Get Everything Done

Leon, I have enjoyed you pushing the envelope regarding higher level planning. I have wondered about this myself and am able to relate to your struggle.

For the coming year, I am thinking about using a DIT approach to scheduling my reviews. I recently have purchased a 2009 Standard Diary (I dont think these are popular in the US). I will probably write in to the Diary monthly, quarterly, and yearly reminders.

I dont think that DIT was built for these specific types of reviews. So, these reminders in my task diary will relate to Areas of Focus, Goals and Outcomes, and Life Visions. These are a carry over from GTD, but I think that they are ideal frameworks for reviewing your life.

I would enjoy hearing others ideas related to higher outcome reviews.....

Thank you for the mention and compliments Erik. I too would very much like to hear other ideas.

Hi Erik,

Many thanks for the mention and compliments. I too would like to hear how other DITers are working at a 'higher level'.

I incorporate planning and reviews into my DIT system. Or I guess I should say I have expanded my system to include planning and reviewing potential projects and tasks.

Now I use 3x5 index cards for my system. I usually write projects on 3x5 cards and 3x5 size paper for tasks. This makes it easy to move cards to any date or area without re-writing. Instead of a daily list, I simply have a set of cards that comprise the daily list itself.

For planning, from the "top level" I maintain a journal for each area of focus. I include thoughts, plans, and direction. Its pretty much free form. From the journal I might come up with projects and tasks.

For all potential projects and tasks, I have a topic section of cards that includes specific areas, subjects, roles, and responsibilities. This topic section is separate from the task diary. The task diary is time specific and contains all the committed tasks and projects, while the topic section contains all the potential tasks and projects.

Each topic also has its own review card. The review cards are placed in the task diary, so every topic will be "touched" at some point. When a topic is reviewed, I determine if I will commit to doing potential projects or tasks. If I commit to them, those cards are placed in the task diary. If not, the cards stay together until reviewed again.

The length of the review is predetermined by writing a time estimate on the card. Reviews can be short (1-5 minutes), medium or long (30+ minutes). The longer reviews are a mixture of review and planning. After a topic is reviewed, I mark the date on the card and then file it for the future, so reviews are recurring.

MarkH,
I enjoyed reading about your review cards. What a fantastic concept. This makes the reviews portable and well defined. I might steal the idea!