Wondering when to tackle a given task can lead to procrastination and overwhelm. The GTD philosophy advises dividing all our to do’s into contexts (@computer, @office) etc. That structure can help you group activities by tool or location, but it gives us no structure for when we should be doing certain tasks.
I like my newly developed day-based contexts which just expand on those I learned from www.FLYLady.net.
Money and Mail Mondays – These are the days I will focus on work related tasks and will get stuff in the mail. These are the tasks I enjoy least, so I want to get them out of the way at the beginning of the week.
Teaching Tuesdays – These are days I will focus on school-related tasks.
Windows Wednesdays – Wednesdays will be the days I focus on computer-related tasks.
Thinking Thursdays – This is the day set aside for projects that require time or focus.
Fun Fridays – This is a day to accomplish all the quick, enjoyable to do’s like watching You-Tube videos or reading links friends send.
Shopping Saturdays – This is my grocery and errand day.
Sweet Sundays – The sweet reminds me to be sweet with the Lord, family, and friends. I will take care to correspond with people and spend special time with them.
Obviously, I can’t work or teach or do computer tasks only on the day assigned. And I better not restrict my sweetness to Sundays! But when I have a non-urgent, irregular task, I can absolutely save it until the appropriate context day. I use www.goodtodo.com to manage my tasks which makes this approach super simple.
Let’s say I get an email saying that I need to send a registration form and check for my child’s activity to a given address. I simply forward the email to Monday@goodtodo.com, archive the email, and move on. I read that a friend’s parent has passed on Facebook and I want to send a sympathy card. I have a few options, depending on the day. I can email a note to buy a sympathy card to Saturday@goodtodo.com (or add the task by opening the app on my phone or computer). I could also send it to Sunday if I already have a card or Wednesday if I want to send a card from www.SendOutCards.com.
Not only will context days help you group your tasks for efficiency, but they enable you to automatically schedule tasks as well. You can keep your email inbox empty and have peace of mind knowing that all your tasks are scheduled. Can’t get to everything? If the task still isn’t urgent, simply redate for the following week (it’s so easy with goodtodo). I received nothing for this recommendation from goodtodo, but I might email Monday@goodtodo.com to remind myself to ask them for some $ off my subscription. 🙂
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