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Borisoff

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I have 8 NA's in my @Computer. One is approx 5 min, three 10 min, two 15 min and two 30 min. When you use Context,Time,Energy,Priority concept how do you choose NA's to act on now? Let's say you have 45 min till the next hard landscape action. What would you choose: one big action or a few small?

Regards,

eugene.
 
it depends - use your intuition?

Great specific question, Borisoff. As you say, you've 1) used context (you're at your computer, so look at that list) to do the first round of decision-making. (Naturally you might also be near a phone, and have @Calls you could make, but let's stick with your example.) And 2), you know times available and needed, so now energy and priority come into play. I think the gist of GTD "doing" is that you need to integrate all your choices in your head, and make a call. If you're working during your "prime time" (am for most people), then you may want to tackle one of the "harder" ones. (Note: I can't tell whether "longer = harder".) I sometimes use my internal anxiety meter to determine which to work on - it's based on deadlines coming up in the calendar, which is hardest, which I'm procrastinating on, etc.

Hope this helps a little!
 
I like doing small, easy actions, so I naturally gravitate towards those. That's not necessarily the best route, though; sometimes the bigger actions are more important.
 
GTD as a tool for higher level procrastination.

Unfortunately GTD does not help in these decisions - it relies on your intuition and honesty with yourself. So it is possible (but not recommended :-) ) to use GTD for higher level procrastination when you are doing unimportant Next Actions from your contexts lists.
 
So Priotity make sence here. I think I can finish my example to close the thread:

I have 8 NA's in my @Computer. One is approx 5 min, three 10 min, two 15 min and two 30 min. When you use Context,Time,Energy,Priority concept how do you choose NA's to act on now? Let's say you have 45 min till the next hard landscape action. What would you choose: one big action or a few small? The answer is take what's more important first relative to other things. So I decide to start with two customer related NA's first (serf the net for customer birthsday present and prepare commercial proposal). Both turned to be the largest 30 mins NAs :)

Thanks!

Regards,

Eugene.
 
cornell said:
I sometimes use my internal anxiety meter to determine which to work on - it's based on deadlines coming up in the calendar, which is hardest, which I'm procrastinating on, etc.
Click to expand...

I've found the "internal anxiety meter" to be one of the best guides for determining what to do next. Knocking off the high anxiety items (which are never as bad as I imagine!) makes me feel like I'm getting more traction and gives me momentum to work on the harder items.
 
what THE DAVID says....I think....

Perhaps I need correction, but I recall David mentioning that which ever next action within a context offers the most "leverage" is the best to choose.
 
Sometimes "leverage" is hardly measurable.

gtderik said:
Perhaps I need correction, but I recall David mentioning that which ever next action within a context offers the most "leverage" is the best to choose.
Click to expand...
Sometimes "leverage" is hardly measurable. But maybe the "internal anxiety meter" is a good tool for this task.
 
I think "Leverage" and "Anxiety" both are hard to measure :)

And more they are not in Context,Time,Energy,Priority model :)

Regards,

Eugene.
 
If none of the actions is leaping out at you with "do me now!" written all over it, and if all of them are do-able, it might help you to cast your mind over the list as if it were tomorrow. Which of them would you be most glad to see crossed off when you wake up tomorrow? The inverse might work as well for some: What's going to net the largest negative, in a sense of personal letdown or simple failure to move a project forward or keep a commitment, if it's still on the list tomorrow? I use both approaches--envisioning the negative and the positive--but I'm trying to train myself to get out of mood-directed decision-making, and approach tasks from a more objective perspective. What will garner the greatest gains vs. what might be fun but has a nominal payoff in terms of progress. When I'm able to get into that groove, tasks that were formerly major ughs turn into the ticket to movement, which makes them a lot easier to tackle. Conversely, the idjit tasks I'd have used to avoid the harder work are suddenly much less alluring. It's difficult to maintain that focus, but I keep reminding myself that if I want to enjoy this degree of autonomy, I've got to internalize the "boss" function. Besides, all that agonizing over which way to turn burns a lot of mental fuel, at least in my tiny mind.
 
Borisoff said:
I think "Leverage" and "Anxiety" both are hard to measure :)

And more they are not in Context,Time,Energy,Priority model :)
Click to expand...

Leverage and anxiety are ways of defining priority.

Put another way, if the things that are causing you the greatest anxiety, or that offer you the most leverage, are *not* higher priorities, why not?

Katherine
 
Borisoff said:
I have 8 NA's in my @Computer. One is approx 5 min, three 10 min, two 15 min and two 30 min. When you use Context,Time,Energy,Priority concept how do you choose NA's to act on now? Let's say you have 45 min till the next hard landscape action. What would you choose: one big action or a few small?
Click to expand...

First I'd ask are we looking at the right list. Are you at your computer at the Office, at home, or somewhere else? If I were at the office, I'd be looking at the @Office list. If I'm at home, I would be looking at the @Home list. If I had a networked connection I'd be looking at @Computer-web. In an airplane or hotel room with no internet @Computer. I typically have more discretionary time on the road than at the office, so my @Office list usually gets prioirity. We'll go with on the road with no Internet and look at @Computer.

Next I'd look at my Energy Level. Am I fresh and ready to go or am I wiped. Then I'd pick based on the effort I felt I could exert. All else equal, I'd pick a 30 minute to start, then after it's done determine how much time I have left. (e.g. did I crank the thing out in 10 minutes or was my original estimate about right.) Assuming my estimates are right, I'd probably go with a 30, then a 10, then if time permitted a 5. I'd like to start with as big a chunk as I can and get it complete before my next hard landscape event while still leaving myself a little slack...
 
jpm said:
If I were at the office, I'd be looking at the @Office list. If I'm at home, I would be looking at the @Home list. If I had a networked connection I'd be looking at @Computer-web.
Click to expand...

To follow on to this, here's something I do...look first at the most restrictive list for the context you're in. (In your office, this would probably be @Office, assuming you have a computer at home as well.) If there's nothing on that list that you can move forward, look at the next least restrictive list (in my case, @Computer, then @Call_Write, then @Anywhere) until you find a next action you can do or an open loop you can move toward closure.

-- Tammy
 
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