DIY Planner - tracking recurring tasks? - Comments

I used to do something

BobH — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:57:48 -0400

I used to do something similar in that I would schedule the next recurrence after completing the the current task. What I do now though is maintain two physical checklists, one for daily/weekly and the other for monthly/bimonthly/quarterly etc.

On the daily/weekly I have one checklist for those activities that get done every day and further checklists for Monday, Tuesday etc. for those actions that need to be done on that specific day of the week. I don't have a weekly checklist simply because my weekly actions are tied to a specific day rather than any day of the week.

The monthly checklist is similar in that there is a monthly list for those actions that get done every month and then checklists for January, February etc. Actions that are scheduled say bimonthly get recorded under the particular month, e.g. February, April, June and so on. If the action is fairly time specific like last the Thursday of the month I annotate appropriately. I do not put these actions under the Thursday checklist as their frequency is monthly but can accept it could be done.

I have then laminated the two lists and punched them for my binder/planner with the addition of a making a cut from the edge to the punch hole so they 'zip' in and out like a pagemarker/ruler making them easy to move from one day to the next in my planner or to take out to work on. The checklists get reviewed daily.

When an action is completed, I mark it off using an OH projector pen which washes off later allowing reuse.

Bob H.

Try reduction

ygor — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 16:54:06 -0400

I have had good results printing Classic size onto Hipster cards, but they do not all scale.
Contrarywise, the template creator was kind enough to post the OpenOffice-Draw file, so you could try editing it down to a Hipster version.
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"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

Any way to get that in a 3x5

Stampmaven — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 10:24:56 -0400

Any way to get that in a 3x5 size? Nice Template!

Re: wow

Andy_S — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 02:26:42 -0400

Krista,

Here's an approach that I've been using for several weeks, so far with good results. Like you, Excel is my GTD list-keeper.

Before I leave the office, I (1) review the next actions list, (2) identify my priority items for the following day, (3) place asterisks in the columns next to the items and (4) filter on the asterisk field.

Then I print the filtered list.

Admin to the rescue :)

ygor — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:38:46 -0400

Two things: Because of the link, the Spam Filter gotcha. It's a very nasty filter, sadly necessary. Reference: DIYPlanner's War on Spam

Secondly, templates do not "appear" automatically. They must be reviewed and "approved". BTW, very nice template. You should see it up now.
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"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

Wow

krista_h19 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:32:07 -0400

I'm a CPA too. I am good with spreadsheets and I've created almost all of my DIY planner using Excel because I couldn't find anything that fit my needs exactly. I am still working out the best way for me to handle tasks. I am good about making lists but the GTD way of putting everything on one list with no priorities and no due dates has been hard for me. I frequently find myself staring at my loooooong list and feeling overwhelmed. Whether I want to or not, I can't seem to move anything forward without prioritizing. Also, I feel that I can't function without making a daily to-do list. Consequently I am yet to find checklists that work for me on a personal level. The checklists and spreadsheets I make for my business work beautifully. But personally not so good. Any tips?

Sure Thing Sara

rockymtns99 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:59:08 -0400

Sara, here is the link to the monthly tracking template I created. I thought I replied to this yesterday but it never showed in the comments.

Steve

any chance?

Sara — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:39:41 -0400

any chance you could share the oog file? :)

my artwork | my blog

Context makes a difference

GG — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:10:04 -0400

When I worked in an office, I used checklists all the time, and I still use checklists for specific clients, similar to your spreadsheets.

Nowadays I'm self employed and have a monthly checklist that I put in each client's binder and use check marks and underlines. For example, for a task that needs to be done once a quarter, such as
Payroll forms J___ A___ J___ O___
(for January, April, July, October). Then I put a check mark in the appropriate blank if I did it that month. That way the client can look at the checklist and see what I've done. And I can have a standardized monthly checklist that works for all my clients and just needs minor customization. Lots of people who are new to running their own business need reminders like this even if they want to do these things themselves, so they can go through the checklist and see what needs to be done and when, if it's not a regular monthly event.

Recently, however, I've been waking up in the middle of the night wondering if I forgot to do some task that has tax consequences, like filing a sales tax form. The forms and checklists are at the client's office, so when this happens I don't have any way to quickly verify what I've done. I generally make notes in my appointment book of what I've done, but sometimes I get rushed and don't write everything down. So I feel the need for some sort of record of what I've done and also a reminder I always have with me so I can just quickly check my own records. I've found that setting up the recurring events in either Google or Yahoo calendar is helping. The email reminders are godsends,and I'm developing my monthly task lists based on the Yahoo event lists. I paste the Yahoo event list into Word and print it out and stick it in my planner. Then as I complete something I cross it off and jot down the date I did it. This has given me peace of mind as I feel more confident that I won't forget anything. I hope eventually to have standardized lists for each month in Word that I can print out, including things like Get a Flu Shot, Buy Halloween Candy, Renew CPA License, Take Care of CPE, etc, in the appropriate months.

I used to trust my memory, as it seemed I had total recall for details. But last year I had a head injury and some amnesia, and I just don't trust my memory any more.

I agree with Steve about the spreadsheet. I used to have a somewhat complicated payroll to do every week and in order to get it done without forgetting anything I had a detailed checklist set up in Excel. It really gave me a sense of control and it helped me get from a good enough job to perfect, so people could rely on my performance.

What I have never understood is that there are a lot of people out there who look at checklists and just don't like them. They don't want to use them. And they think they can do these complex tasks without help, and they usually forget something. I've found checklists to be my best friends for detailed, demanding, complex tasts and for things that are critically important, where it's not acceptable to make mistakes.

It's really an interesting process, even an art, to develop a checklist and to format it so that it's usable and useful.

homemade matrix

Steve W. — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:19:55 -0400

I used the oOo template and created a modified action items page. At the top I put a description section. After this, I have multiple lines to describe repetitive tasks. I use this to document all the reports I do daily at work. Below this, I inserted a spreadsheet to track completion of my listed items. It is 31 cells wide and the same amount of rows as my list. I just X off each item as I do it. I found that I can track my monthly repetitive tasks this way.

- Steve

Tried that

shris — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:10:08 -0400

Hi.

I tried that a while back--the version I used wasn't all that awesome for repeats, but there were lots of request for change so maybe the later version does it better.

However, it isn't the cheapest tool in the kit.

If you love PDA, it might be cool, but it was too hard for me to use the tiny screen after a while. My eyes are getting old.

shris

Recurring task in paper planners

J. Henk — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:15:59 -0400

For recurring task I write a `recurrence tag' after the task description, like `(1W)' for weekly tasks or `(2M)' for bimonthly tasks. Example:

"Backup notebook (2W)"

After checking off the task I schedule the follow-up immediately.

Juergen

Recurring and Repeating Items...

Annonymous — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:24:12 -0400

A PDA and WIndows solution to repeating items that works well is LIFE BALANCE by LLAMAGRAPHICS. Its way of handling repeats is excellent.

Recurring tasks tool

GG — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:58:17 -0400

Yahoo calendar has great options for recurrences, better than Gmail and better than the iPhone/iPod Touch. And you can set two reminders, with lots of options for that also, to go to your email or mobile device.

I've set up my recurring tasks there as all-day events. Then use the Event List view to print out a list of tasks for the coming month. I'm still looking at all the options, but it looks promising. For appointments I use a paper planner, and I'll stick my event list into the planner.

I've come to the conclusion that paper lists, moving stickies around, etc, are too fiddly and not reliable enough if you really need to do these things for your business or financial matters. A good electronic solution seems more reliable--set it up once and it just keeps reminding you. I've also set up some of these in my cell phone, but I know I'll be changing phones in a year or so, and may not be able to transfer it all over. And if I lose my cellphone it will all be lost. I feel much safer having it all on Yahoo.

useless?

jonglass — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:59:22 -0500

Let's just say that the fridge requires diligence. No such thing... everything has a place, and must be in it.... or it's tossed... :-) (or not bought, is more like it)

-Jon

tracking recurring tasks?

supenguin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:12:17 -0500

Does anyone have a good way of tracking recurring tasks? I've been looking at a program called Sciral Consistency, but I'd prefer a good paper solution. None of the ways of dealing with todo lists (electronic or paper) seem to handle repeating daily or weekly tasks very well.

-Kenny

D*I*Y Planner - tracking recurring tasks? - Comments