DIY Planner - Recurring Tasks? - Comments

Hi Rachel. I do have to say

courtneyimbert — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:07:48 -0400

Hi Rachel. I do have to say that I feel David Allen's only shortcoming in GTD is that it does not address these tasks. I (and many others, apparently) use sort of a hybrid of GTD and Flylady's system.

In a nutshell, Flylady develops routines that take you through "autopilot" as far as housework. Your routine may be different, but for example, here is my morning routine:

1. Shower, get dressed to shoes
2. Clean the bathroom (swipe down counters, clean toilet, pick up clothes, towels, shoes)
3. Make the bed
4. Put laundry in washing machine (my getting-home-from-work routine includes putting it in the dryer, and the before-bed routine includes folding and putting it away)
5. Eat breakfast and take vitamins
6. Water plants

Evening routine is more involved because I am NOT a morning person, so this takes literally 30-45 minutes including the shower and getting dressed.

I have a special binder for my home routines that I keep at home. It's a 3-ring binder with paper protectors on each routine. I can take a dry-erase marker and check off each item, then swipe it clean at the end of the day.

I also have weekly, monthly, and annual routines, and I go through these during my weekly review and transfer them to my calendar so I won't forget them.

Additionally, when I complete a project, I often find that it will involve some maintenance task (for example, one project is to create a vegetable garden this summer) - and when I complete that project, my last "next-action" is to incorporate the maintenance into my routine. When I finish installing my garden, my next action is to add "water garden" into my evening routine, and "fertilize garden" into my monthly one.

I also have a binder I keep at work, with WORK routines.

I hope this helps! It has worked for me. Paper protectors are the best because you can write on them and swipe them clean.

Hmmm! :)

Milja — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:18:47 -0500

This definitely sounds worth trying. (I guess most people have at least sometimes problems with recrring tasks.) Already started thinking of how to fit the idea to my system...

kinda

Sara — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:06:02 -0400

pic

I have each daily or weekly repeat on its only separate small card. If I wanted to, I could potentially have them on their own lil mini-dex set of discs. Right now they just lurk in my circa hPDA under the cover... I'm liking it so far. Its a great way to keep from writing it over and over again. :)

my artwork | my blog

So...

Rachel R. — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:30:37 -0400

...you basically have a separate "next action" list specifically for the recurring tasks? This is what I was thinking of, as well, but I didn't know if there was a better/more efficient way.

Be blessed!
~Rachel <><

In the tickler file

martefie — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:22:22 -0400

I have my recurrig tasks on index cards in my tickler file, and move the card to the next day I'm supposed to do that task again. Works pretty well for me.

martefie

My method

caligatia — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:44:18 -0400

When I finish something that repeats, I write it down on the next day that it happens (one week later, or whatever).

If it's something I do every day absolutely, like take medication, I put it on my Daily form that I made. If I was using PDFs as my basis, I'd print a copy, write my items on it, then Xerox it for my planner.

--
Steff
[ web site ]

I call them

Sara — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:39:46 -0400

I call them my Daily or Weekly Repeats.

I used to continually list them on my "Next Action" list but I got very sick of writing them over and over again. This thread shows how I finally solved my problem.

I have tiny lil circa punched cards (but they could just be hole punched for another system). I made a highlighted border of yellow for my Daily Repeats. Now I simply check my "Next Action" list and these lil cards and get everything done each day... :)

my artwork | my blog

Recurring Tasks?

Rachel R. — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:26:05 -0400

How do you all keep track of your recurring tasks? For example (I'm a homemaker, so most of my recurring tasks are housework), I need to do laundry every week. It seems silly to write it down over and over on a Next-Action list just to keep crossing it off and rewriting it. Since this is something that needs to be done at a particular time of the week and, if I miss it, basically just skipped until the next time, would this go on the calendar? I'm loving this system, just in the couple of days I've been working with it (and having not even really thoroughly set it up yet - that takes time that will be hard to find with a preschooler and a newborn!), but this detail is one I haven't managed to sort out.

D*I*Y Planner - Recurring Tasks? - Comments

Hi Rachel. I do have to say

Hmmm! :)

kinda

So...

In the tickler file

My method

I call them

Recurring Tasks?

DIY Planner - Recurring Tasks? - Comments