am beginning to look emaciated.

But if someone feels a "must" to bring such a habit under full control, hopefully only temporarily, then the methods listed above in this thread are some of the possibilities - calendar, repeating tasks, checklists, weekly assessments etc.

 

[Oogiem]

I have the impression, reading these forums, that many people take a whole lot of life's pleasure's much more seriously than I do. And we have discussed this in other threads, too. I simply would not enter things like watching movies, reading novels or playing music, because in most cases I do not see those as an obligation; just as a nice pastime/pleasure that I do not need to worry about whether I do or don't do.

Actually in my case it's that if I don't give some structure to the many things I want to do I'll get scattered and never complete any of them. From your previous comments I get the impression that you have very few hobbies that you like to participate in. I just can't fathom anyone with say 10 or more different hobbies NOT benefiting from giving the pursuit of those some structure. I have 18 major areas of interest that are not strictly necessary. If I don't track and limit what I try to do in each of those by using GTD to manage them I never get the wonderful feeling of being able to check them off as done and new stuff learned or new things made. It's part of avoiding the regret when you are close to dying of "Oh I always wanted to do X but I never made time for it".

I've seen far too many friends and relatives have wonderful goals and neat ideas and great things they wanted to do for themselves or their community end up at the end with many regrets because they never planned what to do or never followed through on them.

And that is also another reason to keep detailed GTD plans. In my case many of the pleasurable projects will get passed on to someone when I pass on and knowing my thoughts, plans and more importantly how far along I was on the process is critical.

I went through this when my mother died. She left some critical projects partially finished that I had to pick up and without any guidance or notes it was much more stressful and difficult than it should have been. The projects were pleasure for her but still needed to be handled upon her death. I wouldn't wish that sort of stress on anyone so I document everything I can.

 

[Folke]

I've seen far too many friends and relatives have wonderful goals and neat ideas and great things they wanted to do for themselves or their community end up at the end with many regrets because they never planned what to do or never followed through on them...
... In my case many of the pleasurable projects will get passed on to someone ...
... I went through this when my mother died...

I totally agree, and I too keep such things on my list. I perceive of them as obligations, no matter how pleasurable they might also be. I have lots of such "voluntary obligations" - to the family, the community and so on. And I like to get them done. And check them off.

I have 18 major areas of interest that are not strictly necessary. If I don't track and limit what I try to do in each of those by using GTD to manage them I never get the wonderful feeling of being able to check them off as done

When it comes to pure pleasures, such as reading novels or watching movies or enjoying music or taking beautiful walks etc etc I really have no desire to check them off as done. It is rather the opposite. I would like those moments to last forever. I am not keeping score and I have no goals. All I want is to just enjoy these as much and as often as I can, for as long as I can enjoy them. And if I stop enjoying them and doing them, no one will suffer, because I have no obligation to anyone.

If someone else wants to turn "pure pleasures" into "voluntary duties", e.g. read novels or enjoy music and manage this in an "organized" way - with reminders, follow-ups and statistics etc, then of course they should - and they probably enjoy doing it in that way. I am not really meaning to say it is wrong. But I have been surprised to see how common it apparently is, and it seems very alien to me.

 

[Bill Myers]

Given how important to you it is to play guitar it's highly unlikely you're going to forget about that passion, so I don't think you need to add this to one of your next action lists or your calendar. I'd instead suggest an approach called "Don't Break the Chain." Jerry Seinfeld used it to motivate himself to write a new joke every day. Use a calendar (I'd suggest a paper one) and every day you practice playing the guitar, put an "X" through that date in the calendar. The goal is to have an unbroken chain of X's -- hence the name of the technique.

If you feel you need a reminder, use the "put it in front of the door" trick DA mentions in the GTD book. Put your guitar in a place at home where you'll see it every day when you enter your residence.

If you're someone like Oogie who prefers more structure, you can incorporate your musical aspirations at one of the horizons above the projects level -- the ones DA represents using the concepts of 20,000 thru 50,000 ft levels. I keep lists to remind me of those but review them quarterly or less frequently just to make sure I'm on track.

If there's a specific piece you want to learn I suppose that could be a project.

There's also nothing wrong with scheduling time to practice as long as you keep those appointments with yourself. Like DA I've found that keeping daily to-do lists is counterproductive but in this specific instance scheduling time makes sense. As long as you keep those appointments with yourself that's fine.

Like you, I used to get wrapped up in worrying about what did or didn't fit my "accord my GTD-system." I've stopped worrying about that and would suggest you do as well. Your productivity systems should serve you and not the other way around. There's no harm in adopting ideas that aren't explicitly advocated in Getting Things Done.

Good luck.

 

[Bill Myers]

I normally do not put this kind of stuff on my lists or calendar or anywhere at all. I am quite satisfied with whatever happens to be the aggregate of my spontaneous decisions. This applies to a lot in my life - music, movies, books, sex, showers, partying etc etc. I don't see it as a problem.

Oh, be honest. Every man keeps an @sex context list.

 

[Bill Myers]

In all seriousness while Oogie may get the impression that Folke has fewer hobbies than she, I think there's another explanation. Some people are more simply more comfortable with spontaneity and others less so. Neither approach to life is wrong. You are who you are. It's a big enough world for all of us.

 

[Gardener]

> I have the impression, reading these forums, that many people take a
> whole lot of life's pleasure's much more seriously than I do.

But this assumes that planning is serious. Maybe that's the difference--maybe you always find planning to be a serious, non-fun activity? I enjoy planning things that I enjoy. Planning can *be* one of life's pleasures.

If I sit down with a stack of seed catalogs and make a list of seeds to buy, and then come back two days later and modify it, and do that three or four more times, I'm enjoying that process. From what I read in garden books and on garden forums, the same is true of many other gardeners.

I don't go through the annual seed-listing ritual in the fear that without these plans I might do something wrong. I don't do it because I'm worried. I do it because it's fun. Edited to add: And it doesn't impose an obligation, not even to myself. More than once, I've had a lovely time making a list of seeds, and then decided not to order any of them.

Planning is so much fun that for serious activities I have to force myself to do *less* planning than I'm inclined to, because the planning can get in the way of the doing. But for fun activities, I'll do what I please, and that often includes planning or overplanning.

> And we
> have discussed this in other threads, too. I simply would not enter
> things like watching movies, reading novels or playing music, because
> in most cases I do not see those as an obligation; just as a nice
> pastime/pleasure that I do not need to worry about whether I do or
> don't do.

But, again, planning doesn't have to equate to worrying.

I just heard about two new musicians tonight, whose music I'd like to hear. I'm adding their names to my OmniFocus inbox, and will eventually transfer those names to my WatchReadListen list. This means that later when I'm thinking, "Hey, who was that really interesting singer in that documentary?" or "I'm tired of my current playlists; what can I add?" I have that list available to me and I might order a couple of CDs.

No, I'm not *worried* about coming up empty when I ask myself those questions, but I'm going to enjoy the process of remembering and recovering those names, so why not?

> Even truly important absolute needs, such as eating food, I
> do not put on my list or calendar, simply because I am not worried,
> not because I do not care.

But if you made a note, "Try garlic chicken finger recipe in January 2012 Fine Cooking" would that mean that you were worried or afraid that you might forget to try that recipe, or would it just mean that you enjoyed trying something new?

Planning, IMO, doesn't need to be about fear or obligation. It can be about pleasure. Of course it doesn't need to be about pleasure for you, but it seems that you're assuming that when anyone plans, they're doing it out of fear or obligation, and then you logically wonder why they would want to weigh down their pleasures with fear and obligation. And I'm saying that that interpretation is likely to be frequently incorrect--when I plan my pleasures, I'm not weighing them down with fear or obligation, I'm adding to the pleasure.

Edited to add: To put it another way, I think that you're combining two concepts (planning and fear) to form a conclusion, and while those concepts go together for you, they don't go together for many others, and therefore the conclusion doesn't apply to others. My planning doesn't produce complete control. It doesn't reduce spontaneity. It isn't about fear. It isn't about obligation. It's a pleasurable way to think about the things that I enjoy.

 

[Cpu_Modern]

The original GTD approach to regular activities was the Tickler. With my Tickler (a digital one consisting of a bunch of file folders) I organize several activities such as the one the OP asks about ("playing the guitar".) For each activity I have a sheet on which I mark the days I did the coresponding activity. That way I have a constant (daily) reminder to engage and I also have automatically the performance review another poster allured to. Furthermore, it is very easy for me to mark and end (exit) to any specific activity.

 

[Folke]

But, again, planning doesn't have to equate to worrying.

I agree with this. Planning is quite often an enjoyable part of the process. I plan a lot and I like to keep my lists and calendar and reference material in good order. I enjoy all that. It can even become something of an indulgence to plan in more detail than necessary just for the sheer pleasure of having it really neat and tidy.

And I see nothing wrong with keeping reference notes about possible dishes to taste, possible books to read etc, even though I do not systematically keep such notes myself.

It is sometimes difficult to put one's finger on what the crucial point about something actually is. I thought I was on to something by distinguishing between obligations and pure pleasures, but that may have been a bit premature or inexact. I am not sure.

What has surprised me on these forums is the apparent concern or bewilderment that many seem to bring upon themselves by "organizing" very innocent and inconsequential activities such as enjoying books or music, stuff that I consider as pleasurable indulgences or escapes rather than duties. For me, such activities are something that I allow myself to indulge in regardless of whether they have any utility or not, and always as a result of a direct impulse either from within or from an external stimulus - "work as it shows up" as I believe DA called it. It would utterly turn me off to see things like "Dig some Coltrane", "Flirt with Anna", "Read Dostoyevsky" or "Climb a tree just for the hell of it" on my lists. I don't think I could enjoy those kinds of things "on command", and as they have no other significant utility to me I would not plan them at all. They would feel too arbitrarily chosen and would clutter up my lists. I just might allow them to "happen" to me if I had that particular impulse at a convenient time, but if they never happen to me then I would not worry about them. I am convinced that I will always have tons of other and equally pleasurable impulses to act on instead. Why would I lock myself in if I have no obligation (or significant utility)? And why would I want to "get it done"? If I truly enjoy it, chances are that I will enjoy it (or something similar) over and over again, and that I will therefore also have such impulses over and over again (until I am "saturated").

But please do not get me wrong. I am not saying that someone who likes to make a plan of what novels or music they are going to "get done" this year are doing anything wrong. If they enjoy reading the books and also enjoy doing the planning of it, perhaps even in tremendous detail, and perhaps also enjoy the sense of progress of having "done" a larger and larger portion of the world's music and literature, then all of this is part of the fun that these people deserve. I have no objection. I was surprised, that's all, that so many seem to be making a "science" of it.

Related to this, but a slightly different topic:
I can read a novel in at least two entirely different ways. If I read it just for pleasure I tend to immerse myself emotionally in the scenario that unfolds. If the book is good I will naturally connect and empathize with the characters, will feel their joys and fears, smell the environment etc, almost "live" the story. But I will not necessarily be very good at explaining to anyone else what made this book good or different, or how this was achieved. But if I read a novel as an obligation, on the other hand, say as a part of a foreign language course or in order to help my children make a presentation/review for school, then I will do it quite differently. It will be on my list; I will read it much faster; I will temper any emotional connection that may arise; I will observe the setting and message of the book and identify any allusions to contemporary events, debates or political developments; I will try to determine what is fact and what is fiction; I will observe what structural and linguistic ploys the author has made use of, such as a framework story, parallel stories that converge, chronological jumps, omissions and red herrings in the story, key events and factors that affected direction of the story, first person / third person, short/long sentences, written/spoken language, degree of reliance on adjectives and environmental observations versus a more "hard-boiled" writing style, etc etc etc. A very different thing. It can still be a great pleasure - I take pleasure in most of my work and obligations - but if I do it purely for pleasure then I will totally let go of all ulterior aims and just "experience" it.

 

[Bill Myers]

I'm a salesperson and as such my professional role requires taking risks, spontaneity, a lot of being in the moment. It does require planning and strategy, but not nearly to the degree that being an architect does. A salesperson who has an architect's mentality will likely fail as a salesperson. An architect with solely a salesperson's mentality... well, for heaven's sake don't enter any buildings that person designed!

I don't think there's anything wrong with either end of the spectrum or anything in between, as long as one's approach helps rather than hinders one's effectiveness. Ultimately the only person who can judge that is the individual.

 

[Gardener]

Readin

I don't think I could enjoy those kinds of things "on command"

But they're not on command. I think that's another way of phrasing what I'm trying to phrase. You don't put them in your lists, because your lists only include things that you must do. So putting a pure-pleasure purely-optional item in your list would be the equivalent of ordering yourself to have fun.

But I don't include only things that I must do, so putting those things in my list is not ordering myself to have fun.

Let's say that I put "Buy Louis Darling edition of _Ramona The Pest_" in my lists, with a context of Used Book Shopping. And two months later I'm visiting That Really Big Used Bookstore in Portland, and I look at my Used Book Shopping list, and I see that entry and I say, eh, I'm over it I don't feel the impulse to buy that any more. So I don't.

It's not a command, it's a reminder. And it's not a "do X!" reminder, it's "A while ago you told me to remind you, next time you're in this context, that you might feel like doing X."

Also, there are some pure-pleasure things that can't be done without some planning. Reading a book may be pure pleasure, but you can't impulsively read it the moment that you want to unless you own it. And if it's out of print, odds are that you can't own it without taking a few steps. And since I don't see my GTD lists as obligations or commands or fear-based, I see no problem with putting those steps into those lists. Similarly, I'm not commanding myself to create the silk satin and silk organza blouse with covered buttons that I saw and want to copy, but if I want to make it, I'm going to have to own the satin and organza and the stuff for covering buttons. The pure-pleasure impulse to make it isn't going to get me very far if I don't have the supplies to make it with.