Re: [MLO] Re: Please help: Need way to separate things I have to do from things I don't
> > Hi, Ram. I'm interested in how the flags are working. Forgive me for >> my very late response that may have no value, but I would have said use >> dates. If you use dates for the things that have to get done, you know a) >> which of your to-dos really gotta must absolutely for sure have to be done >> and b) when they must be completed by. >> > I use this approach in my files. It requires me to be very careful in deciding dates and what really must be done, though, and that's not always trivial. However, for me that's not an MLO struggle--it's my personal struggle with doing what I've said I will do and what I feel that I need to do with integrity. It also requires me to NOT use dates to paint a possible future. I don't mind that because I believe I'm better off using other methods for general planning. I'm wishing for your success in this whatever you do! Dave -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/awVzbsa1HUEJ. To post to this group, send email to mylifeorganized@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mylifeorganized+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en.
Re: [MLO] Re: Please help: Need way to separate things I have to do from things I don't
contexts then filter the to-do view by contexts then my action filter is active all I have to do is look at the active actions by whatever context I choose when I choose. I'm in my office I look at my office context I'm at home with nothing to do and feel like reading an article or looking at a training course i look at my articles to read context or my training to do context and then choose from there it seems like that would work for your concern as well On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 8:23 AM, Dwight wrote: > Hi, Ram. > For a three-level indicate you could consider "goal." The there levels are > defined as weekly, monthly and yearly but you could use them to implement > your three levels of compellingness for lack of a better word. I don't > believe you can rename the levels of goal so you would just have to think > of "monthly" as meaning "moderately compelling" and so on. > > Ram Rachum wrote: >> >> On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 5:43 AM, Dwight Arthur wrote: >> >>> Hi, Ram. Many people use the Star attribute to mean "must do" - you can >>> then do stuff like using the sort in your to-do list to put the starred >>> tasks ahead of the non-starred ones, and you can pull up the starred view >>> to clean out starred tasks that you have finished or given up on. >>> >> >> Hmm, I consider this a workaround, because the star attribute doesn't >> really fit. I want something that could be set to at least 3 different >> levels. I might use this workaround if I don't get a better suggestion, but >> I hope it won't come to that. >> >> >>> >>> I hope you don't mind if I throw one other bit of advice your way. It >>> sounds like you are working hard to build a task management setup that has >>> a lot of complexity and functionality. Don't lose track of the fact that >>> the objective is to get a lot of your tasks finished. There's a risk that >>> you might get so involved in tinkering with your setup that you end up >>> neglecting the tasks that you originally wanted to get done.Every once in >>> while when you are getting ready to try out another feature of MLO, ask >>> yourself, if this works will I get more stuff done, or will I just spend >>> more of my time tweaking MLO? >> >> >> Thanks for your advice. I disagree. I think it's important and well worth >> the time and effort. >> >> >>> >>> -Dwight >>> >>> >>> On Friday, October 12, 2012 8:07:53 PM UTC-4, Ram Rachum wrote: Hello everybody! In the last couple of days I've been rethinking my self-organization method and trying to fix various aspects of it which are broken. One of these is something that I want to consult with you about. When putting tasks into MLO, I make use of the Importance, Urgency and Effort attributes. I set these attributes to different levels for different tasks. The thing is, I'm starting to feel that I have a need for one more attribute, which is similar to Importance but not quite the same, and which I am not sure if I can even name yet. Let me explain the need: I've noticed that often I would go to my computer and look at the ~20-30 tasks I have on my MLO to-do list, thinking "there's a lot of stuff I need to do", and feeling the sort of bad feeling that you feel when there's a task that you *have *to do but haven't done yet. And some of my tasks are like that; for example if I have tasks like "Call accountant to ask about salary mistake" or "Do the laundry", than those are things that I *have *to do, where "have" means that I should feel that something is wrong if I didn't do. Otherwise I might end up with no money in my pockets and no pants whose pockets I could pull inside-out to illustrate my lack of money. But on the other hand, there are tasks which it'll be a great idea to do, but which I don't *have *to do. Two examples of that from my to-do list are "Learn how to use RegexBuddy better" and "Reorganize all the electronic adapters in the drawer". The former would make me into a better programmer, and the latter would make it easier for me to find adapters when I need them. Those are great things that are really important to me in my life; programming puts bread on my table, and becoming a better programmer is crucial to advancing my career, making more money and living a happy and fulfilling life. I went on a spiel here because I want to emphasize that tasks like the 2 examples above are definitely * important*, yet they are *still different* from the examples of tasks from the previous paragraph. Let's compare the 2 kinds of tasks. For simplicity I'll rephrase the example for the first kind of task as "Resolve financial problem", and the second kind as "Learn how to become a better programmer". They are both undoubtedly important. The first one may be more urgent, but not necessarily. The difference betwee
Re: [MLO] Re: Please help: Need way to separate things I have to do from things I don't
Thanks for your advice everybody. Eventually I went with Lisa's suggestion of using flags. It's not perfect but it's pretty good. Thanks! On Saturday, October 13, 2012 10:15:33 PM UTC+2, bs27975 wrote: > > Some additional thoughts, perhaps relevant. > > Dated tasks can help prioritize / focus in some cases. If something can > only be done during a particular time period, you do it then or it can > never be done. (Not doing it, particularly in the presence of an alternate > / competing task for the same period, is a perfectly valid choice.) > > You have to remember there is only so much of you to go around. And things > take as long as they take. (Let alone, sleep is important, if you wish to > be productive the next day.) Try not to beat up on yourself for not getting > # things done today, merely ask yourself - in the time you had available, > were you productive on things that needed doing. And accept that you did > what it was possible to do, and all is well. It's 'OK' if you didn't get it > all done - it wasn't humanly possible to do so. And you are human. And > family and down time is important, too. > > It sounds like you might appreciate the idea of 'next action' (NA). If you > have a goal, and have determined an order, be it sequential, priority, or > most bang for the buck / amount of time spent, the top item of that order > should be the only item you see on your todo list. (All else being filtered > out of display, at that moment.) > > Contexts may also help - you can't mow your lawn when you're at work, so > having 'mow lawn' visible on your list when you're at work is just > depressing background noise. [At home, reverse is true, let alone, if the > problem is bad enough, a viable solution is to hire someone to mow the lawn > for you - assuming you have sufficient competing claims for your time that > you judge them more important than mowing the lawn.] > > On Saturday, 13 October 2012 08:24:03 UTC-4, Dwight Arthur wrote: >> >> Hi, Ram. >> For a three-level indicate you could consider "goal." The there levels >> are defined as weekly, monthly and yearly but you could use them to >> implement your three levels of compellingness for lack of a better word. I >> don't believe you can rename the levels of goal so you would just have to >> think of "monthly" as meaning "moderately compelling" and so on. >> >> Ram Rachum wrote: >>> >>> On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 5:43 AM, Dwight Arthur wrote: >>> Hi, Ram. Many people use the Star attribute to mean "must do" - you can then do stuff like using the sort in your to-do list to put the starred tasks ahead of the non-starred ones, and you can pull up the starred view to clean out starred tasks that you have finished or given up on. >>> . > . > . > >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/tAJdDy_w-b0J. To post to this group, send email to mylifeorganized@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mylifeorganized+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en.
Re: [MLO] Re: Please help: Need way to separate things I have to do from things I don't
Some additional thoughts, perhaps relevant. Dated tasks can help prioritize / focus in some cases. If something can only be done during a particular time period, you do it then or it can never be done. (Not doing it, particularly in the presence of an alternate / competing task for the same period, is a perfectly valid choice.) You have to remember there is only so much of you to go around. And things take as long as they take. (Let alone, sleep is important, if you wish to be productive the next day.) Try not to beat up on yourself for not getting # things done today, merely ask yourself - in the time you had available, were you productive on things that needed doing. And accept that you did what it was possible to do, and all is well. It's 'OK' if you didn't get it all done - it wasn't humanly possible to do so. And you are human. And family and down time is important, too. It sounds like you might appreciate the idea of 'next action' (NA). If you have a goal, and have determined an order, be it sequential, priority, or most bang for the buck / amount of time spent, the top item of that order should be the only item you see on your todo list. (All else being filtered out of display, at that moment.) Contexts may also help - you can't mow your lawn when you're at work, so having 'mow lawn' visible on your list when you're at work is just depressing background noise. [At home, reverse is true, let alone, if the problem is bad enough, a viable solution is to hire someone to mow the lawn for you - assuming you have sufficient competing claims for your time that you judge them more important than mowing the lawn.] On Saturday, 13 October 2012 08:24:03 UTC-4, Dwight Arthur wrote: > > Hi, Ram. > For a three-level indicate you could consider "goal." The there levels are > defined as weekly, monthly and yearly but you could use them to implement > your three levels of compellingness for lack of a better word. I don't > believe you can rename the levels of goal so you would just have to think > of "monthly" as meaning "moderately compelling" and so on. > > Ram Rachum > wrote: >> >> On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 5:43 AM, Dwight Arthur >> >> > wrote: >> >>> Hi, Ram. Many people use the Star attribute to mean "must do" - you can >>> then do stuff like using the sort in your to-do list to put the starred >>> tasks ahead of the non-starred ones, and you can pull up the starred view >>> to clean out starred tasks that you have finished or given up on. >>> >> . . . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/it3KCH1JFNUJ. To post to this group, send email to mylifeorganized@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mylifeorganized+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en.
Re: [MLO] Re: Please help: Need way to separate things I have to do from things I don't
Hi, Ram. For a three-level indicate you could consider "goal." The there levels are defined as weekly, monthly and yearly but you could use them to implement your three levels of compellingness for lack of a better word. I don't believe you can rename the levels of goal so you would just have to think of "monthly" as meaning "moderately compelling" and so on. Ram Rachum wrote: »On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 5:43 AM, Dwight Arthur »wrote: » »> Hi, Ram. Many people use the Star attribute to mean "must do" - you »can »> then do stuff like using the sort in your to-do list to put the »starred »> tasks ahead of the non-starred ones, and you can pull up the starred »view »> to clean out starred tasks that you have finished or given up on. »> » »Hmm, I consider this a workaround, because the star attribute doesn't »really fit. I want something that could be set to at least 3 different »levels. I might use this workaround if I don't get a better suggestion, »but »I hope it won't come to that. » » »> »> I hope you don't mind if I throw one other bit of advice your way. It »> sounds like you are working hard to build a task management setup »that has »> a lot of complexity and functionality. Don't lose track of the fact »that »> the objective is to get a lot of your tasks finished. There's a risk »that »> you might get so involved in tinkering with your setup that you end »up »> neglecting the tasks that you originally wanted to get done.Every »once in »> while when you are getting ready to try out another feature of MLO, »ask »> yourself, if this works will I get more stuff done, or will I just »spend »> more of my time tweaking MLO? » » »Thanks for your advice. I disagree. I think it's important and well »worth »the time and effort. » » »> »> -Dwight »> »> »> On Friday, October 12, 2012 8:07:53 PM UTC-4, Ram Rachum wrote: »>> »>> Hello everybody! »>> »>> In the last couple of days I've been rethinking my self-organization »>> method and trying to fix various aspects of it which are broken. »>> »>> One of these is something that I want to consult with you about. »>> »>> When putting tasks into MLO, I make use of the Importance, Urgency »and »>> Effort attributes. I set these attributes to different levels for »different »>> tasks. The thing is, I'm starting to feel that I have a need for one »more »>> attribute, which is similar to Importance but not quite the same, »and which »>> I am not sure if I can even name yet. »>> »>> Let me explain the need: »>> »>> I've noticed that often I would go to my computer and look at the »~20-30 »>> tasks I have on my MLO to-do list, thinking "there's a lot of stuff »I need »>> to do", and feeling the sort of bad feeling that you feel when »there's a »>> task that you *have *to do but haven't done yet. And some of my »tasks »>> are like that; for example if I have tasks like "Call accountant to »ask »>> about salary mistake" or "Do the laundry", than those are things »that I *have »>> *to do, where "have" means that I should feel that something is »wrong if »>> I didn't do. Otherwise I might end up with no money in my pockets »and no »>> pants whose pockets I could pull inside-out to illustrate my lack of »money. »>> »>> But on the other hand, there are tasks which it'll be a great idea »to do, »>> but which I don't *have *to do. Two examples of that from my to-do »list »>> are "Learn how to use RegexBuddy better" and "Reorganize all the »electronic »>> adapters in the drawer". The former would make me into a better »programmer, »>> and the latter would make it easier for me to find adapters when I »need »>> them. Those are great things that are really important to me in my »life; »>> programming puts bread on my table, and becoming a better programmer »is »>> crucial to advancing my career, making more money and living a happy »and »>> fulfilling life. I went on a spiel here because I want to emphasize »that »>> tasks like the 2 examples above are definitely *important*, yet they »are »>> *still different* from the examples of tasks from the previous »paragraph. »>> »>> Let's compare the 2 kinds of tasks. For simplicity I'll rephrase the »>> example for the first kind of task as "Resolve financial problem", »and the »>> second kind as "Learn how to become a better programmer". They are »both »>> undoubtedly important. The first one may be more urgent, but not »>> necessarily. The difference between them is: *The first task belongs »to »>> a bucket of tasks which I have to do, otherwise basic assumptions »about »>> my life (like having money in the bank) would stop being true, while »the »>> second task belongs to a different bucket of tasks which I don't »have to »>> do. Doing them may be a great idea but I can live a great life »without them »>> too.* »>> * »>> * »>> * »>> * »>> I hope I've explained the need properly here. »>> »>> Now, I want MLO to reflect those different kinds of tasks. »>> Interface-wise, I would probably want to have a list of the most »have-to-do »>> ta
[MLO] Re: Please help: Need way to separate things I have to do from things I don't
On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 5:43 AM, Dwight Arthur wrote: > Hi, Ram. Many people use the Star attribute to mean "must do" - you can > then do stuff like using the sort in your to-do list to put the starred > tasks ahead of the non-starred ones, and you can pull up the starred view > to clean out starred tasks that you have finished or given up on. > Hmm, I consider this a workaround, because the star attribute doesn't really fit. I want something that could be set to at least 3 different levels. I might use this workaround if I don't get a better suggestion, but I hope it won't come to that. > > I hope you don't mind if I throw one other bit of advice your way. It > sounds like you are working hard to build a task management setup that has > a lot of complexity and functionality. Don't lose track of the fact that > the objective is to get a lot of your tasks finished. There's a risk that > you might get so involved in tinkering with your setup that you end up > neglecting the tasks that you originally wanted to get done.Every once in > while when you are getting ready to try out another feature of MLO, ask > yourself, if this works will I get more stuff done, or will I just spend > more of my time tweaking MLO? Thanks for your advice. I disagree. I think it's important and well worth the time and effort. > > -Dwight > > > On Friday, October 12, 2012 8:07:53 PM UTC-4, Ram Rachum wrote: >> >> Hello everybody! >> >> In the last couple of days I've been rethinking my self-organization >> method and trying to fix various aspects of it which are broken. >> >> One of these is something that I want to consult with you about. >> >> When putting tasks into MLO, I make use of the Importance, Urgency and >> Effort attributes. I set these attributes to different levels for different >> tasks. The thing is, I'm starting to feel that I have a need for one more >> attribute, which is similar to Importance but not quite the same, and which >> I am not sure if I can even name yet. >> >> Let me explain the need: >> >> I've noticed that often I would go to my computer and look at the ~20-30 >> tasks I have on my MLO to-do list, thinking "there's a lot of stuff I need >> to do", and feeling the sort of bad feeling that you feel when there's a >> task that you *have *to do but haven't done yet. And some of my tasks >> are like that; for example if I have tasks like "Call accountant to ask >> about salary mistake" or "Do the laundry", than those are things that I *have >> *to do, where "have" means that I should feel that something is wrong if >> I didn't do. Otherwise I might end up with no money in my pockets and no >> pants whose pockets I could pull inside-out to illustrate my lack of money. >> >> But on the other hand, there are tasks which it'll be a great idea to do, >> but which I don't *have *to do. Two examples of that from my to-do list >> are "Learn how to use RegexBuddy better" and "Reorganize all the electronic >> adapters in the drawer". The former would make me into a better programmer, >> and the latter would make it easier for me to find adapters when I need >> them. Those are great things that are really important to me in my life; >> programming puts bread on my table, and becoming a better programmer is >> crucial to advancing my career, making more money and living a happy and >> fulfilling life. I went on a spiel here because I want to emphasize that >> tasks like the 2 examples above are definitely *important*, yet they are >> *still different* from the examples of tasks from the previous paragraph. >> >> Let's compare the 2 kinds of tasks. For simplicity I'll rephrase the >> example for the first kind of task as "Resolve financial problem", and the >> second kind as "Learn how to become a better programmer". They are both >> undoubtedly important. The first one may be more urgent, but not >> necessarily. The difference between them is: *The first task belongs to >> a bucket of tasks which I have to do, otherwise basic assumptions about >> my life (like having money in the bank) would stop being true, while the >> second task belongs to a different bucket of tasks which I don't have to >> do. Doing them may be a great idea but I can live a great life without them >> too.* >> * >> * >> * >> * >> I hope I've explained the need properly here. >> >> Now, I want MLO to reflect those different kinds of tasks. >> Interface-wise, I would probably want to have a list of the most have-to-do >> tasks, followed by the list of medium have-to-do tasks, and finishing with >> the least have-to-do tasks. I know how to do all of that with MLO, but, MLO >> doesn't have a "have-to-do" attribute on tasks! I'm already using >> Importance, Urgency and Effort! How could I make MLO set each task to have >> a specified level of "have-to-do"? >> >> I'll be happy to hear your thoughts. >> >> >> Thanks for your help, >> Ram Rachum. >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOr
[MLO] Re: Please help: Need way to separate things I have to do from things I don't
Hi, Ram. Many people use the Star attribute to mean "must do" - you can then do stuff like using the sort in your to-do list to put the starred tasks ahead of the non-starred ones, and you can pull up the starred view to clean out starred tasks that you have finished or given up on. I hope you don't mind if I throw one other bit of advice your way. It sounds like you are working hard to build a task management setup that has a lot of complexity and functionality. Don't lose track of the fact that the objective is to get a lot of your tasks finished. There's a risk that you might get so involved in tinkering with your setup that you end up neglecting the tasks that you originally wanted to get done.Every once in while when you are getting ready to try out another feature of MLO, ask yourself, if this works will I get more stuff done, or will I just spend more of my time tweaking MLO? -Dwight On Friday, October 12, 2012 8:07:53 PM UTC-4, Ram Rachum wrote: > > Hello everybody! > > In the last couple of days I've been rethinking my self-organization > method and trying to fix various aspects of it which are broken. > > One of these is something that I want to consult with you about. > > When putting tasks into MLO, I make use of the Importance, Urgency and > Effort attributes. I set these attributes to different levels for different > tasks. The thing is, I'm starting to feel that I have a need for one more > attribute, which is similar to Importance but not quite the same, and which > I am not sure if I can even name yet. > > Let me explain the need: > > I've noticed that often I would go to my computer and look at the ~20-30 > tasks I have on my MLO to-do list, thinking "there's a lot of stuff I need > to do", and feeling the sort of bad feeling that you feel when there's a > task that you *have *to do but haven't done yet. And some of my tasks are > like that; for example if I have tasks like "Call accountant to ask about > salary mistake" or "Do the laundry", than those are things that I *have *to > do, where "have" means that I should feel that something is wrong if I > didn't do. Otherwise I might end up with no money in my pockets and no > pants whose pockets I could pull inside-out to illustrate my lack of money. > > But on the other hand, there are tasks which it'll be a great idea to do, > but which I don't *have *to do. Two examples of that from my to-do list > are "Learn how to use RegexBuddy better" and "Reorganize all the electronic > adapters in the drawer". The former would make me into a better programmer, > and the latter would make it easier for me to find adapters when I need > them. Those are great things that are really important to me in my life; > programming puts bread on my table, and becoming a better programmer is > crucial to advancing my career, making more money and living a happy and > fulfilling life. I went on a spiel here because I want to emphasize that > tasks like the 2 examples above are definitely *important*, yet they are > *still > different* from the examples of tasks from the previous paragraph. > > Let's compare the 2 kinds of tasks. For simplicity I'll rephrase the > example for the first kind of task as "Resolve financial problem", and the > second kind as "Learn how to become a better programmer". They are both > undoubtedly important. The first one may be more urgent, but not > necessarily. The difference between them is: *The first task belongs to a > bucket of tasks which I have to do, otherwise basic assumptions about my > life (like having money in the bank) would stop being true, while the > second task belongs to a different bucket of tasks which I don't have to > do. Doing them may be a great idea but I can live a great life without them > too.* > * > * > * > * > I hope I've explained the need properly here. > > Now, I want MLO to reflect those different kinds of tasks. Interface-wise, > I would probably want to have a list of the most have-to-do tasks, followed > by the list of medium have-to-do tasks, and finishing with the least > have-to-do tasks. I know how to do all of that with MLO, but, MLO doesn't > have a "have-to-do" attribute on tasks! I'm already using Importance, > Urgency and Effort! How could I make MLO set each task to have a specified > level of "have-to-do"? > > I'll be happy to hear your thoughts. > > > Thanks for your help, > Ram Rachum. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/3_2LqW9kX18J. To post to this group, send email to mylifeorganized@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mylifeorganized+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en.
