Getting things done with "nested" to-do lists...

Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick

As the Tick of the egg timer goes...I feel a growing INTENSITY to complete this post ASAP.

Hi Dien,

First THANK YOU for sharing your new Tool Workflowy. I have actually checked it out and think it will work well with quickly planning out Projects etc. etc.

As many of the members noted, I too prefer old-school paper and pen. As it is portable...and I just don't "Think" very well when on the computer. (Although as stated I am testing out workflowy).

You Asked for any "Techniques or methods that have helped to get things completed. Yes.

1. EGG TIMER

Think Eugene Schwartz put me onto this productivity tool. I set up a 20 min. timeblock to get certain groups of tasks done i.e FB, Emails. Even right now. It is going as I type this. Just the sound alone put me into an intense mode. I'm using a REAL EGG TIMER. I think somebody posted on Sowpub earlier about this tool. If you want an online version (great for if you are in a public place use http://e.ggtimer.com/)

2. Blank coiled black notepad with just plain paper. Like in school.
The ones I like are by a company called Blueline

3. Brendon Burchard's Technique I like. Every Day I write out the following Subjects

PROJECTS

#1

#2

#3

Under each of the 3 major products I write in the 5 Big things I must do to move this project forward. These projects are high level yearly type items. This Way the are ALWAYS IN FOCUS DAILY
Every other category below "Feeds" up so they are all aligned. "Kinda" like your nested loop example.

PEOPLE

* People I need to reach out to today
*People I'm waiting on

PRIORITIES
*The main things I must complete today no matter what

ACCOUNTING

Earn
Burn
Bank
Owe

AAAAHHHHHH timer just went off Still not used to that noise. Gotta go.

Hope that helps somebody!

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

A couple months ago, I started using "nested" to-do lists - and I've found it very helpful, so I thought I would share my experience here...

For some people, this may be obvious. However, for some it could really help...!

My to-do lists used to be like what many people do... I just had a single list, like a shopping list, of what I wanted to do that day, or that week...

The problem with that, was that everything was jumbled up - from different projects. So, buying the milk was mixed in with writing articles, which was mixed in with starting new business projects, which was mixed in with washing the car...

Because I wear a lot of "hats" and do many different things (as many of us do!), it didn't give me "clarity" on what I was doing - and also wasn't very motivational. I couldn't really see the progress I was making on various things, because they were all jumbled up...

Now, I have a much better system...

My to-do list is split into different categories, and "nested"...

(I call these "nested to-do lists" as they look a little bit like "nested loops" in programming...)

For example, Here's what part of my to-do list looked like recently... (I say it looked like this recently, because I've already fixed the dripping tap now. I've written the press release, but haven't sent it out yet, so I'm still working on that project...)

• Fix dripping tap
  • Get wrench
  • Shut off outside water
  • Undo tap
  • Buy replacement washers, o-rings
  • Put everything back together
  • Turn outside water back on
• Write press release for my friend John's restaurant, about his pies (to help him out)
  • Interview John
  • Write press release in point form, first paragraph should answer 5 W's
  • Arrange in order from most important to least important
  • Finalize draft of press release
  • Format the press release the right way (with John's contact information)
  • Make list of newspapers to contact, and their phone numbers
    • The Age
    • The Herald-Sun
    • (etc.)
  • Call all the newspapers, to get the contact name to send it to, and how they'd like to receive it
  • Send the press release, the way they want to receive it (e.g. via email, etc.)
• (Many more items here...)

To help organize this, I use Workflowy - http://workflowy.com ...

I can now easily cross off the parts I have done, as I do them.

Also, as I do it, I can see at a glance exactly where I am in that "project" - whether I still have many steps to do, or whether I'm near the end.

I have another section for completed projects - so once I've done all the steps in a project, I move the whole project to that section (so it's out of the way).

This seems to work for me, whether the project would take a day, take a week, or month, or even many months... It's nice to be able to see how I'm "progressing" on each project at a glance (as I cross off each step as I do it)...

Workflowy (which is free) helps with this because you can easily add new items or new steps, cross off what you've done, you can have unlimited levels of "nesting" (I have 3 levels in the press release project above), and you can also easily move things around... You can also "collapse" the sub-lists you don't want to see (so you don't get distracted by them)...

Anyway, I thought I'd share this... Having these more "organized" to-do lists has really helped with getting things done, and I've found it much more motivational, too...

Does anyone have any techniques or methods which have helped them to get things completed they can post... Now here was one of mine. I'll rack my brains for more.

Best wishes,

Dien