How I Do My Weekly Planning In Todoist

[@writedotlaw8712]

I've used Todoist for over seven years and tinkered with countless different setups and systems. I am happy to say that your Time Sector System setup in Todoist is by far my favorite. Thank you for breaking me free from projects I would never check and context labels I never used! Now I get to just focus on what matters each day, week, and month: It's brilliant. I really appreciate all your hard work developing this. And I can assure you this is heartfelt; I have never posted a comment on KZbin ever!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write. It means a lot to me to hear that the Time Sector System has helped you. Thank you for sharing.

[@robbie_sf]

Thanks! Question: what is the reason you have both the 'Recurring Areas of Focus' in THIS WEEK and the ROUTINES project?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, you haven't taken the Time Sector Course have you? Routines are just those little things that do not improve your life. Areas of Focus on the other hand make significant improvements to your life, your health, your wealth and your relationships.

[@devarni]

Thank you Carl! Wouldn't it be easier to use the 2-way synchronization of Todoist and then sort the tasks by time slot directly in the calendar? But you don't use Google Calendar but the Apple Calendar?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I keep my time blocks general. So I have blocks for writing, recording, and admin. That way I have some flexibility within those blocks.

[@devarni]

Yes that makes sense... I also like your simplified system in Todoist that tries to sort tasks rather in rough time blocks and then a week before (?) for the next week assign a completion date according to available time. I'm sometimes amazed at the insanely complex projects some have in Notion and long lists and dozens of tasks in Todoist. The effort to maintain such a system is IMO significantly greater than the benefit. The simpler, the better ;) Thanks Carl!

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@devarni You’re right there, Frank. I hate complexity and all I really need to know is when I am going to do something.

[@JJ1NE]

Wouldn't this be quicker if you had the two way google sync and added your google calendar ot the mac calendar? That way you don't have the manually enter the task in the calendar since it'll add it for you.

[@Carl_Pullein]

The reason I don't do that is that the way I write a task is very different from the way I write an event in a calendar. I also have not had a great experience with two-way sync with any app. All it takes is for the sync to break (which sadly happens all too often) and my whole system breaks down and I waste valuable doing time having to try and figure out what when wrong.

[@tumblingrosesstudio]

@@Carl_Pullein tjis is a really good point, i suddenly found my calendar cluttered with tasks, yech!! Disconnecting it now

[@thepathtoawakening1517]

Thanks for the video! Great value

[@Carl_Pullein]

Glad you liked it.

[@silentworld9089]

Hello! I wish it's a nice day. Video so wonderful and inspirational that I try to redesign my setup of Todoist immediately. The main question is do you have something system to track your course that you take, different stuff that you learn or something else? It's fascinating because I can't setup my Todoist to all this thing correctly and clearly.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I keep my course notes and other things I have learnt in my notes app. It's a better place to keep this kind of information.

[@tumblingrosesstudio]

I thi k it might best best to keep a Google Doc for each course's notes and link the doc in Todoist

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@tumblingrosesstudio That would work too, Dannielle.

[@carriefrancis3571]

Thank you! Your videos are always helpful. I would love to see how you incorporate your Project planning (evernote) into you Todoist weekly planning session

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Carrie, I covered that in a recent Evernote video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eGKpdmunabSYpJY Hope that helps.

[@erniehayden]

On your "This Week" view you have included your "Recurring Areas of Focus." How did you do that using ToDoist rules? Is it a filter? I have already built a "Recurring Areas of Focus" from your Areas of Focus training -- just how do I incorporate that list? Many thanks! Ernie

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Ernie, that's a section in my This Week folder. Once the recurring areas of focus are set up, I don't need to review them often (about once every two or three months) so I can collapse the section so it is out of view most of the time.

[@brianwalsh288]

Thank you Carl!

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome, Brian.

[@bmsouto21]

Thank you!

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome, Bruna.

[@anthonydevincenzo6530]

Can you expand a bit on the difference between this weeks focus and this weeks objectives?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Anthony, "This week's focus" is the type of work or project I want to focus my attention on. Objectives are the things I want to accomplish this week. For example, I may want to focus on updating an online course (a project) and the objective would be to complete the recording. It's tangible and completable. What I am focused on is more abstract and is not completable.

[@tumblingrosesstudio]

How do you clear the Inbox? I schedule things but they don’t get cleared and the Today, Tomorrow filters pull from the Inbox it looks like... really appreciate your videos, new to Todoist and picking up random tips!!!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Dannielle, you will need to change the project after you have added the date to the task. Here's a video that may help: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZ68f6GceK2fmMU

[@tumblingrosesstudio]

@@Carl_Pullein bless, thank you!!!!

[@MarathonMadman]

Timing was great on releasing this video. Watching this on Sunday Morning, my Weekly Review Day! (Or was that part of your plan? ;->). Great job on the video!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hmm it was part of the plan, Jim. Hope it helped :-)

[@Kramlets]

Hi Pullein, thank you for the videos. I've been redesigning my GTD system from the ground up to use the Time Sector system. There's so much less stress in knowing exactly the things you need to do on what days, before I had to choose between context lists based on how I was feeling. I wasn't prioritising effectively and I was having to make too many decisions for whatever context I needed to be in. I'm finding organising my tasks by time gives me enough time to complete them and motivates me a lot more to get through the tasks for the day. One question, I haven't seen any videos on this afaik. Where do you manage your Waiting For list? In Evernote? It feels like something that would go in a task manager, though I'm not sure if you have a rule where you place only tasks that you can perform on here.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Markimus, I generally don't have anything I am waiting for. However, if I do have something I am waiting for, it would likely be related to a project and so I would simply keep that in my project notes. As I work on a project from my project notes, I can easily see I am waiting for something in there. If I need to chase up a waiting for item, I would add that as a task in Todoist.

[@RichardPilon]

Great Video. How do you add a Section to Favorites or can one only add Projects to Favorites? Your Morning Routine in Favorites looks like a section from the Routines Project.

[@Carl_Pullein]

That's not possible (at the moment?) I suspect it will not be an option in the foreseeable future though. If something is that important the best way to manage it is to give it its own project. (or label)

[@a.n.3928]

Hey Carl, I have a quick question, do you know if I set a recurring task for weekdays but if I take a day off for work and I skip the recurring task, does it backlog the system or stop recurring until I complete that task?

[@Carl_Pullein]

If you miss a task, it will revert to overdue until you complete. Then it will recur on the next recurrence date.

[@maikeru_pk]

Carl, is that possible to create series with our (your fans) tasks? I mean... for example how you organize that you have couple of packages to send, first find adress, next pack it out, and order a courier... And a proces repeat many time. What is your idea to manage this with Todoist and Evernote? :) :)

[@Carl_Pullein]

It would be if people are willing to share their own tasks. The example you give though would only be a single task on my list. "send package to Pete" - I would see that task and already know I need a courier so it would mean calling the courier to collect the parcel. Job done.

[@maikeru_pk]

@@Carl_Pullein:D well is not so simple... it can spred on couple of days... So I need project here... But ok, maybe it hard to explains...

[@stevewilson962]

Great video - do you have a way of showing tasks without a subtask using a filter? subtask = 0? Only from a specific project. I want to highlight tasks in my projects section that need fleshing out with subtasks?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Steve, Sadly, I don't. I had a look and I could not find a way of doing that. The way that tasks with sub-tasks are shown in your task list is usually enough for me.

[@ecar20100]

!subtask & #NameProject

[@ScottRuth]

Hey, loving your videos. But new to the channel (been using todoist for years though). Do you have a recommended first few videos to start with? Also, I have projects separated for my business, home, etc. Do you suggest maybe have a this week/next week for each domain of life, so changing air filter in house doesn't get lumped in with email a client back, for example?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Scott, If you know the basics, then I don't really have a specific playlist to watch. Perhaps my latest set-up video--that should give you some ideas of what might work for you. I don't separate personal and work tasks because, to me, a task is a task. It doesn't really matter where it comes from. It still needs doing. However, I do work for myself so I have a lot of control over what I do each day.

[@dylantaylor2834]

Hi Carl, I love your content and I've recently setup your Time Sector system in my Microsoft To Do app and it's been night and day compared to my previous unorganized system! The one problem I run into however-and this would also happen in my previous system-is that I find my "This Week" list becoming incredibly long as uncompleted tasks my previous weeks get leftover and remain in the list. Any tips on how to deal with this? Also, what do you do with tasks that are no longer relevant or important in the moment but you don't want to delete them as they may be relevant again in the future? I wouldn't put them in the long term list, so perhaps an archived list? Lastly (sorry!), do you not keep separate lists for tasks that pertain to certain life areas or interests? For example, if I have a bunch long term tasks related to investing and fitness, is it wrong to create separate lists for fitness and investing and move them there?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Dylan, this is about being very very strict about what gets into your This Week folder. I limit it to 35 tasks total (including recurring areas of focus) because I know any more than that and I won't complete them all. It's easy to say "but I must do this tasks this week", but if you run out of time, there's nothing you can do about it. So, I keep 'wishful' tasks out of my This Week folder. If they come urgent at some point, I can always add them in and remove something else. Tasks that arena longer relevant I delete. If they become important again in the future, they will come back on my radar and I can add them back in. (although that very rarely happens) Alternatively, you can copy them into your notes app. My "life interest" tasks will usually be in my notes app, but if a task comes from there, it will get added to my task manager. Exercise, though goes on my calendar. Adding a task "do exercise" to your task manager will be one task you will reschedule. If you're serious about exercise, schedule time for it. Hope that helps.

[@dylantaylor2834]

@@Carl_Pullein this helps a bunch, thanks so much for the reply!

[@kai.meleon]

I there a reason why you do not use calendar integration with Todoist, so that when you set a time on a task in Todoist it will be shown automatically in your calendar. This would skip the manual step to create the calendar items.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yes. Tasks are not events. A task is something that just needs doing at some point in the day. An event is something I have scheduled to do either with a person(s) or in a specific place. I do time block, but these blocks are not for a single task. If I allowed integration I would lose control of my calendar and when you add a time in Todoist you are not seeing what else you have scheduled for the day.

[@BDV000]

Think I want to see what this time sector management is all bout

[@Carl_Pullein]

Here you go Victor, I did a blog post on it. www.carlpullein.com/blog/a-revolutionary-new-time-management-system-designed-for-the-21st-century/1/5/2020

[@BDV000]

@@Carl_Pullein This looks promising! Thank you