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Choosing a daily GTD action plan

Submitted by Merlin on April 25, 2005 - 5:26pm.

high octane moron: Revolving workflow strategies

I employ an informal Getting Things Done action strategy that’s similar to the one Chris lays out in his post. I often have a theme for a given day, where I choose an approach that’s suited to my mood, my energy level, and the kind and amount of work on my TODO list. (I’m especially a fan of days where I knock down “mosquito tasks” as Chris calls them.)

While they could be rotated throughout a single day, I am finding I like to commit to a single approach early in the day and generally stick to it for the day (possibly choosing a second approach at night). I don’t plan in advance what tomorrow’s strategy will be, because a lot of it is based on external factors like the number of new client requests I might receive in the morning. These are certainly nothing beyond common sense, and many of them are even laid out in the book and elsewhere, but it has helped me to list them out and think about which I am using at any given time.

Chris’s approaches include:

  1. alternate projects
  2. big chunks of time on certain projects
  3. complete as many small items as possible
  4. oldest first
  5. newest first
  6. squeaky wheel
  7. goal driven

How do you plan and choose your actions for the day?

in

I use the GTD plugin...

Submitted by John Richardson (not verified) on April 26, 2005 - 2:12pm.

I use the GTD plugin in Outlook to organize e-mails into projects. I end up with a lot of next action items and I find myself doing lots of stuff, but not always accomplishing anything. What I have started doing is using a “hipster pda” with the words “next accomplishment” at the top. I list the accomplishment (definition: accomplishment is something I can get done in a day or less… a milestone)Then I number down the card and list my next action items needed to complete the accomplishment.

I do this first thing in the morning and make up as many cards as I think I’ll be able to do in a day. The next day I update my GTD software from the cards and list the next days items on new cards. It’s simple and it helps me focus.