How To Make Your Lists REALLY Work For You

How to make your lists really work for you. Using the principles of next actions and projects, you can optimise your workflow in a much more efficient way, benefit from greater productivity and reduced stress levels. In this video, GTD veteran Robert Peake outlines how you can make your 'to-do' lists much more functional, why your brain needs help when it comes to getting stuff done, and how you can reduce friction when you need to work on something on your lists.
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[@GTDintheUK]

Join the GTD Collective - a member's only channel where you benefit from access to exclusive content, live guided GTD Weekly Review® sessions, 'Ask an expert' livestreams, and more: kzbin.infojoin

[@JefferySeth]

This was great. Reviewing Action Contexts takes a lot of cognitive load off and saves more time too. Thanks for the tips

[@caitlinmichelehill4590]

Thinking about the explorer or the astronaut under duress and needing tiny baby steps to succeed reminds me of the days where I have high anxiety or even panic attacks. Sometimes I need to write out all of the baby steps in my morning routine to be able to get myself ready to leave the house like "brush teeth" and "get dressed." I think narrowing in on the context of what can I do right here right now is a way to relieve some of that anxiety and pressure. I've found it useful to simplify my lists and add in emojis for context. Great video.

[@RobertPeake]

Absolutely, I've experienced tremendous psychological benefit from simple next-steps thinking. There is a therapeutic intervention called behavioural activation that follows similar lines and has shown promise in supporting people dealing with depression.

[@caitlinmichelehill4590]

@@RobertPeake Thanks, I will look in to that intervention you mentioned.

[@Calmandcollected91]

Navigating through the noisy world of self help can be exhausting but it’s the finding of gems like your channel that make it worthwhile. Thank you for imparting clear and practical wisdom.

[@RobertPeake]

So glad to hear this was helpful!

[@elisabethnoel1252]

This is very helpful. Thank you!

Thank you form making this video! You are talking about the problem I have right now. I just want to categorize everything and in the end it just steals my time and doesn't help me. But the way you explain it it's easier for me to cope with my categorization "tick"

[@RobertPeake]

Glad to hear it. Switching to a "context" mindset has helped a lot of people to be very practical about their categories instead of wasting time moving things from one bucket to another.

[@DaveOC88]

You have a talent for explaining things in a simple, precise way. Thanks for this video.

[@RobertPeake]

Thanks!

[@karlpolanyi8986]

Thanks for this and your other video on GTD Traps! I've been really struggling with GTD trying to manage all my 50-100 litigation files as "projects", but maybe that is the wrong way to approach it. Maybe my list of open files is just that, a list open files to be reviewed weekly. For example, the project is "Submit final brief for XYZ hearing" are "Agree to preliminary matters for XYZ hearing", rather than simply "XYZ hearing". This does feel unnatural to me to be honest but I will try it out. The only other issue I have is 95% of my tasks are tagged with @computer ! Anyway, I've read GTD twice and I must say that Robert Peakes videos on this channel have taught me more about the method than book...

[@RobertPeake]

Glad to hear the videos are helpful, Karl. It sounds like you may have projects with sub-projects (a big finish line with little ones along the way) and "project support" material (those open files that are specific to certain projects, rather than just general reference like your legal books). Each one of those sub-projects should have a next action and, yes, most of them will probably be @computer. If you start the next action with a verb, however, and alphabetise that list, then all the "email" and "draft" and "research" items will start to cluster, and you may be able to spot some natural sub-contexts (which you may even want to formalise at some point with their own folder) that help you decide where to put your focus based on how you are doing (e.g. too tired to draft a formal email to the opposition, but OK to do some general reading on trends in the industry--skip the email cluster, go to the reading cluster). Hope that helps!

[@ElVicioMan]

Thank you so much, your channel is amazing and so helpful to me. I subscribed :)

[@Longstreet1955]

This was truly outstanding, Robert! I can't begin to tell you how helpful this has been and the impact it has had on me. Thanks so much!

[@RobertPeake]

Wonderful. Thanks, David

[@maricrafty]

What a wonderful approach! Thank you very much for share it with us.

[@RobertPeake]

You bet! :)

[@drpaulchan]

Great wisdoms

[@karenevans2157]

Amazing video! Being a GTD fan for years I was having a hard time implementing next action since I love to think and map out actions by categories. I thought I was just “different” lol. You just convinced me to give it a try really, by context

[@RobertPeake]

Excellent, hope it helps!

[@glaucolehdermann1565]

Love it. Thank you!

[@GTDintheUK]

Glad you found it useful!

[@jeanetteinthisorn4955]

Thank you, I've been using categories instead of projects on many things. This really helped clarify that point.

[@GTDintheUK]

Great to hear!

[@jjsadowski]

(Avid fan and long time user, great video! 👍🏻👍🏻) I have to firewall personal and pro systems for legal reasons. In the personal system contexts are very straightforward. For the pro system, all tools available all the time. When I artificially break them up, I lose prioritization. I suppose the question is: whats the best way to handle contexts when they are a choice rather than imposed upon you by restrictions of tools, time, energy?

[@RobertPeake]

One way to get started is to put verbs at the start of your next actions ( call..., email..., research..., brainstorm...) and then sort that list (assuming it's digital) alphabetically. See what clusters, and see if those make sense as contexts. Here's a short video about contexts in the covid age (from early on in the pandemic) as well: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIilaaCEotucjbs

[@jjsadowski]

@@RobertPeake outstanding idea! I know those subtler contexts are in there but they’ve been challenging to uncover. Verbs would be great for focus. Thank you much for the link 👍🏻

[@rasheed2chemist]

Self-compassion would be valuable in calendar as well as action lists entries. Rather than using have to/should, it would be better to suggest/ask opinion from future self.

[@RobertPeake]

Absolutely! :)

[@blanchesplace]

This was one of the best GTD videos explaining projects and next actions. I work better with set automatic routines and right now I do not have that. I work from home and also am in the process of decluttering. I’ve been decluttering piles as individual inboxes, but I realize the clutter is a project with next actions list. Thank you for this great video

[@briannab5296]

i like that! .. "decluttering piles as individual inboxes" .. thats downright brilliant 😉

[@blanchesplace]

@@briannab5296 thank you!

[@RobertPeake]

So glad this was helpful, and love the "piles as inboxes" mindset shift. Indeed, as David says, "If you don't have an inbox in your house, your house is your inbox." But not everything fits in a three-sided tray, so it's a mentality thing. Good awareness.

[@oliverkhoo]

i like the method, do you have an example video on how to breakdown yearly monthly weekly goal?

[@GTDintheUK]

Not as such, although there's a little bit on it toward the end of this video when we discuss calendar usage: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eX7RnKaVoM-rmJI -- basically you want to set the deadline and work backward ("where should I be for now?") Could make for a good future video, so thanks for the suggestion!

[@michcard1957]

Thanks Robert for these very inspiring videos. I feel this works well for people that have mostly projects to achieve within a flexible deadline. I notice my job is made of multiple actions within short deadlines. Consequently I often start the day with a clear view of the global picture + next actions until 1, 2 or 3 urgent unplanned solicitations shake up the priorities. After that, contexts have changed, new answers have been received and I feel like following my tasks in respect of context is no longer adequate. I rather feel a compulsory need to review again the big picture to regain control, which is time and energy consuming. I'm sure I can improve something. Maybe I should create a context "regain sight in the light of last events" which would be a quick list of new events that I'd drop to the inbox for later reviewal during a planned moment in the day in order to refocus on my contexts ? All suggestions are welcome.

[@RobertPeake]

You sound like a good candidate for some one-to-one coaching, actually, as it's hard to really dig in to what will be best for you here in the abstract. At the end of the day, your system should feel like an up-to-date set of "bookmarks" of the "state of play" of everything in motion. So, if new input or interruptions arise, you can turn away from your bookmarks, process the new input in relation to what you already know, and adjust accordingly. If the new inputs are so drastic they merit a full review of higher horizons, so be it-- that is the nature of your job. However, if you are doing your weekly review regularly, you may be more automatically in touch with these areas and therefore more able to rapidly re-calibrate as you go along. Is that at least directionally useful? Hope so!

[@michcard1957]

@@RobertPeake Many thanks for this valuable comment. Your generic advice helped me a lot, especially the string "at the end of the day" (making me realize that I tend to do it too often in a day). It encouraged me to review several of NAA videos and realize that the solutions probably reside in having a true and broad conversation with myself. I tended so far to seek for the perfect Swiss knife to face all kind of solicitations, ignoring the threefold nature of work. Now I'm going to set first my main goals then to consider how much of my time I wish to dedicate to others. Then I'll get rid of unnecessary process such as over documenting my progresses, and trust more in my capacity to meet my commitments even if insufficiently prepared. (Actually only 5% of my prep effort comes out to be useful). If after that I still feel unhappy, I'll consider then a one to one coaching. Many thanks Robert for this "butterfly effect" your words triggered in my world.

[@andycanelos]

Thanks for the video Robert. I have a question related to lists that I have not seen addressed on any Next Action Associates videos. When I have a project, I know the NEXT ACTION, but I also know really next several actions. For example, if I have a quote and will put in for a PO, I know to send the PO request to the approvers, but once I hear back from them, I send it to our buyer to issue the PO. Once it is issued, I double check it, save it in a Project onedrive folder, ensure the vendor has a copy and plan to follow up with the vendor closer to agreed shipping time. Sometimes there is a person who asks to get a copy, so I don't want to forget to do that too. How are all of these current and known future actions managed?

[@JohnWinstanley]

Andy - it sounds like you have just created a checklist. Checklists are great - they can take up some of the 'busy work' of repeatedly writing out list of next actions.

[@RobertPeake]

@@JohnWinstanley Indeed, and one place you can consider keeping this list of "steps 2, 3, 4, etc." is in "project support" material for the project. The simplest way is if your list keeper has a title and notes field, you can name the project in the title field and brainstorm out your steps in the notes field. Then just be sure to make a separate entry for the very next action, and put that in a context. HTH!

[@ascensionbias7528]

Help you, help yourself.

[@christopherstaal6849]

Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t hear anything helpful on context. In a work from home environment what context is there besides working in one room in the house vs another?

[@SamaraFK]

I'm working from home with a toddler, I have a context: "Without interruptions", for tasks that are highly demanding in concentration. I work on these tasks when my daughter is with my husband or sleeping.

[@RobertPeake]

This video may give you some clues about how you might want to think about contexts in the WFH world: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIilaaCEotucjbs HTH

[@savannahbanks]

Verytalky. An actual example worked through from collect to project complete, would much more useful.

[@RobertPeake]

Sorry to hear you found this too theoretical. We occasionally run free masterclasses where we often are able to go into more detail on certain topics: www.next-action.co.uk/services/getting-things-done-gtd/talks-and-webinars/

[@irened9961]

Examples would help a lot. This commentary is too general.

[@GTDintheUK]

Thanks for your feedback