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Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

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Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#101

Post by oever »

renaudg wrote: post #87
firehawk895 wrote: post #72

David Allen's getting things done hands down. You don't even need to read the book to implement it, although it's a great read. here's the 15-minute summary that will get you going right now - https://hamberg.no/gtd/ - I have used Trello to implement it - here's a screenshot. http://i.imgur.com/dbH8yGq.png specifically answering your question - this framework makes you regularly review your task list and ensures that…

The problem with GTD is that it explicitly discourages you to schedule tasks at a specific time unless strictly necessary : you're always supposed to do whatever is "next" in the "context" you're in. You're never done, and this can be taxing and make you want to give up. Newer research (Dan Ariely's IIRC) has shown that having tasks on the calendar improves the chances of actually doing a realistic number of them.

Any todo has a context (work, project, hobby) which prescribes a set of time ranges at which you'd do the todo. You might not plan a specific time, but an order/priority and estimated time. Then an algorithm can show those on a calendar. These entries are also used to capture the results of the todo. That way your list of todos is also a calendar and diary.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#102

Post by codemac »

renaudg wrote: post #87
firehawk895 wrote: post #72

David Allen's getting things done hands down. You don't even need to read the book to implement it, although it's a great read. here's the 15-minute summary that will get you going right now - https://hamberg.no/gtd/ - I have used Trello to implement it - here's a screenshot. http://i.imgur.com/dbH8yGq.png specifically answering your question - this framework makes you regularly review your task list and ensures that…

The problem with GTD is that it explicitly discourages you to schedule tasks at a specific time unless strictly necessary : you're always supposed to do whatever is "next" in the "context" you're in. You're never done, and this can be taxing and make you want to give up. Newer research (Dan Ariely's IIRC) has shown that having tasks on the calendar improves the chances of actually doing a realistic number of them.

Personally, I've found that if I put something on my calendar that I don't do, it really starts to spoil my calendar.

When I "trust" my calendar, I eventually have become able to put something on there, at a specific time, that I'll actually do as if it's a committment to someone else.

I do think there is a psychology about how you approach your work. My personal anecdote is that because I believe that I'll always have more committments, more work, and more tasks than I can ever get done, GTD works wonders for me. I put things in their relevant contexts, and I do whatever the next most important is. As long as I know I'm doing the next most important thing in the context I currently am in (including NOT doing something from my lists), then I have a calm confidence in what I'm spending my time.

Others really like to have a "daily calendar" where they put what they think they should get to in the day, and then work through the list to "finish" the day. I tend to get too many interruptions, and too many bombs from others at work and home to really trust that I can say I'll get any specific action done today, and certainly not in what order. Day specific events in the calendar I have found very useful though.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#104

Post by johnnyhead »

kesor wrote: post #44

BulletJournal.com and the companion app that reminds you to reflect and to Think(tm) once in a while.

Agreed. I too think that the bullet journal is a great wat to keep track of todos and goals, both medium and long-term ones. I do not know about the app though.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#105

Post by hbt »

I like the 4dx approach. Lead measures vs Lag measures.

you pick a long term goal and associate a metric to it.

Example: weight from 180 to 170 That's your lag measure.

Your lead measure are the activities you get done daily.

- Daily caloric intake

- sleep schedule

- exercise routine

- water intake

- intermittent fasting

Your lead measure influence your lag measure but as the name indicates, it takes time before you notice the effect.

Focus on your lead metrics and adjust when they are not working.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#106

Post by shennyg »

XFrequentist wrote: post #103

https://complice.co Complice is aimed at exactly this problem. Integrates a bunch of other productivity hacks as well, I love it. The founder was interviewed on indie hackers recently: https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/complice

It takes some time to get used to but is completely worth the investment.

If you want to know if I had a productive day or not ask if I started my day in Complice

It doesn't try to reinvent the productivity wheel, it uses what works. Pomodoros, long term goals, tracking, weekly / monthly reviews, positive reinforcement, optional social accountability.

Plus the guy building it is always adding new things while keeping it familiar.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#107

Post by PlaceFan »

ProblemFactory wrote: post #32
Axsuul wrote: post #26

The key is to develop a habit with your ToDo system. I use Todoist but in order to be successful with it, you have to consistently schedule your tasks as well as postpone any that you didn't complete that day. I also have a recurring task in Todoist scheduled every Monday that reminds me go to through all my projects and prune/schedule/unschedule/delegate.

The biggest issue I have with Todo lists and systems is focusing on urgent tasks instead of important tasks. It is too easy (and satisfying) to prioritise 10 small urgent tasks, complete and check them off, and feel productive. But this can lead to indefinitely postponing long-term important tasks that aren't a top priority for this week on any week. Tasks like keeping in touch with old friends and new potential clie…

I used to have a similar problem. One thing that helped me (which I won't take credit for): I categorize my todo list into four groups.

* Urgent/Important (Fill out the kids' immunization forms for school)

* Not Urgent/Important (Call old friend)

* Urgent/Not Important (Pick up package from post office)

* Not Urgent/Not Important (Wrap up loose coins for bank)

It works surprisingly well, so long as you follow these rules:

1) You have to constantly re-evaluate. Urgent and important are two adjectives that are extremely subjective and change over time.

2) You absolutely must tackle tasks in the order above.

3) Spend a lot of attention on group two (not urgent/important). You'll be tempted to put gigantic, overwhelming tasks on there ("Learn a new skill") as opposed to something actually accomplishable ("Go through React tutorial part 1").

You really have to be honest about what "important" means to you. Especially group two (not urgent/important). Group one is usually pretty easy.

I'll deal with the hassle of my package being returned by the post office if it means I can talk to an old friend instead. You may feel differently. Be honest about it. If you find you're not accomplishing group two tasks and procrastinating on them, maybe they're not that important to you. "Call an old friend" sounds like something important, but maybe you've both moved on and the friendship really isn't that important to you anymore.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#108

Post by awjr »

I have a trello board with the following columns:

"Good intentions" :- Things I think I'm going to do. I investigate then put in other columns.

"Next Up" :- Need to have a go at next.

"Working On" :- Actively doing.

"Done/Dead" :- Things that I did as well as things I failed at or discarded.

"Follow Up" :- Something happened, so need to wait on something/someone to then allow me to continue.

"Asleep" :- Sometimes things are not 'Dead' they are just really not worth looking at for another year or so. I evaluate these projects once a year or and move them into Next Up if viable again.

It's my home page when I fire up my browser. ;)

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#109

Post by iamnothere »

I use Panda Planner, a physical notebook designed to help you with monthly, weekly, and daily prioritization. I have found that the process of physically writing down and tracking goals each day forces me to sort through my mental clutter and decide what is important.

For me, this priority-setting process is really a separate domain than daily task tracking, project-level organization, and so on. As long as I do that daily review, it doesn't really matter where I keep my task breakdowns. I actually use several of those to keep tasks separated based on the project domain -- Visual Studio Online for development, Todoist for marketing, and so on.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#110

Post by pagliara »

I'm currently working on an iOS app to address this issue exactly. There's still plenty of improvements I want to make but this is the app so far: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/agenda-to-do-lists-tasks/id1...

Basically I wanted an app that let me quickly add and organize items into different time periods.

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