I endeavor to create and process a daily list each day. This was easier when I primarily used a single computing device, and relied on taskwarrior
, a command line application for managing priorities and todo items.
Now I keep notes and assignments across 4+ websites, and I need to reassess how it all works.
Fortunately, because it is web based, I can utilize the strengths of the web, particularly linking, to make it a bit easier for myself. Each domain of concern may have checklists that link to others.
One element I have difficulty managing is switching between a list item and an assigned topic. I suppose it comes down to the mode I’m in while doing checklists. I tend to think I need to hurry and check them all off.
What I need to do is see them as a list of items to be concerned about, and be willing to spend the appropriate amount of time on each item, regardless of what it is.
Of course I run into a problem: what if I can’t accomplish a thing that takes longer than I have today?
It’s an obvious problem once stated, but something that I had been struggling with subconsciously; I believe I do rapid sorting or priorities in the background, and my conscious mind is led to process lists based on that subconscious order.
Anyhow, I realized I was having difficulty tracking things that take more than 15 minutes to complete, in a personal context. When I compared all the contexts I realized I needed a private place to track my ongoing assignments, and that was bumping against some of the configurations I have on the sites. I don’t want to create a private category or section just for me.
But then I realized that I don’t need these for long term archiving; that’s an important attribute to me, and these things simply don’t require it for my purposes. While it’s probably interesting to one or two people in history, keeping the administrivia out of my public records is no great loss. For one thing, anything worth mentioning is mentioned.
My plan is to start creating personal messages to track those longer projects, things I need to chip away at every day.
That means I need to include a list item that will reference and provide the check-in hook for processing. I think that means I will consolidate all my personal assignments into a single site, probably a private site I operate. I’m working with myself here, so putting them all into one place should work for this purpose.