How do you manage a growing Next Action list?
Ok... I know the first answer is Just Do It, :)
My Next Action list is growing and unmanageable. I'm sure some of you, like Proximo, have a much bigger list of things that you seem more able to manage and keep track of. What happens to me is I think of things I'd like to do, or should do, but do not NEED to be done today... or tomorrow...etc.... so they sit on the list. Then I may put a scheduled reminder for next weekend or next month so I am reminded to do them... and then they all show up on my Today list. Whew! I know the weekly review is to figure out when to do them but do you go through your entire huge Next list every week and put in schedule dates for everything for the next week? Then they all accumulate on your Today list by the end of the week?
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2 Posted by Proximo on 26 Aug, 2010 08:26 PM
@smatlanta,
I don't use scheduled for my task unless it makes sense to do so. Most of my apps I manage by going through my filtering process. (AoF, Time, Energy, Context)
If you are not assigning each task a Time, Energy and Context, I think you will find the Next list difficult to manage. But if you do add these triggers, it would be much easier for you to filter down to what makes sense to do at the moment.
Sometimes I have very little mental energy and when I filter by low energy, I find that I work on task that would have been seen as very low priority in other systems. With GTD, everything get's equal attention because it's base on your current situation.
Nothing like completing 10 Low Energy task that take 15 minutes or less.
Make your Weekly Review a habit and perform daily scans as needed. It should work itself out with time.
3 Posted by smatlanta on 27 Aug, 2010 04:15 AM
You're right... I don't use any of those filters... I never really believed they would make that much difference. But if that's what you do, then I know should try it since you seem to manage a billion tasks including answering my question. LOL
thanks :)
steve
4 Posted by Proximo on 29 Aug, 2010 12:34 AM
@smatlanta
I am still learning and changing all the time. :-)
I have found that the more I trust in my system and the filtering process, the more I get done. I quit trying to figure out what is the best task to do in the coming week and just filter by the current scenario. I always end up doing the most important task at the time that match my current Time constraints, my current mental energy and the context I wish to work in.
Like Master Yoda once said. "No try, DO or do not, there is no try."
David McLaughlin closed this discussion on 02 Feb, 2011 06:06 PM.