Get Everything Done

Longtime lurker, first time poster. I've been using FVP with remarkable success for a week. I wondered if anyone had yet addressed the question of tasks that it's physically impossible to do right now. Is it just assumed that such a task will never be one you "want to do more than" a previously selected task, so the problem never arises? (For some reason this bothers me only when it's the first unactioned task on the list that is physically impossible to do right now… it never seems to arise for other tasks.) Thanks for any guidance.

One thought that occurs to me, right after posting, is that there are very few tasks that you TRULY couldn't do right now, provided you were willing to get up from your desk, take the train back home, lose your job for being absent, etc. So if such a task were the first unactioned one on the list, it would simply be a task you really, really didn't want to do right now, meaning that the very first task below it would inevitably be selected and the selection process would continue from there.

Hi Jeff, the usual solution is to move the item forward to review at a future date, for example by writing the item on a calander. At work I use outlook tasks for this purpose and set a date when it will become due. This is great for getting items off my immediate task list. If it is an item that you are for example waiting a few days for then it could be written on the list with a question mark , eg 'Bob called back re widget problem?' And then it can be followed up,when appropriate.

Agree with Leon. And if you have a smartphone you can set a reminder for a future date. I use Reminders on my iPhone and an app called Due, but there are many to choose from. An advantage is that if your list is on paper and is physically out of reach, and maybe physically impossible to do right then as well, you can set it and forget it.

Ubi makes a good point. I'm thinking about something like "buy new xyz book" when it won't be published for six weeks. Or "renew newspaper subscription" which I do twice a year.

Zane - I put my future tasks in a calendar like outlook or google calendar (with an alert) so that it comes to my attention on the appropriate day. Only then will it be added to my list.

Jeff: I'm not sure if my idea will help you. I'm not even sure if it will help me (it's too soon to tell). In fact, I'm only assuming that your issue is the same as the one I'm dealing with. But just in case it is:

I have an entire class of tasks like that. They aren't date-related, so using a calendar isn't the solution. Rather, they tend to be tasks that can be done only during certain hours of the day, or in certain weather, or they have to be done on a computer (which I avoid during weekends), and so forth. It would be a royal pain to keep crossing them out and re-entering them at the end of the list.

I don't want to spin them off to a separate list because I've already got a separate list for work, which I leave at the office. Some (but not all) of these tasks can be done either at work or at home, or somewhere in between (errands), so I'd like to keep them as part of my main list which I already carry around with me most of the time.

I don't want to get into the habit of segregating more and more tasks into GTD "contexts," which I already know is absolutely the wrong approach for me. But I can't have this many infeasible tasks cluttering my main list when I'm not in a position to do them.

Flipping through my notebook, it was easy to see that the most numerous and troublesome ones by far were the computer-related tasks. They accumulate quickly AND I tend to resist many of them. So I'm now experimenting with keeping those on a separate page (starting with the first available blank page in my notebook) and write "ONLINE TASKS" at the top. When that page fills up, I'll start a new one on the next available blank page, which by then will be a few pages later, with a couple of regular task pages I've filled up in between.

In other words, I'll have a lot of regular task pages with an occasional "online task" page here and there. Easy to skip when I don't want to look at them, and equally easy to concentrate on at the appropriate time without being reminded of all the non-online tasks that are waiting to be done.

Since this is only for online tasks, there will still be a handful "not always physically impossible" tasks scattered throughout my main list (phone calls during business hours, etc.), but not enough to really get in the way. But they'll be there for me when I am able to do them.

This might not work at all, because these are some of my highest-resistance tasks to begin with. However, this category also includes some of my lowest-resistance tasks, which I'll enjoy. I am trying to mix them up as much as possible, trying NOT to group similar online tasks together. (As I've described before, when I see a group of similar tasks that are easy to compare, I automatically rank and prioritize them. If the most important/urgent task is also the worst one, I feel obligated to do it first... which turns me off to the entire group and then I start avoiding it. Mixing up the tasks seems to circumvent this odd reflex.)

Sorry, I'm being long-winded again! But I just thought of a slightly better way to do this.

The online tasks were a problem for me because after a while, I'd have several pages (doing it AF1-style) that had nothing left on them except for online tasks. Mostly these were important but non-urgent tasks, which I'd have to do eventually but not until I was in the mood to do them, at which time I'd do a lot of them all at once. It was annoying to have to flip through them to get to the good stuff. It was also annoying to rewrite more than a couple of tasks at a time just because I was tired of looking at the old page.

So it occurs to me now that I could just write "ONLINE TASKS" at the tops of those old pages. That's much easier than starting a new page, and I won't have to worry about being potentially turned off by a page that's filled with similar tasks.

If there are still some other "physically impossible" stragglers on that list, like calling an office that is open only twelve hours a week, or a chore that requires a rainy day, I don't mind rewriting those. I just don't want to have to rewrite all of the online tasks.

(I guess we could also try highlighting or punctuating those oddball tasks in some way for easy finding/ignoring; but as Mark has pointed out many times, that can get messy, confusing, and tiresome really fast.)

I hope some of my windbaggy babbling is helpful. Better yet, I hope that simply being able to skip the first item will solve the problem for you!

I run into this all the time. I use the same list for work and home.

Using the "question-less" method seems to work just fine for it. You just don't dot stuff you can't do or work on right now. You also have to cross out the items and rewrite them on the end of the list if they do come up "dotted".

With the "what do I want to do more"/"what is more exciting"/etc method, it tended to work out the same way, but I'd have to really think deeply about "want" or "excitement". Even if I really want to go home and wash dishes more than stay at work and file an end-of-the-day report that needs to go out, I "want" to keep my job more than I want to risk losing it. You kind of have to boil down the two options to the roots of the consequences of what choosing one over the other will do. This is a lot of conscious thinking, but it is more binary and obvious if you have the time and energy to do it.

I prefer the more intuitive "no question" method because it's more flexible, and yes faster. I don't know if it's more satisfying though.

Another way to deal with stuff you can't physically do right now is to sort out a chain of sub-tasks or "next actions" (GTD-speak). So for example:

If I'm at my workplace and FVP tells me that my next task is "Wash dishes at Home", I actually CAN work on that at project even if I'm not at home. Planning a project IS working on it. So, I can list out the steps that I need to do to get "washing dishes at home" completed:
-finish up at work
-send out end-of-day report
-drive home
-clock out
-do that thing that I told my coworker I would do before I leave

So, I know that I need to finish these things before I can do those dishes. The beauty is that I can just write all that stuff on the end of my list. If I can't think of any more tasks that will help me get "wash dishes" done, then I really have worked on it as much as I can at my current location. Now, I cross it off and rewrite it at the bottom.

Now, when you get to the bottom of the list, I'm assuming you'll "want" or are "excited" to send out that report more than do dishes, because you now have triggered the thought that you CAN'T do those dishes without sending that report first. I generally want to do more possible tasks before I do the less-possible ones. If you're still having trouble, especially when you isolate two tasks and apply a question of "which one", however you phrase it, I'd recommend the questionless method.

Thank you all very much for all these excellent thoughts! There's clearly a distinction between tasks that can't be done because it's not yet the right TIME to do them, and tasks that can't be done because you're not in the right PLACE to do them. And I definitely see that using a calendar or just crossing off and rewriting at the end would work fine for the first kind.

However the more I think about it, the more I wonder if following FVP in a completely purist manner eliminates this whole problem anyway. After all, if a task should not be done until a certain point in the future, or if it should be done when I'm in a different place, then the answer to the question "do you want to do it more than x" is always going to be NO – until it IS that future time, or until I AM in that appropriate place.

So if the task in question is the first unactioned task on the list, then every other task on the list will be selected in preference to it. If it is not the first unactioned task, then it will be skipped and not selected – until the time or place is right.

I guess this could get messy if you had a lot of tasks like this, with multiple open pages containing only one uncompleted task, and then you might want to do some rewriting of the list. But in principle, I think this problem only arose for me because I was not asking "the question" literally enough. If you see what I mean.

I use 2 lists : One for work, and one for out of work, in which I put errands, personal calls, and all I have to do at home. As soon as I step through my office's door, I switch lists.
I still put on my work list personal tasks that I will most probably do when at work (ex : call the bank, etc...)
This minimizes the occurence of First task being out of context. If it happens anyway, I then ignore it and instead dot the next actionable task as the first of the chain.

AlexB:

I also do the same with personal stuff I can do at the office, and
vice versa, work stuff at home.

For a few years I tried Mark's models with paper and pen, but always
hankered after an electronic solution.

I have my FVP using Todoist Premium which I have had for two
years now, but less than a month with FVP.

I did use a 'Work Chain' label and a 'Personal' label working from one
list. However now I have the two lists, and I can just send tasks
between the lists.

Todoist has a check-box for tasks, but marks and removes the task if ticked. When I scan the FVP list from top, I embolden the text so it stands out on the list.

My own productivity has definitely increased now that I understand the
rules better. How do I know? Todoist tracks keeps a record of
completed tasks, by day, last 7 days, month etc etc.

I'm having great success with this FVP Stand-Out (FVPSO?) method. As discussed elsewhere, I originally tried to do a second list for my day (morning brainstorming, including new, urgents, etc.). The idea was putting the new stuff on a second list would give them time to incubate, and hope their intrinsic value would increase by the time they landed on the Main List.

Also, the second list could act as a "working place". But then, you're tempted to transfer your dots over to the second list to have everything in perspective.

In the end, it didn’t work out, and especially because scanning down from the last-actioned task on the ML meant that I had to jump over and continue the scan on this second list as if it were a part of the ML (and the second list can get messy).

MF said, <<…when you have so many tasks which can't be done that they are making the list unnecessarily long and cumbersome to scan. In that case you can either use different lists, or have subsidiary lists for tasks that can only be done in a certain context. When you are in that context you make a selection of tasks from the subsidiary list and enter them on the main list. When you leave that context you can transfer any undone ones back to the subsidiary list.>>

But I have expanded this with other side lists (secondary lists) for other reasons, like for MIT reviews, or I can list main tasks and projects with enough space to think about them - and for briefly recording further ideas, prerequisites and incoming information about the task/project (like from a phone call). I can also fill in full-page project sheets and non-actionable (future) (wishful thinking) actions as well; anything to keep the length of the ML to a tractable size.

As in Mark's example above, Items can be borrowed from these secondary lists, but care has to be given to enter these tasks in the ML regularly and systematically (if they deserve to be on the ML at all).

I often find "tasks it's physically impossible to do right now" For these I use the following strategies
1- Let it in my list as dismissed and read it again later
2- put on a someday maybe list
3- Put it on my tickler
4. Put it on my diary

Now I use 2 colors blue for task I want to do from now until one week and black for other tasks. So often the non actionable task are most of the time in black and most of the time the slowly dump into the system and get obsoleted.

If tasks "it's physically impossible to do right now" such as a place... I write it on a specific list. For example I spent a lot of my time at Carnac (britany) loving sailing and running or riding, I also work there sometime. So I put on a special page all items relevant to Carnac, and it is ok. I try not to abuse of the lists preferring to collect all my stuff in one place. As MF said it is preferable having one list for home and one list for work. He explained this principle since AF1 and he is right on the principle. Except, that I work at home so I have no different places. I noticed it is better for me to make it simple and have one list. Sometime When I work I am fed up of what I do and I need to do something else. So I take a blue personnal task and do it or do personnal things at a batch. I noticed that with this system I have advanced a lot in my life. Finaly I use a lot of my energy and feeling for doing things. ie I will never call a client if I dont feel right in my head and motivated. My work is like trains some are fast so I slow my energy follow this principle and acting on things too.

Hey Jupiter. Still busy as always with your buildings and clients? I have always appreciated your ideas and experiences over the years; I usually get a lot out of them and, in the past, it seemed uncanny sometimes that you and I were thinking about the same things at the same time.

On your Carnac list, it sounds good to hear that you "try not to abuse it". (My efficiency drops when I get too involved in the side lists.)

Regarding your statement, "I noticed it is better for me to make it simple and have one list. Sometime when I work I am fed up of what I do and I need to do something else", this hits the nail on the head for me as far as choice goes. When you're working on something because you "choose" to (and it is in appropriate order in the grand scheme of things), it can really be invigorating, in my opinion.

So, I was wondering if you are using the FVP system as it's stated in the rules as your "one list"? Just curious.

hello Jeff

Still busy as always with your buildings and clients?
yes but it is OK !

"I have always appreciated your ideas and experiences over the years; I usually get a lot out of them and, in the past, it seemed uncanny sometimes that you and I were thinking about the same things at the same time"

Thank you for the compliment. I learn a lot from others too. Mark of course (he is great !) but also from the others on his web site. For the moment I red many things from julie. I love the way she thinks, she is very near from what I think often. But I can say the same from many others.

"So, I was wondering if you are using the FVP system as it's stated in the rules as your "one list"?" Not exactly. I use the stand out system with my method as I explained here. http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2512485

You can also see my blog in French if you'r interested http://gtdway.blogspot.fr and also pinterest where there are plenty of documents https://www.pinterest.com/Jupiterparis/

nb/ Hope this message will not appear twice, the first one desapeared with the angel when I wrote it...

Jupiter: "Sometime when I work I am fed up of what I do and I need to do something else"

Yes! That is why I take my personal list with me to the office even though I also have a separate list for work.

And even if I don't have time to do anything on my personal list when I'm at work, having the list at my elbow gives me a feeling of security. I don't get distracted with thoughts about the personal tasks while I'm working, because I know they've already been captured.

And thank you also for the compliment. It is very helpful, and frequently comforting, to read what others are experiencing. Many of us face similar time-management challenges and instinctively pursue the same types of solutions, even though our situations are often very different.