Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.
Paper people: How do you manage recurring tasks?
Matt Wood | Dec 13 2006
Those of you who use a mostly paper system, how do you manage recurring tasks? I'm thinking more menial stuff like changing your furnace filter, watering plants, et al, that you might need to do once a week, every month, etc. I've been using kGTD lately and really appreciate the way it distinguishes between tasks that recur after a certain number of days no matter what, and one that resets a certain number of days after you last completed it. How do you manage something like this on paper, besides (the horror!) remembering to repeatedly write them down? 14 Comments
POSTED IN:
 What's wrong with re-writing? Writing...Submitted by terceiro on December 15, 2006 - 9:55am.
What's wrong with re-writing? Writing down a daily list (with items off a checklist, a reminder list, from a calendar or tickle file) changes vague commitments into specific, focused commitments, and helps me decide what I am actually going to do today. Sure, it takes time, but like all investments, is well worth it. Rewriting is good. That said, if my recurring tasks are daily-ish, I have a checklist with about a month's worth of checkboxes on it. I use that for my routine-y stuff. For longer horizon stuff (take out garbage barrels, change oil in car, fertilize lawn) those go on the calendar. Listen to (if you can get your hand on them) the Getting Things Done FAST CDs. In them, Allen talks about how some CEOs use their calendars to store non-time-specific-but-must-get-done jobs. He said he worked with some guys who had 20+ items per day as "all day items" in their electronic calendars. Since I keep my calendar in iCal, I have, at times, six or seven items in that top section, reminding me of what needs to happen on that particular day. As in all things, I chose the Simplest Thing That Would Possibly Work (for me). Applying that rule to my mostly-paper system has been a wonderful improvement. » POSTED IN:
|
|
| EXPLORE 43Folders | THE GOOD STUFF |
