stealthdawg t1_jdhgn9l wrote
Reply to comment by CavediverNY in LPT: Use your calendar as your to-do list. Assigning dedicated time to tasks increases the likelyhood of you acting upon it. by human_marketer
GDT specifically recommends against putting things that are not datetime bound events or tasks on the calendar.
The risk is that you don’t do the tasks in the assigned blocks (because the time-pressure is contrived) and then the calendar itself loses its impact, you stop paying attention to it, and end up ignoring it to the detriment of actual time-bound events.
The foundational tool of GTD for unbound tasks is really just a running list that you crank through.
_innocent_ t1_jdhzvv7 wrote
This is exactly what happened to me when I tried using this technique in the past. I love using my calendar, so I had the bright idea to merge my to-do list into my calendar so I could get more things done.
That was a terrible mistake lol. My calendar became cluttered and stressful/distracting to look at. I ended up ignoring my tasks and then almost missing actual deadline/events. After a couple weeks of this, I deleted all tasks except for repeating tasks and then using Microsoft To-Do.
dangerous_beans t1_jdih83m wrote
So like most folks with some flavor of ADHD I rocked GTD for a month before the newness wore off, I started failing to update it, and soon backslid to my default productivity state: unmitigated chaos.
Before that happened, though, I genuinely liked GTD. It's the most flexible out of all the productivity/task management systems I've tried in that it can be readily adapted to support work or personal life and it doesn't require an investment in any particular tools to get started. It'll be the system I return to when I start feeling overwhelmed again and declare that I've got to get my life sorted out.
ansonwolfe t1_jdk3a8e wrote
Bullet Journal might be a good alternative. It's less "rule-based" than GTD.
dangerous_beans t1_jdl5pxl wrote
I tried Bullet Journal for about 3 weeks, but dropped it because the journal itself was so much work to maintain. Also, my ideas/tasks tend to come to me randomly, so it was hard for me to force myself to keep to one "topic" per page for the index.
I appreciate the suggestion though! It's definitely a system that works for a lot of people; it just didn't help with me.
DENATTY t1_jdjuc9f wrote
Work in legal, can confirm everyone I know that treats their calendar like a to-do list ends up relying on support staff to remind them what /actually/ needs to be done. I calendar datetime events and use a reminder app for everything else broken up by priority (high priority - reminder pops up around 8:00 AM when I get to the office and start my day, mid-priority pops up between 11 AM and 2 PM, low priority pops up after 3 PM).
ismaelvera t1_jdhy6nt wrote
I have a list of unbound tasks as reminders on my Google calendar. It's helpful because every time I take a look to whittle at the list it remains as a constant reminder of pending tasks
stealthdawg t1_jdhzf7f wrote
more power to you if that's what works for you.
The GTD methodology separates these two things. Rather it opts for one bucket of 'next actions' that one is meant to use as their only source of "what do I do now." That can be refined with various contexts (location, time of day, etc), and then there is a separate activity meant to refresh new tasks onto the list based on incoming sources.
So in the case of GTD you'd just always have a todo list with you giving you those same pending tasks without having to port them over from day to day.
ismaelvera t1_jdi0q23 wrote
Interesting, and I've never heard of GTD until now, thank you!
Snoo43610 t1_jdi4xqw wrote
Bullet journal for tasks and calendar for appointments is the way but you must build both into an unconscious habit.
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