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Long Next Action List vs. Daily To Do Lists
bengoshisan | Nov 9 2006
Dear All, Before GTD I relied especially on daily to do lists, prioritized (a la Alan Lakein, A-B-C lists), most of which usually did not get done on that particular day, and I wrote a new list every day. I tried to use NA lists instead (which I keep in a per-context-tabbed Moleskine), but somehow this seems too distracting to me. I've read posts on too long NA lists, and I understand that I might need to move some of the NA items to someday/maybe, and some of them might not qualify as a valid NA item. However, even purging those items the lists seem to be overwhelming -- there naturally are things that I will not be able to do on the given day. Furthermore, there are some urgencies and priorities, some things that MUST be done this particular day, and some things that are more important than others. I remember than in classic GTD things that must be done on a specific day are written in the calendar. I, however, do not want to keep looking at the calendar and the NA list to decide what is my next-next action. Due to all these I tend to prepare a "daily next action list" every day (sometimes one for 2-3 days), and I use that to decide what's next. (I make contexts within that, too.) This also has the advantage that I try not to put items on the list which I will definitely not have time to do in the next 1-2-3 days. However, this way the "master" NA list loses its sense -- some items just never make it to the "daily NA list". Any reflections on this? P.S.: Well, thinking over the whole idea, what is happening is basically that I still have an A-priority list, and a C priority lists, where things on the C-priority list tend not to get done... A psychologist friend of mine told me once that I have a strong tendency to prioritize -- maybe that is happening subconsciously when compiling my "daily next action list". 5 Comments
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 Long List vs Daily ListSubmitted by phlow on November 14, 2006 - 6:46am.
bengoshi-san once you been in "the system" for a while, your projects list and next actions lists have the potential to become lengthy. as lists get longer and your time available each day to cross items off remains fixed, the potential for certain tasks to get constipated in your list and become "wallpaper" gets higher. after frequent review of your list, your mind tends to focus on the new stuff or the easy stuff, and some of those older next action tasks run the risk of fading into the woodwork. can happen due to intentional or unintentional procrastination. as part of a solid weekly reveiw process where you go through every item in the master list and ask yourself:
i keep all 200 - 300 of my next actions in one master list. i never pull out an important "do today" list. but i try to scan the list each morning when i get to the office, and often scan the context specific lists multiple times a day when i'm in each context. it's relatively easy to pull from the lists (mentally) the two or three things i need to do today. and really, when you absolutely get down to it, you only have to pull ONE thing out, the very next action you will work on. scan the list again once you've done it!! i too am a moleskine nut, but i use it for notes and to capture actions as they come to mind. i'm too slow and messy to effectively use a handwritten list. the thing that use to really bring me down and demotivate me when i was a franklin planner guy, was REWRITING all the crap i didnt get done the day before. kind of like rubbing a dog's nose in the mess he made in the house. i use the GTD outlook add in as my "trusted stystem" and it works well. i still feel like the "overhead" of managing the system takes too much time, but i'm working on getting better. » POSTED IN:
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