What if some stuff is neither active nor archival nor SDMB

J

Jamie Elis

0
So I am going through my in-box and I find a couple of clippings and about things I am interested in doing if I encounter further information or the opportunity comes up. I am not planning on taking an action in the next few weeks, I do not want to review it, and I am not sure this merits saving for reference, what should I do with this?

Some examples: recipe using a lot of mangos that I would only use i if I found them really on sale in mango season which is now; a flyer about a film I would go see if nothing else appears on the schedule, an article on a topic I would include in an agenda for a meeting because it is funny and interesting but only if I think there will be extra time AND I have the leisure time to read it before one of the meetings. These are kind of "enrichment" items--I am not committed, they could get blown away by the wind and I would not chase them but if I could incorporate them into my activities I would enjoy doing so. A novel I would grab only if I had a long wait in a doctor's office but I would not carve out time to read it. A store I would visit if I was in its locale for another reason.
So maybe listing the film on the calendar in parenthesis or the store on list of errands in parenthesis but where do you put the related clippings and notes?
This is loosely similar to being "in the market to buy" a blue tie when shopping for a shirt, look for it and buy it but only if there is time..., if there is enough money..., if I see one I love.
 
These sound like someday/maybe tasks to me, with the exception of the mangoes. Recipes get filed in reference (in my system) and if I see mangoes on sale, I'll have the recipes handy.

If the stuff usefulness is time-limited, you could parse it this way:

Tasks:
-- Read article on widgets @maybe @due(5/4)
-- Add widgets article to XYZ meeting agenda @maybe @due(5/5)

Calendar:
5/6 XYZ meeting

For the location-dependent stuff, you can use location tags (@home, @grocery, @SouthSide, @EastEnd, @MyFavoriteClothingStore, etc.) and then check tasks based on where you are, for example:

-- Check mango prices @grocery

But that seems tedious and burdensome to me. It works for other folks, though.

Hope this helps.
 
These are the types of things I love to put in Evernote which is one of the tools I use. I used to have countless items just like this. To your point though, I can see putting a few of these on my calendar also. For example, if "Mango season" is something important to you because you love mangos, I would definitely add that as a reminder on my calendar. I might also add a note to that calendar entry reminding me that I have a recipe stored in my "recipe" file.

Just today, I created a note in Evernote called "Ice Breakers". I attend and facilitate quite a few meetings and wanted a place to store several fun group exercises so that anytime I found myself needing one, I could quickly pull up my reference. Something similar might also work for your "if-we-have-time" topics.

Hope this helps.

Vickie
 
To me it would all be reference. Obviously it's not important reference stuff, and you could end up with a heap of this stuff, so you need to organise reference so the important and really useful stuff doesn't get mixed up with the interesting but not very important stuff.
 
This is where I think the GTD Workflow Diagram is a tremendous help. It shows two forks in the road for whether or not something is actionable:

Yes
No

That's it!

If yes-->Then park those answers in Projects list (if applicable), Next Actions lists, Waiting For, and/or Calendar.

If no-->Then it's Trash, Reference, or Incubate (Someday Maybe or Tickler)
 
Jamie Elis;88429 said:
So I am going through my in-box and I find a couple of clippings and about things I am interested in doing if I encounter further information or the opportunity comes up. I am not planning on taking an action in the next few weeks, I do not want to review it, and I am not sure this merits saving for reference, what should I do with this?

Some examples: recipe using a lot of mangos that I would only use i if I found them really on sale in mango season which is now; a flyer about a film I would go see if nothing else appears on the schedule, an article on a topic I would include in an agenda for a meeting because it is funny and interesting but only if I think there will be extra time AND I have the leisure time to read it before one of the meetings.
Click to expand...

The comment about you don't want to review it means it's trash. But your examples are reference material to me.

I'd put the recipe for mangos in my folder Recipes - Fruit. Since I buy stuff when it's in season and typically on sale I'll automatically look at the recipe if I come home with a great buy on mangos because I'd pull out my fruit recipes and check what was in there. If I used a lot of mangos there might even be a separate folder for Recipes - Mango in my system.

The film flyer would go into my paper tickler system for a few days before the movie is showing. So I can think again about whether to go or not. I might even block out the time in my calendar so I could review that if other things came up for that time slot.

The article for the meeting would be reference material filed in folder Meetings or perhaps a folder related to the particular group or client that it might be appropriate for.

All of the items would eventually get reviewed. The mango recipe either when I have mangos or once a year when I purge the paper files. The film flyer when it came up in my tickler file and the article when I started to prepare for the next meeting or at the year end file purge.
 
Oogiem;88437 said:
The comment about you don't want to review it means it's trash. But your examples are reference material to me.

I'd put the recipe for mangos in my folder Recipes - Fruit. Since I buy stuff when it's in season and typically on sale I'll automatically look at the recipe if I come home with a great buy on mangos because I'd pull out my fruit recipes and check what was in there. If I used a lot of mangos there might even be a separate folder for Recipes - Mango in my system.

The film flyer would go into my paper tickler system for a few days before the movie is showing. So I can think again about whether to go or not. I might even block out the time in my calendar so I could review that if other things came up for that time slot.

The article for the meeting would be reference material filed in folder Meetings or perhaps a folder related to the particular group or client that it might be appropriate for.

All of the items would eventually get reviewed. The mango recipe either when I have mangos or once a year when I purge the paper files. The film flyer when it came up in my tickler file and the article when I started to prepare for the next meeting or at the year end file purge.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. All of these examples sound like reference items for files named: recipes, meeting filler, movies I might like to see.
 
I maintain lists: Things To Read, Recipes To Try, Perfumes To Sniff, and so on. So I'd list the mango recipe in Recipes To Try and also file it in my A-Z filing system. I'd list the novel and article in Things To Read, the movie in Things To Watch/Listen to, and so on.

Then, in GTD, I'd have a repeating tickler that says something like "Consider trying a recipe from Recipes To Try." If I have time and I'm interested, I'll act on the tickler; if I don't, I'll check it off and it will pop up again next time it repeats.

Gardener
 
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