Later tasks - FV and FVP Forum - Get Everything Done

FV and FVP Forum > Later tasks

I have a lot of tasks that start in the future (and are therefore tagged with @later) -- where is the right place to put those tasks? And how can I handle repeating tasks, e.g. tasks I have to do every sunday (and only on sunday)?

March 29, 2012 at 11:37 |

Chris

If they truly start in the future, put them in your calendar or tickler.

Lots of times stuff that starts in the future can have "prework" start now. If that is the case, put in FV.

Stuff that starts only on Sunday goes in the calendar or tickler.

March 29, 2012 at 13:05 |

moises

I have about thirty tasks like this... repeating tasks that I do monthly or quarterly. Since I'm using an electronic implementation (Toodledo), I simply have it filter out tasks that have a future starting date. Once that date rolls around, the tasks automatically show up in my FV list and their at the top so that they get the appropriate attention when I build my next chain.

March 30, 2012 at 15:26 |

jFenter

When I have a task that I can't do for a few days (and when I know that in a few days the task will NOT be urgent, and when the task does NOT need a specific start or end date), then I write it into my FinalVersion notebook but several pages ahead of the end of the list. It then becomes a normal part of the list when my list has reached that page. This works really well for tasks that don't have any date pressure on them. It means that I don't need to go to the extra trouble of using a calendar or tickler or some other kind of list.

Of course, when I have tasks that do have a specific start date or must be finished by a specific date, then I use a calendar so that I can be certain the task will show up when I need it to.

April 6, 2012 at 21:58 |

Alys

<< When I have a task that I can't do for a few days ... write it into my FinalVersion notebook but several pages ahead >>

Mark had commented something similar regarding using EN Windows for this FV future/tickler tasks. We can edit the task Updated date to a future date, so it always gets sorted to the newest end of the list, until the date we set. This works with specific desired future dates as well of course.

April 7, 2012 at 9:38 |

sabre23t

Sabre23t: that's a neat trick with EN, I'll try that.

If a task requires little time/processing and has a deadline date, then I stick it into Outlook a couple of days beforehand.

If the task requires pre-work and the deadline date in within 30 days, I'll stick it into EN with the deadline date in [brackets], otherwise it goes into Outlook.

However, I think I'd prefer to keep everything in EN and keep Outlook for meetings, appointments and dedicated work sessions (meetings with self). So perhaps a tag along with a future date?

April 7, 2012 at 10:18 |

Roger J

I see one can change the colour of the text in a note or note body (highlight text, right-click, font). tried it, not sure if I like it although it does stand out eg in red.

When I first started AF0, I used a highlighter to mark stuff "Defer to do later" (usually because of context/location which made that task impossible eg quality of Internet to submit VAT return online) which worked quite well in my paper notebook.

It would be nice to have the highlighter function in EN, I think OneNote has it.

April 7, 2012 at 11:09 |

Roger J

I'm trying something similar to Alys, except I give the future page a label. At the end of my list are several pages, one per week. My list is just paper stapled together, so I can insert new blank pages if necessary. When I start a new week, all my weekly tasks are at the top, in one block, in the order I last did them. Some of them aren't due until the end of the week, but hopefully since they're together they'll be easy to scan quickly.

I thought of designating one page (or quarter page) per day, but the number of new or rewritten tasks varies widely -- from 0 to 20.

My current annoyance is separating tasks I thought of today, and can do today, from tasks I did today and should next do tomorrow. It seems minor, but scanning 20 items which alternate between can do now and must wait slows me down. One section per day would solve that, but might slow down recording if today and tomorrow are on separate pages. If only all my other challenges were so trivial,...

For this aspect, you can't beat a digital approach, but whenever I try to switch I come crawling home to paper.

April 9, 2012 at 14:37 |

Cricket

Cricket - << My current annoyance is separating tasks I thought of today, and can do today, from tasks I did today and should next do tomorrow. >>

Yes, I used to get annoyed by that also. I solved it by creating a tickler page for every day of the week. Tasks that I did today and should do next tomorrow go off my main list and onto the tickler page for tomorrow.

April 9, 2012 at 17:38 |

Seraphim

I find switching between pages annoying, but it might be worth it. I did it before, something like DIT. I've got a rough idea for a sheet with sections: Can do today, tomorrow, next week, later. That's easy to write in, but a pain to read. The other challenge is leaving enough space without wasting paper. Some days I add 30 (or more if I import another list) others none. Average is 2.5 days/page if no spaces, including short notes.

April 9, 2012 at 19:31 |

Cricket

The issue of mixing recurring tasks – that you've actioned today and don't want to think about until tomorrow – with other recent entries that you do want to action today, is solved by using Index Cards (1 card per task) and binder clips! Periodically, e.g. context/place change, morning, midday, evening, you can thin the 'deck' by removing whatever cards don't make sense for the current context or time available for this period of work. Just clip them together and put them where you will find them (e.g. tickler folder or In tray) to re-integrate into the full deck when they make sense again. (Of course you must timestamp each card so you can keep them sorted by date.)

April 9, 2012 at 21:56 |

ubi

I actually set up a stack of cards a few months ago, in an old recipe card box, but found flipping through cards slower than reading a page in a book. It would certainly solve the problem of re-ordering and adding notes!

April 11, 2012 at 18:20 |

Cricket