Ticklerfile in Nirvana app

Svein

Registered
Hi
I’ve just started to use the Nirvana app for my private GTD-setup. It look and feels like the right tool for me. I use OneNote and Microsoft ToDo for business purposes, which works very well for me. I made an easy OneNote setup for the Tickler file with months only.

I can’t see how I should implement a tickler file in Nirvana (would only need months for now). Has anyone done this?

kind regards

Svein
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
If you want to see an item at a date in the future, just schedule it and you won't see it until the date specified.
 

Svein

Registered
Thanks, that could be a good solution . I could then either make them scheduled projects with tickler file items as actions, or each month as a scheduled task with the items as bullets in the notes section
 

mksilk2

Registered
Just revisiting this item. I’m trying to set up my tickler system properly for the first time. Looking for advice. I’m a Nirvana user for Tasks and Projects, OneNote for project support and TheBrain for reference.

@Longstreet do you have the tickler file as a project with your items listed with due dates or reminder dates? Or is it within your reference Nirvana group? What I’ve found in Nirvana reference is that you can have a reminder, but for many tickler items they are recurring, like my annual car registration. So if I use the tickler within reference i can have a reminder but not a recurring reminder. Then i will have to reset every year. Not sure if I’m missing something.

Would you be able to share how you use a tickler file?
 
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mcogilvie

Registered
I have found that setting up @tickler as a context is easy and effective. It works in all the apps I have used, and the different ways I have set them up. It certainly works well in Things, so I expect it would work well in Nirvana.
 

TesTeq

Registered
I have found that setting up @tickler as a context is easy and effective. It works in all the apps I have used, and the different ways I have set them up. It certainly works well in Things, so I expect it would work well in Nirvana.
@mcogilvie I don't get it. In Things: isn't this artificial "context" created by assigning start dates to relevant actions? Then they automatically are listed on the Upcoming and Today built-in lists.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
@mcogilvie I don't get it. In Things: isn't this artificial "context" created by assigning start dates to relevant actions? Then they automatically are listed on the Upcoming and Today built-in lists.
Yes and no. A paper tickler file delivers stuff into your inbox for processing. You haven’t decided whether to attend the Prince’s Ball because you don’t know if your dancing shoes will be back from the glassmaker in time and you’re.not sure if you can get time off from your job working for your stepsisters….. Now you can argue that with digital start dates you might instead have “Decide ball?” with an @anywhere context. You could also put “Decide ball?” on your calendar for that day. However, for me a tickler is a reminder or a trigger for possible next actions, rather than a next action. It works best for me as a separate context, and it’s the first thing I look at after my calendar.
 
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gtdstudente

Registered
Yes and no. A paper tickler file delivers stuff into your inbox for processing. You haven’t decided whether to attend the Prince’s Ball because you don’t know if your dancing shoes will be back from the glassmaker in time and you’re.not sure if you can get time off from your job working for your stepsisters….. Now you can argue that with digital start dates you might instead have “Decide ball?” with an @anywhere context. You could also put “Decide ball?” on your calendar for that day. However, for me a tickler is a reminder or a trigger for possible next actions, rather than a next action. It works best for me as a separate context, and it’s the first thing I look at after my calendar.
mcogilvie

GTD appreciate everything you expressed in this thread . . . the “Decide ball?” with an @anywhere context." was GTD sublimely elegant . . . great way to use "@anywhere" . . . very GTD smooth . . . thank you very much

Life-dynamics that "@anywhere" could facilitate has one GTD thinking it might be an appropriate/good contexts to help any and all fellow GTDer's break a particular 'Procrastination' that 'just' needs/requires/seeking a Next Action to become un-procrastinated?

Super . . . Spot-On!

Again, thank you very much!
 
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mksilk2

Registered
I’m currently going with a ‘Tickler’ project (in Nirvana) containing the items that I want to be reminded with. For example my car’s annual registration, a mthly reminder on a set date to pay a credit card, my passport expiry date (6 months out from expiration etc
 

rbrt

Registered
I use the schedule feature in Nirvana. On the set date the entry shows up in Focus and if I want to reschedule, I do just that.

I don’t add contexts to scheduled items, and any further information goes in the notes section.

Or did I misunderstand the question?
 

bcmyers2112

Registered
Like @Longstreet and @rbrt, in Nirvana I use the "Scheduled" status to tickle items for the future. Like they both said, the items stay hidden until the start date you select, at which point they show up in your focus list. You can do them right then and there, defer them by unchecking the star but leaving them in the appropriate action list, or tickle them forward by choosing a new start date.

You can link them to projects so you can see them in the project view, even before their start date. But otherwise they're invisible until the start date you select.

Unlike @rbrt I do add a context to scheduled items, which I'm glad is doable in Nirvana. But you don't have to. You could do as @rbrt does.

These future actions wouldn't exist in a tickler "file" in the same way that tickler items in your calendar aren't in a file. But this feature does work for tickling items forward if you choose to use it.
 

mksilk2

Registered
Thanks for your thoughts. So that means you don't keep a separate tickler file. You have actions with future dates that will appear as the date arrives?
I've currently got a project in Nirvana called 'Tickler' and put in nextactions with future dates that will appear in my focused list as the date appears.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
Thanks for your thoughts. So that means you don't keep a separate tickler file. You have actions with future dates that will appear as the date arrives?
I've currently got a project in Nirvana called 'Tickler' and put in nextactions with future dates that will appear in my focused list as the date appears.
I want to stress that many people, myself included, do not put only next actions in our digital tickler files. I put in possible next actions, events and projects, and anything else I want brought to my attention on a given date, just as with a paper tickler file. I also have next actions and projects which are scheduled to appear at future dates. These I have committed to, and are not part of the tickler file.
 

bcmyers2112

Registered
So that means you don't keep a separate tickler file. You have actions with future dates that will appear as the date arrives?
I've currently got a project in Nirvana called 'Tickler' and put in nextactions with future dates that will appear in my focused list as the date appears.
I don't. I prefer to treat them as other next actions. I give them context tags, and I link them to projects where appropriate.

I also use my calendar, my someday/maybe list, and a physical tickler file. It all depends on what feels to me to be the most appropriate thing to do.

But -- you don't have to do it my way. Your way sounds pretty good too.
 

mksilk2

Registered
@bcmyers2112 How do you record items that aren’t linked directly to projects, like driving license renewal, passport renewal dates, library cards renewal etc. I have set up the ‘Tickler’ project in Nirvana to store that kind of reminder.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
@bcmyers2112 How do you record items that aren’t linked directly to projects, like driving license renewal, passport renewal dates, library cards renewal etc. I have set up the ‘Tickler’ project in Nirvana to store that kind of reminder.
The developers of Nirvana and Things expect you to put such items n appropriate areas. Of course, for me, passport renewal is a project.
 

mksilk2

Registered
The developers of Nirvana and Things expect you to put such items n appropriate areas. Of course, for me, passport renewal is a project.
Interesting. I don’t want to have it as a project if it is so far in the future as it clogs up my project list. But I do want to be reminded in a suitable timeframe to then turn it into a project as needed.
 

René Lie

Certified GTD Trainer
Interesting. I don’t want to have it as a project if it is so far in the future as it clogs up my project list. But I do want to be reminded in a suitable timeframe to then turn it into a project as needed.
A future project is still a project as far as I'm concerned, but in my system it will be marked up with "project" either in my Someday/Maybe or my tickler list.
 
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