My life will be revolutionized through my recent discovery of the task option in gmail!
I am constantly managing to do list. Writing lists is one of the main get-things-done strategies I use. I’ve maintained word documents for years with my “big” list (learn languages, write 18 paper ideas 🙂 and others. However, this approach hasn’t been working lately. I’ve had too many lists, too many tasks, and no clear plan for moving forward with the lists. I know there’s the card method with getting things done, but I don’t see myself using something like that right now. I need a fast way to list and organize tasks.
Yay for tasks in gmail! It’s fast and easy to create items. I can put them on several lists if need be. I can easily move them up or down in priority. There are a number of other options I can use to add notes to tasks and other things I haven’t even explored. The lists can be printed in case I want a hard-copy back-up. I love it!!
For now, I think I’m going with a single list. I moved most of my to-dos over today and prioritized them. I see pending strategic questions about the value of multiple lists, and what to do with big important items that might slip down the list.
I also cut some items that really aren’t important, or are of the “it would be nice if I XYZ” variety. One of these is my plan to mobilize a country-wide strategy via Facebook and in-person manager meetings to get Chapters to stop stocking “Babywise.” I want to do this – but right now, no. This is an important strategic and practical choice given my feelings of limited time and a need to say no to what is extra work. I need to resist my ongoing temptation to do MORE.
Related: because it’s easy to add items to an electronic list, I commit to being careful about what I do add (do I really need to do it? Do I want to? Does it need to be on the list? Is it reasonable for me to tackle this?). At the same time, I recognize the value of the mind dump approach of Getting Things Done: if I’m thinking it and probably want/need to do it, it goes on the list.