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One trick is to schedule a fixed block of time e.g., an hour before launch every morning and work on these maybe/someday tasks (you can choose the next task usi

by d0mine 4y ago

One trick is to schedule a fixed block of time e.g., an hour before launch every morning and work on these maybe/someday tasks (you can choose the next task using whatever criteria you like e.g., "what looks the most interesting dopamine-generating right now" or "boring but important even if without a fixed date" depending on your needs (or a combination of the two: start with interesting, and persevere through the boring parts by using the fixed time slot)

BeetleB 4y ago
It's a nice trick, but what is it trying to achieve? Also, if I'm going to spend an hour daily on Someday/Maybe tasks, then those tasks really are not "Someday/Maybe", right? Are you really suggesting I look over that list daily? I think people are misreading my comment as saying "I have so many things I want to do, and there isn't enough time to do them, and GTD doesn't help." This is not my problem. My problem is: "I have a lot of items on my Someday/Maybe list, over 90% of which will not be done, and that's OK. Reviewing this list every week (as GTD tells me to) to decide if I should move any to the 'Active' list is a huge burden"
- packetslave 4y ago
  One thing I did to address exactly this (way too many items in Someday/Maybe to review effectively every week) was to separate the list into two: - Someday (I'm 90% sure I am going to do this, but I'm not actively working on it right now). This gets looked at during my weekly review. - Maybe (I might do this at some point, but I'm 90% sure I won't do it in the next month). This gets looked at during my monthly review.
  - BeetleB 4y ago
    Yes, this is similar to my intermediate list above (probably should call it "Backlog"). These are things I must do - just not now. For the "Maybe", to be frank, I just stopped updating it. Instead I now have a sort of bucket list: Things I'd really like to do before I die. Even if I can't do all, I should be able to do quite a bit of these. It's basically a "higher priority" Maybe list. The idea is when a random thought pops up into my head ("Write a blog post on X"), I ask myself "Does this belong in the bucket list?" If not: "Wouldn't my time be better spent on the bucket list?" If yes, I just discard the thought. Sure, it'll pop into my head often, but why bother adding it to my "Maybe" list if I can't be bothered to review that huge list?
- d0mine 4y ago
  If you believe you can review your list everyday, then your list is not large enough ;) Obviously, it would defeat the purpose to try to review it everyday -- classic quadratic algorithm -- nothing will be done and a lot of anxiety may be generated. If you are stuck and can't choose in a reasonable time, pick at random, and work on it: avoid multitasking (if it "maybe/someday" task, then you can afford it). If 1000 hours over 4 years is too much for your purposes, pick a different frequency -- having the habit should help either way. If there is no amount of time you are willing to reserve for your list than call it "Never" (that is fine -- as one data hoarder to another).

by d0mine 4y ago

BeetleB 4y ago

It's a nice trick, but what is it trying to achieve? Also, if I'm going to spend an hour daily on Someday/Maybe tasks, then those tasks really are not "Someday/Maybe", right? Are you really suggesting I look over that list daily? I think people are misreading my comment as saying "I have so many things I want to do, and there isn't enough time to do them, and GTD doesn't help." This is not my problem. My problem is: "I have a lot of items on my Someday/Maybe list, over 90% of which will not be done, and that's OK. Reviewing this list every week (as GTD tells me to) to decide if I should move any to the 'Active' list is a huge burden"

packetslave 4y ago
One thing I did to address exactly this (way too many items in Someday/Maybe to review effectively every week) was to separate the list into two: - Someday (I'm 90% sure I am going to do this, but I'm not actively working on it right now). This gets looked at during my weekly review. - Maybe (I might do this at some point, but I'm 90% sure I won't do it in the next month). This gets looked at during my monthly review.
- BeetleB 4y ago
  Yes, this is similar to my intermediate list above (probably should call it "Backlog"). These are things I must do - just not now. For the "Maybe", to be frank, I just stopped updating it. Instead I now have a sort of bucket list: Things I'd really like to do before I die. Even if I can't do all, I should be able to do quite a bit of these. It's basically a "higher priority" Maybe list. The idea is when a random thought pops up into my head ("Write a blog post on X"), I ask myself "Does this belong in the bucket list?" If not: "Wouldn't my time be better spent on the bucket list?" If yes, I just discard the thought. Sure, it'll pop into my head often, but why bother adding it to my "Maybe" list if I can't be bothered to review that huge list?
d0mine 4y ago
If you believe you can review your list everyday, then your list is not large enough ;) Obviously, it would defeat the purpose to try to review it everyday -- classic quadratic algorithm -- nothing will be done and a lot of anxiety may be generated. If you are stuck and can't choose in a reasonable time, pick at random, and work on it: avoid multitasking (if it "maybe/someday" task, then you can afford it). If 1000 hours over 4 years is too much for your purposes, pick a different frequency -- having the habit should help either way. If there is no amount of time you are willing to reserve for your list than call it "Never" (that is fine -- as one data hoarder to another).