How I Review My Projects in Todoist (The 2020 Edition)

[@robertvanallen2220]

Still doing "Classic" Todoist operations, works for my workflow. The 2020 Edition is something I'll consider after watching more of your excellent presentations.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, Robert. Glad it works for you.

[@waynehorne2734]

Thanks Carl! This video answers a lot of my questions concerning the new approach. You have convinced me to make the change starting next week!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Good luck, Wayne.

[@DavidManuel]

I moved over to your new timeboxing based system last week and have been test-driving it for a week now. I'm not entirely sure whether or not I like it better yet! I'm finding myself letting tasks slip through the crack and pile up into the next day a little bit more, but that might just be from having a heavier week this week. Seeing that you are indeed keeping a defacto projects list within finder helps give me a sense of how to keep this version of the system working. I'm building out a projects list in Notion to use in tandem with your timeboxing setup in Todoist. The one thing that I am a little bit worried about is potentially wasting time on duplication when planning out the potential sequence of tasks needed in order to reach any given larger project outcome. I want to try to avoid having to write out the list of tasks twice (once in the projects folder and then again in Todoist). But I'm hopeful about the possibility of having the project folder be more-so for housing-related reference materials for the project while continuing to store all the next-action steps in Todoist. I suppose the scenario I'm worried about is one in which I have a future potential action step that I don't think makes sense to enter into todoist as yet, because that potential action step is contingent on whether a response from a third-party who I am waiting on. I'm worried about possibly duplicating tasks in that context by first temporarily storing that task in the project listing (in Notion/Evernote/Finder) and then down the line switching it to Todoist. That type of scenario is where I could see the more traditional GTD implementation in Todoist being cleaner, but that has its own drawbacks too, of course. Thank you for sharing the time-boxing alternative! It's definitely interesting and it might grow on me!

[@Carl_Pullein]

I don't keep a list of tasks to be done in the project folders. Each project of mind has a set of tasks that need to be complete. It could be a presentation file, a report, an online course or something else. As I know what these tasks are, all I need is to look into each piece of work to see where I am. My tasks for these would really be either: Start creating presentation file, or continue presentation file etc.

[@themoderndrift]

Great food for thought, Carl. I currently use Projects for repetitive tasks that require templates (not necessarily recurring tasks), so not sure how to replicate this in my own system. I do agree with past points you've made: don't date tasks and don't overwhelm yourself with daily tasks as you'll find yourself just rescheduling tasks (guilty as charged!).

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, for me, if I have 'templated' projects, I quickly convert the tasks to either recurring areas of focus or routines. I guess, it really depends how you view projects and we will all do that differently.

[@ankzgpta]

Been trying to use the system and I think it will work for me. Just need to fine tune and push myself to plan the day ahead. I am really struggling to find the filter you have used for Today's Objectives & Today's Focus and Focussed 10. Please help there. Also very keen to see how you do your Daily review and Weekly review using this new setup.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Today & p1 / today & !p4 / 2 days & !p4 There you go.

[@infoaccount7697]

Can you please do a video referring to how you would set up projects if you were in a biz dev or sales position. A lot of us would definitely find value in that. thank you !

[@Carl_Pullein]

I would if I understood those types of occupations. I did sales twenty-five years ago and the world has changed a lot since then.

[@stevegleds]

If you are familiar with Carl's new system then you can skip to 8:10 where he talks about handling projects in the new system.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you.

[@ajsnyder]

Hi Carl! This is definitely an off-topic question but I really like the green shirt that you are wearing in the beginning. Might I ask you what brand it is? Also, I stumbled across your content last night as I was researching tips on how to better use Todoist. My initial goal was simply to find clever shortcuts to make things easier to manage, however after viewing all of your Time Sector content, I'm now realizing it's likely not the tool itself that is holding me back from getting things done but rather the system that I am using. Going to give this a shot and see how it goes!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Andrew, I got the shirt from a startup company in the Netherlands called. Son of a tailor. www.sonofatailor.com Often, when we experience difficulties with apps, it's not the apps fault but our system. Work on your system and you will find the right app.

[@n0uhad]

Hi Carl great video - what's the Filter you have for Today's Focus if you don't mind?

[@Carl_Pullein]

"Today and !P4" - hope that works for you.

[@finance_plan]

Thank you Carl! please tell me what is focused10?

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's my ten tasks I want to focus on tomorrow.

[@finance_plan]

@@Carl_Pullein thank you:)

[@diegojaumandreu5671]

Hey Carl, what filters do you use? And how do you use them? Love your videos, keep it up!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Here you go, Diego. I show them around the 8 min mark. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3eqYqGIe8Rpr5Y

[@krisarthur]

Carl how do you handle consolidating all your digital project materials. For instance, I might have a PROJECT X with emails from peers, Word/Excel documents, PDF files, Evernote Notes and URL links. I like you link to say a folder... that’s cool... but how do you consolidate all these things that aren’t naturally organized say in a Documents Folder?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Right now, I have a project to set up my company. This involves a lot of documentation and emails with the lawyers who are doing the legal side and documents for me. So, I have a folder for all the documents and I have an email folder with the same name in my email. I also have a folder in my notes for little bits of info I may need and links to articles about company formations. So in total I have three places when information is being held. However, for me if I have something to review, complete or sign, I add a task in Todoist (if I don't do it immediately) telling me what I need to do and it's pretty obvious where whatever I need to sign, review or complete is. Really that's all I need. I can link to the email if I need to, but to be honest, it's a very active project right now so I deal with the actionable stuff within a few hours anyway.

[@alessiorastrelli]

Sorry Carl, under THIS WEEK Project you have a "Recurring Areas of Focus" Section. Is there a filter that moves recurring activities there? Thanks

[@Carl_Pullein]

No. These are recurring tasks so I only need to create them once. After that they recur when they need to recur. I just create a section in my This Week folder for them.

[@alessiorastrelli]

@@Carl_Pullein Thank you for the reply. But I don't understand, do you insert the recurring activities in the THIS WEEK project or in the ROUTINES project?

[@alessiorastrelli]

You probably put them in the THIS WEEK project but then what do you put in the ROUTINES project?

[@ericmsebastian]

Carl, what is the significance of the red circles for the week’s focus tasks (Crab Key and product launch). Are these non-completable? Thanks

[@Carl_Pullein]

They stand out and yes, they are non-completeable

[@oliverhulser9660]

Hi Carl and thank you for the great content that you provide! You helped me a lot during the last years. I'm following the new structure for 10 days now to try out some new (my project list got incredible long...). Now I realized that I can focus better on what to do and the Time Boxing structure makes everything way faster than before. My problem is the following: How do you maintain an overview of your Projects? I did it in Evernote but than I have another Tool where I have to write down the different steps that I have to do and then copy them to Todoist which for me is not the smart Carl-Pullein way :) Do have any suggestion for me? Where is your Project list based? In the Notes App, your Folders in iCloud? Thank you really much for helping me here!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Oliver, because I plan out my projects in my notes app, I realised transferring all my tasks to another project folder in Todoist only created duplication. So now, if I need to see progress on a project all I have to do is review my project notes in my notes app. It is rather simple. The truth is I keep the projects I am working on to a minimum. I learned a long time ago if I am working on multiple projects all at once something is going to go catastrophically wrong. So I don't make that mistake anymore. We humans can only focus on one thing at a time. It's when we try to focus on multiple things at the same time that things go wrong, we start to feel stressed out and overwhelmed.

[@oliverhulser9660]

@@Carl_Pulleinthank you for your fast reply! And you are right! Instead of focusing on how to handle the overview over my projects I should focus on reducing them and only beginning new ones when one project is finished. Thanks again!

[@davalente]

Hi Carl, don´t you detail your morning routine on todoist, you just put the "morning routine", do you have sub-tasks

[@Carl_Pullein]

I do, but I keep them in my journal - that way I can see how long my streak has been and I can add the reason why I skipped something if I do skip.

[@davalente]

@@Carl_Pullein when you say that you detail and keep the tasks of the mourning routine in your journal, are you talking about evernote?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Daniel Valente These days I use DayOne. It’s a bit of a experiment to see if I can do 365 days of digital journaling and adding a photo for each day of the year.

[@AceHardy]

📝

[@MikeMitchellishere]

I like the idea of creating more focus. That has always been the most difficult part for me. I'm going to try to implement something like this. Maybe I'll set up a project ;) I do keep computer folders on most projects that sync with the cloud. I also use Mindomo to keep them visually organized. I still keep tasks in Todoist projects simply for scheduling purposes. For instance, I may have a project that's going to take a year to complete. I don't want to forget about it but I don't want to be giving it attention every day so I just schedule either a recurring task or specific dates to take action. Also, to avoid the thing you experienced with the plane ticket, I schedule a follow-up task when I check off something like "order plane ticket" that simply says, "got plane ticke?" and schedule it for an appropriate follow-up day. It would be a nice feature if Todoist would allow a special kind of checkoff that prompted you for a follow-up task. One of the things that Todoist doesn't integrate is a journal. I found it VERY helpful to take notes and keep records of what happened. For instance, I may have called a creditor to change terms of an account. I take notes of whom I spoke with, the date, the hour, the phone number I called, and the details of the change. While I could record that in the task notes, it's horrifically difficult to go back 14 months and find that completed task. Being able to go back to a day in time or search a subject, tag, or metadata to bring up the information would be helpful. I hark back to the days of Charles Hobbs and Frankly Covey where it was all kept neatly in a diary - tasks, calendar, journal.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah I know what you mean there, Mike. My old faithful Franklin Planner rarely let me down. I figured that was because it was much simpler than what most apps are trying to do tody.

[@DrKlausReichert]

Instead of the project folder I find Evernote very helpful to store the information

[@Carl_Pullein]

That's another way too :-)

[@yourproductionsnow9870]

I don't get it

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, you probably need to see the video before this to understand this one. kzbin.info/www/bejne/joPPZK2hjKZ-rLc

[@yourproductionsnow9870]

@@Carl_Pullein Thanks Carl. Just finished up watching your back to basics with todoist on labels.