After reading and implementing GTD, it didn’t take long for the weekly review to become tedious. In particular, I’ve added a lot of stuff to my Someday/Maybe list, with emphasis on the Maybe. Did I really need to review that every week?
From there, it was easy to slip into the habit of skipping a weekly review here and there.
It was Michael Linenberger’s books “Master Your Workday Now” (MYN) and “The One Minute To-Do List” (1MTD) that really helped me get back on track, especially when used with the Toodledo task manager.
MYN adds a Start Date to tasks, as well as the Due Date that most task managers already have. The Start Date indicates when I need to start thinking about doing a task. If it’s a small, quick task, the Start Date will be the date that it needs to be finished. For a larger task, the Start Date will be a few days before it needs to be finished.
Now that I have a start date, MYN offers Defer-To-Do and Defer-To-Review. If I see an item on my list that I don’t need to start until next week, I set the Start Date to next Monday. It disappears from my list, and will appear on Monday when I need to think about it.
For my Someday/Maybe items that I know I won’t be doing for months, I use the Start Date for Defer-To-Review. I have tasks that I know I won’t be thinking about for another 3 or 6 months, perhaps longer. I can set the Start Date to a date in about six months, and it disappears from my list until that date arrives. Then I review the task, and decide if I’m ready to act on it — or if I want to defer it to review again at a later date.
MYN’s Defer-To-Do and especially Defer-To-Review are the concepts that really helped me get back on track with my Weekly Review. I don’t have to review every single item in the weekly review (though I can, of course — there are views that let me see everything, even if it is scheduled way in the future), but only review those items which I decided need to be reviewed at this time.
That's a really interesting idea. It's a shame more task management apps don't let you add that start date to a task, I can see how it would be really useful. It's almost like a reminder to look at something without pressuring you to actually do it.
There are a number of really great productivity ideas in MYN, and it works well with GTD. If you could arrange an interview with Michael Linenberger, it would probably be great episode for the podcast.
After reading and implementing GTD, it didn’t take long for the weekly review to become tedious. In particular, I’ve added a lot of stuff to my Someday/Maybe list, with emphasis on the Maybe. Did I really need to review that every week? From there, it was easy to slip into the habit of skipping a weekly review here and there. It was Michael Linenberger’s books “Master Your Workday Now” (MYN) and “The One Minute To-Do List” (1MTD) that really helped me get back on track, especially when used with the Toodledo task manager. MYN adds a Start Date to tasks, as well as the Due Date that most task managers already have. The Start Date indicates when I need to start thinking about doing a task. If it’s a small, quick task, the Start Date will be the date that it needs to be finished. For a larger task, the Start Date will be a few days before it needs to be finished. Now that I have a start date, MYN offers Defer-To-Do and Defer-To-Review. If I see an item on my list that I don’t need to start until next week, I set the Start Date to next Monday. It disappears from my list, and will appear on Monday when I need to think about it. For my Someday/Maybe items that I know I won’t be doing for months, I use the Start Date for Defer-To-Review. I have tasks that I know I won’t be thinking about for another 3 or 6 months, perhaps longer. I can set the Start Date to a date in about six months, and it disappears from my list until that date arrives. Then I review the task, and decide if I’m ready to act on it — or if I want to defer it to review again at a later date. MYN’s Defer-To-Do and especially Defer-To-Review are the concepts that really helped me get back on track with my Weekly Review. I don’t have to review every single item in the weekly review (though I can, of course — there are views that let me see everything, even if it is scheduled way in the future), but only review those items which I decided need to be reviewed at this time.
That's a really interesting idea. It's a shame more task management apps don't let you add that start date to a task, I can see how it would be really useful. It's almost like a reminder to look at something without pressuring you to actually do it.
There are a number of really great productivity ideas in MYN, and it works well with GTD. If you could arrange an interview with Michael Linenberger, it would probably be great episode for the podcast.
Thanks, Paul! This podcast is very helpful. I can already see how conducting a 30 minute weekly review is going to help boost my productivity and keep me on track. I'm excited to incorporate it into my week.
Thanks, Paul! This podcast is very helpful. I can already see how conducting a 30 minute weekly review is going to help boost my productivity and keep me on track. I'm excited to incorporate it into my week.
From there, it was easy to slip into the habit of skipping a weekly review here and there.
It was Michael Linenberger’s books “Master Your Workday Now” (MYN) and “The One Minute To-Do List” (1MTD) that really helped me get back on track, especially when used with the Toodledo task manager.
MYN adds a Start Date to tasks, as well as the Due Date that most task managers already have. The Start Date indicates when I need to start thinking about doing a task. If it’s a small, quick task, the Start Date will be the date that it needs to be finished. For a larger task, the Start Date will be a few days before it needs to be finished.
Now that I have a start date, MYN offers Defer-To-Do and Defer-To-Review. If I see an item on my list that I don’t need to start until next week, I set the Start Date to next Monday. It disappears from my list, and will appear on Monday when I need to think about it.
For my Someday/Maybe items that I know I won’t be doing for months, I use the Start Date for Defer-To-Review. I have tasks that I know I won’t be thinking about for another 3 or 6 months, perhaps longer. I can set the Start Date to a date in about six months, and it disappears from my list until that date arrives. Then I review the task, and decide if I’m ready to act on it — or if I want to defer it to review again at a later date.
MYN’s Defer-To-Do and especially Defer-To-Review are the concepts that really helped me get back on track with my Weekly Review. I don’t have to review every single item in the weekly review (though I can, of course — there are views that let me see everything, even if it is scheduled way in the future), but only review those items which I decided need to be reviewed at this time.
From there, it was easy to slip into the habit of skipping a weekly review here and there.
It was Michael Linenberger’s books “Master Your Workday Now” (MYN) and “The One Minute To-Do List” (1MTD) that really helped me get back on track, especially when used with the Toodledo task manager.
MYN adds a Start Date to tasks, as well as the Due Date that most task managers already have. The Start Date indicates when I need to start thinking about doing a task. If it’s a small, quick task, the Start Date will be the date that it needs to be finished. For a larger task, the Start Date will be a few days before it needs to be finished.
Now that I have a start date, MYN offers Defer-To-Do and Defer-To-Review. If I see an item on my list that I don’t need to start until next week, I set the Start Date to next Monday. It disappears from my list, and will appear on Monday when I need to think about it.
For my Someday/Maybe items that I know I won’t be doing for months, I use the Start Date for Defer-To-Review. I have tasks that I know I won’t be thinking about for another 3 or 6 months, perhaps longer. I can set the Start Date to a date in about six months, and it disappears from my list until that date arrives. Then I review the task, and decide if I’m ready to act on it — or if I want to defer it to review again at a later date.
MYN’s Defer-To-Do and especially Defer-To-Review are the concepts that really helped me get back on track with my Weekly Review. I don’t have to review every single item in the weekly review (though I can, of course — there are views that let me see everything, even if it is scheduled way in the future), but only review those items which I decided need to be reviewed at this time.