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Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

deviparikh.medium.com

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Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#51

Post by jamincan »

dartos wrote: post #33
pwillia7 wrote: post #28

Calendar doesn't work for me and since my ADHD diagnoses I know why -- I need a constant rotating set of micro and macro lists to barely keep some perspective of more than 2 days from now and get shit done. Moving everything to a calendar immediately becomes background ignore noise for me and it's even worse because it comes from that bothersome box the phone

The best system I have, as someone with ADHD, is keeping a notebook with a handwritten todo list. All I have to do in a week is make sure to finish the todos I write down. That’s it. I use the calendar for meetings and things I want my phone to remind me about, but most everything is in a handwritten todo list that I keep visible on my desk at all times.

I use a daily diary notebook [1] with each page a todo for that day. First thing every day is reviewing the todo for that day, adding stuff that I didn't get done previously to today's or future day's todo. I try to be deliberate only adding stuff I intend to tackle today to today's list and putting the rest on future lists.

It seems to strike a balance between being flexible and letting me roll with things as they come at me, while also keeping my list of things to do at a manageable level so that I'm not distracted by stuff far in the future and not feeling like I'm not making any progress on things.

1. https://www.moleskine.com/en-ca/shop/planners/daily-planner/...

Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#52

Post by MitchSchwartz »

Calendar scheduling works well for certain personalities. I personally hate it and it works horribly for me.

But for a long time it was the only answer I was aware of and articles like these that pass the methodology off without mentioning other possible ones only reinforced the incorrect ideas that this was THE way.

Many people prefer to do lists, because that is priority rather than time based.

Also, calendaring everything is such future-self-micromanaging that I feel it, for me, to be deeply disconnecting.

I prefer to stack my priorities and work at whatever is most important.

It is more effective than strictly efficient tho of course it's both.

I do think productivity writers need a better sense of others, often.

Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#53

Post by swyx »

OP here - submitted this because devi just spoke at ICLR and mentioned this post so i looked it up. i’m not nee to calendar as todo list but found it hard to implement in practice. in her talk she simply said she’s done it her whole life and found it weird others dont do it

Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#54

Post by stephane-klein »

klysm wrote: post #49
JoeyJoJoJr wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to be able to put a “block” in my calendar and every day it automatically schedules in tasks from my todo list, maybe prioritizing time to “benefit”. It would be smart enough to shuffle in recurring tasks periodically. I love working to a calendar if my full day is blocked in, but it’s too much to manage manually, because nothing ever goes according to plan.

There are apps that do this

Can you give us some names of software that offer this feature?

Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#55

Post by JohnFen »

I learned decades ago that I need to do the opposite of this. To-do lists, not calendars. Calendars are for coordinating activities with others, not for organizing my internal work.

This is purely because of the way my brain works. I cannot know in advance what task I will be able to perform effectively at a given time, and I cannot "force" myself to do a task inappropriate for my current state without losing a lot of efficiency and motivation.

So, they go on to-do lists and I select the items from that list as I progress through the days.

Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#56

Post by cushychicken »

nunodonato wrote: post #37
cushychicken wrote: post #21

This is the essential principle behind Getting Things Done . If you’ve got to do something, and it takes more than 90 seconds, book time for it. If you need someone else’s input, schedule a time to check in with them for their inputs if they don’t get back to you by X time. Been using this for years and it has worked really well for me.

this is completely the opposite of what GTD recommends. Calendar entries are only date and/or date-time specific actions or events. Everything else goes into a Next Actions list.

It a hundred percent is not.

If it takes more than 2 minutes, and you’re not blocked on input, schedule it.

If you’re blocked on next action, add it to a “Waiting for Response” list.

Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#57

Post by reddit_clone »

andycowley wrote: post #46
pandemic_region wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm interested to know how that makes one neurodivergent. I have the same aversion towards calendar entries, and I have yet to pinpoint what it is that creates this aversion. It's not necessarily that I don't like to do the actual event or task, it feels more like putting it in the calendar makes it official and I will force myself to do it because calendar and I hate to forfeit on things. This then leading to anxiet…

One of my particular adhd symptoms is Oppositional Defiant Disorder https://www.additudemag.com/oppositional-defiant-disorder-in... In short, if I get to decide when to do something, that's great. If someone asks me to do it, or worse _tells_ me, this kicks in and it takes a huge effort of will to overcome my opposition to it. I've noticed this is also true of 'systems' like calendars. If you then combine this with m…

Jeez. Never heard of this one until today. But I immediately recognize this in my behaviour.

I am beginning to think ADHD is like a deck of cards. You are given ~10 random cards as symptoms! There are so many to choose from!

Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#58

Post by andycowley »

reddit_clone wrote: post #57
andycowley wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my particular adhd symptoms is Oppositional Defiant Disorder https://www.additudemag.com/oppositional-defiant-disorder-in... In short, if I get to decide when to do something, that's great. If someone asks me to do it, or worse _tells_ me, this kicks in and it takes a huge effort of will to overcome my opposition to it. I've noticed this is also true of 'systems' like calendars. If you then combine this with m…

Jeez. Never heard of this one until today. But I immediately recognize this in my behaviour. I am beginning to think ADHD is like a deck of cards. You are given ~10 random cards as symptoms! There are so many to choose from!

Yeah. When you start to really research it you realise it isn't a single disorder, it's a collection of symptoms and behaviours, and everyone's collection is different.

Re: Calendar, Not Todos (2018)

#59

Post by pwillia7 »

dartos wrote: post #33
pwillia7 wrote: post #28

Calendar doesn't work for me and since my ADHD diagnoses I know why -- I need a constant rotating set of micro and macro lists to barely keep some perspective of more than 2 days from now and get shit done. Moving everything to a calendar immediately becomes background ignore noise for me and it's even worse because it comes from that bothersome box the phone

The best system I have, as someone with ADHD, is keeping a notebook with a handwritten todo list. All I have to do in a week is make sure to finish the todos I write down. That’s it. I use the calendar for meetings and things I want my phone to remind me about, but most everything is in a handwritten todo list that I keep visible on my desk at all times.

I like handwritten notes too but it's hard to keep up with and still has the 'wall of awful' effect on me if there's something too tough in there.

You might like this little bookmarklet I built for quick notes in your browser when you can't be bothered to find/write in your notebook - I use it for quick work tasks a lot.

https://github.com/pwillia7/Text_Bookmarklet

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