My TODO list is long - 24 points and I am not even listing articles I am writing on, CPAN modules I am maintaining since these have their own TODOs. There is also stuff I want to try out and articles and books I would like to read.
The other day I was actually able to clean up my email inbox, so currently I am down to 21 mails. Some which are kept until I can clear a TODO point, others are flagged for follow-up.
My current contract is finishing today and I am moving on to another 3 month contract in the same company, different department however.
I need to somehow get this list shaved down to an absolute minimum, since the sheer number of TODOs are wearing me down.
Any life-hackers out there who can offer advice?
Currently I am addressing mails the moment they appear, either they are deleted or flagged, others are archived and a TODO is created.
I have tried with a strategy of shortest task first, this works out quite well, but only give an impression that of progress since, larger and longer tasks to not go away, they simply get postponed.
I wonder how people get the time to all the things they seem to accomplish I feel unproductive, slow, lazy and stupid
I highly, highly recommend that you read David Allen's Getting Things Done. Among other things, it clarifies the purpose of keeping lists (getting "stuff" out of your brain to free your brain to be productive), gives a process for managing your lists, and has useful advice on making sure your lists are actionable (keeping it granular to just the "next action").
Moreover, he describes himself as the laziest person in the world and his system as the simplest thing that could work -- in other words, it's designed with laziness, impatience and hubris, which is perfect if you already like Perl.
As a point of reference, I manage my lists in 12 text files using vim (and subversion) and print them on a single page (double-sided, 6-up) using a2ps and just carry it around with me. I just did a wc on them -- 76 tasks and 31 "projects" (anything with more than one step). And I'm sane. (More or less.)
-- dagolden
P.S. Allen also recommends keeping a "someday/maybe" list for things you don't want to forget but don't want to commit to right now. That list of mine is 200 items long.
Re:The list isn't the problem
cbrandtbuffalo on 2007-10-31T14:21:21
Yes, GTD is fairly widely used. Also, there are tools for every platform to help you keep lists designed specifically for GTD if you don't want the low-tech approach. I've even had GTD training, but alas it doesn't seem to fit with my brain. I just can't convince myself that I'm better off with all of that stuff 'out' of my brain.
One other comment: I believe the common wisdom is not to select tasks based on duration (quick tasks) although it's tempting. The recommendation I've heard is to keep your list prioritized and work on urgent (when truly urgent), then important tasks, regardless of time. The caveat is GTD recommends using every bit of free time, so you'd do short tasks when all you have is a bit of time.
Re:The list isn't the problem
dagolden on 2007-10-31T16:45:58
The subtlety I've found is that once tasks are on a list, then importance and urgency is relevant, but when a new task comes up, if the time to just do it is not much longer than the time to put it into the "system", then it's worth just doing it then. A couple minutes seems to be the rule.
The problem I've found with prioritization is that my priorities shift too rapidly due to external, client factors and therefore the energy to update priorities on a list is just a frictional loss. People with more stability in their priorities might feel otherwise, of course.
Re:The list isn't the problem
BooK on 2007-11-02T17:02:15
I've read GTD and agree to the principles. I even have some GTD posters on my office walls. It's just that I still haven't gotten round to fully implementing it (so I'm still stuck in a world where I forget to do stuff).
Could you gives the rest of us some details about those 12 files? Do you split by priority, scope (home, work), size (tasks vs. projects), etc? How are those files organized?
Re:The list isn't the problem
dagolden on 2007-11-02T18:21:15
I, too, have a lot of leakage in my system -- don't let it be a barrier. I'm not good at finding regular time for weekly reviews and emptying my head onto paper. But whenever I do, I kick myself for not doing it more often. Several of the practices work well individually, though I do think they work better collectively.
I can describe my system a bit more, but it's an evolving thing, not static, and it's based on some of the particular contexts I deal with. For example, I travel a lot to clients' offices and live out of a bag much of the time. I have a work laptop and various home computers. I often have hours to kill on an airplane with no connectivity. All those things lead me to slice my "contexts" in particular ways.
The files: I have two files for projects -- one for personal, one for work. The other files are context files, based on either a location, tool or person I need to do them. E.g.: calls, computer, errands, home, online, office, wife.
"Online" is where computer tasks go that require a network connection. "Computer" gets subdivided a bit inside the list. E.g. "laptop: upgrade workrave" or "pc: backup photos". I used to keep separate lists but combined them because I didn't have so many entries that I wanted to waste space on a virtual page when I print. "Office" gets subdivided the same way for either my office or various clients' offices.
I also have a "mobile-personal" and "mobile-work" -- things that I can do pretty much anywhere. I'm not very happy with these -- it's a little too fuzzy as to what should be here versus elsewhere, which is a GTD warning sign. (I shouldn't have to *think* when I look at my lists -- I'm supposed to think ahead of time to populate the lists.) There's a lot of "brainstorm topic X" kinds of entries -- where I could do that on a computer or I could do it on a pad of paper or a whiteboard. I keep personal and work separate because I don't bother looking at the work list on the weekend.
I have a "waiting for" file where I keep things I'm blocking on because of others. The nice thing is that waiting for, say, a callback means just cutting/pasting the "call" entry to the "waiting" list.
All files get synchronized via SVK and subversion so I can work on it on any of my computers. I print on paper as my "working list" because it's always at hand and doesn't require me to have any particular piece of tech with me. I used to use some outlining software on the Palm, but I found it too slow. OK for entering things, but terrible for reviewing the full lists from time to time. So I just use vim with each file open in a buffer and switch between. And I have a handy macro to sort everything alphabetically with nice capitalization.
-- dagolden
If you're in the habit of handling incoming mail as soon as it comes in, you may be spending too much time switching contexts. What would happen if you set your mail polling interval to two or four hours?
(If you're already doing this, then I misunderstood what you wrote.)
