Discussion Forum > Tips for getting through your list everyday
Here's what's working for me.
I carry an A5 notebook with me everywhere. I have done for a long time, long before I encountered Mark F. Now, following the DIT idea, I make the pages at the back of the book my Will Do lists. Compared with Marks's suggestion of having a separate diary, this has the advantage that I don't have to carry around two items, a notebook and a diary. It has the disadvantage that a notebook only lasts me three weeks or so, and so I can't easily log something to do on a date far into the future. (I have a page in the note book labelled "to future notebooks" to handle this.)
When I start a new notebook, I label the pages at the back of the book with the dates for the coming few days. I fold each page in half, then unfold it. That puts a vertical crease down the page, dividing the page into left and right halves. (Drawing a vertical line would do just as well, except it looks ragged when I do it.) Down the left side I put work things. Down the right I put non-work things. This ensures that the non-work things don't get neglected due to pressing work commitments.
I draw a line horizontal line near the top of the page. Above it, I put my current initiatives for that day, one for work, one for non-work.
I draw a second horizontal line about three quarters of the way down the page. In the space in the middle of the page, between my two lines, I write my work and non-work to do lists. In keeping with the DIT philosophy, I put items that come up today on tomorrow's page.
At the bottom of the page, below the second line, I write items that I encounter during the day that really do have to be done today. DIT discourages these, but they do happen and I need somewhere to write them. I rarely have more than one or two of them.
If over several days I find that I am repeatedly failing to get everything on the list done, the fix is simple. On the pages representing the coming days, I draw the lower line higher up the page, so there is less space in which to write the will do list. That way I can't take on too many things. Once I get back to reliably completing the things on the page, I can lower the line, increasing the amount of the space in the middle of the page available for will do items.
I think the key insight of GTD is that getting to the point where one can dependably do the things that one says one will is a major milestone in personal effectiveness.
I carry an A5 notebook with me everywhere. I have done for a long time, long before I encountered Mark F. Now, following the DIT idea, I make the pages at the back of the book my Will Do lists. Compared with Marks's suggestion of having a separate diary, this has the advantage that I don't have to carry around two items, a notebook and a diary. It has the disadvantage that a notebook only lasts me three weeks or so, and so I can't easily log something to do on a date far into the future. (I have a page in the note book labelled "to future notebooks" to handle this.)
When I start a new notebook, I label the pages at the back of the book with the dates for the coming few days. I fold each page in half, then unfold it. That puts a vertical crease down the page, dividing the page into left and right halves. (Drawing a vertical line would do just as well, except it looks ragged when I do it.) Down the left side I put work things. Down the right I put non-work things. This ensures that the non-work things don't get neglected due to pressing work commitments.
I draw a line horizontal line near the top of the page. Above it, I put my current initiatives for that day, one for work, one for non-work.
I draw a second horizontal line about three quarters of the way down the page. In the space in the middle of the page, between my two lines, I write my work and non-work to do lists. In keeping with the DIT philosophy, I put items that come up today on tomorrow's page.
At the bottom of the page, below the second line, I write items that I encounter during the day that really do have to be done today. DIT discourages these, but they do happen and I need somewhere to write them. I rarely have more than one or two of them.
If over several days I find that I am repeatedly failing to get everything on the list done, the fix is simple. On the pages representing the coming days, I draw the lower line higher up the page, so there is less space in which to write the will do list. That way I can't take on too many things. Once I get back to reliably completing the things on the page, I can lower the line, increasing the amount of the space in the middle of the page available for will do items.
I think the key insight of GTD is that getting to the point where one can dependably do the things that one says one will is a major milestone in personal effectiveness.
November 20, 2006 at 11:43 |
David
David
Excellent post, David. But please note that I don't discourage you from doing things the same day that really need doing the same day. I just encourage you to make sure that they really *do* need doing the same day!
November 21, 2006 at 10:21 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Thanks