# Blending Tasks Together *** **Prev Card**: [[Planning for Actionability]] **Next Card**: *** ## Overview The big idea is that you want a system which allows you to plan effectively by generating lists of tasks (todo's) by focusing on a single project or area, but when it comes time to execute, you want to be able to focus (see) only the tasks that are relevant to act on _today_. You want the machine to _remember for you_, and let it do the work of holding all the details, so you can put your energy into **the task at hand**. ## Managing Urgency. Where PARA is managed around "actionability": **Projects > Areas > Resources > Archives** The [[library/Master Your Workday Now|book Master Your Workday Now]], uses a system called **Master Your Now** (or MYN). This is focused around urgency. The idea here is that you want to sort your tasks BY WHEN YOU HAVE TO WORK ON THEM. > [!note]- The Eisenhower Matrix > Managing for Urgency sounds a lot like The Eisenhower Matrix and it is. Also known as the Eisenhower Box or the Urgent-Important Matrix, it is a decision-making tool created by former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The matrix is used to prioritize tasks or activities by separating them into four categories: Urgent and Important, Not Urgent but Important, Urgent but Not Important, and Not Urgent and Not Important. This allows for a clearer understanding of how tasks should be prioritized, and enables better decision-making. > ![[The Eisenhower Matrix.png]] ### How does this work? You use a combination of lists, tags, dates, and priorities to define your tasks, then you use filters to view you only what you need to know, when you need to know it. Let's start with **Priorities**. Tasks that MUST get done today, have priority one. These are **Critical NOW**. Tasks you would like to get to this week (or the next 10 days), are **Opportunity Now**. Anything else, is **over the horizon tasks**. Let me say that again. You have just three (at most four) buckets of tasks. ### Urgency (Priority) Buckets. 1. Critical Now - must be done today. 2. Opportunity Now - will get to if I can. 3. Over the Horizon - don't want to forget about it, but not going to do it in the next 10 days. 4. Someday tasks - optional fourth class, things you'd like to get to. The idea is to have only one or two (at most three) **Urgent Now** tasks. These must get done today. The second idea, is to be realistic and limit your **Opportunity Now** tasks to 10-20 at most. [[Stephen R. Covey]] observed that most people can handle about a week of time. Beyond that, it all sort of blurs together into the "future". [[Michael Linenberger]] expands this to 10 days. Basically, giving you 1-2 opportunity tasks a day to get to. The final two buckets, **Over the Horizon** and **Someday** are important, because you don't want to forget things, HOWEVER, you also don't want to keep looking at tasks **you know you are not going to work on**. So we will use filters to hide tasks that meet two criteria: 1. We can't work on them (because they are blocked) or 2. They are not important enough to work on in the next 10 days. This ability to filter tasks is why I use dedicated task management software for todo management instead of Obsidian. I want to be able to work with tasks in two views - by context, and by priority. ## Let's Look at An Example Let's say you have a couple of tasks and a project. By my definition a project is anything that requires more than one or two steps. (Three is usually a good threshold). The Tasks are: - [ ] Get a haircut (would be under 2 Areas - Personal) - [ ] Go to gym and lift (under 2 Areas - Health) The project would be: **Change Tires on Brompton Bike for Thorn Proof Ones.** I would make a folder in my PKM under `1 Projects` called `Project - Put Thorn Proof Tires on Brompton`. That folder would hold all kinds of information, like what kind of tires I want to buy, research on alternatives (like slime), and notes about any special tools I need to change my tires. Now that it is time to act, inside of Remember The Milk, I would create a list. > [!example]- Why Remember The Milk? > If you are curious why I selected Remember The Milk (RTM), it is because it is one of the few task managers that supports **Start Dates**. Start dates, are different than due dates. They allow you to set a date **when you plan to start a task**. And this means, you can filter out any tasks that have not started yet. Let's say it is Sunday you wanted to give yourself a task to take our the Trash Thursday night. In RTM you give give "Take Out the Trash" a start date of Wednesday. Now, the task won't show up in your daily MYN list UNTIL Wednesday. It is not forgotten, AND it is not cluttering up your todo list. Why look at tasks you can't act on? > [!warning]- Most Task Management Software ONLY support Due Dates > Why don't most task management applications support start dates? Because project managers never want to hide tasks. If the work is scheduled, they want it in their list. Hiding tasks is anathema to them. This is especially true in a group environment, where people can be collaborating. Everyone needs to see what is on everyone else's plate and when it is due. If an app does support Start Dates, it is almost never for filtering out tasks you can't work on yet but instead, for setting dependencies. As in this task _would_ start sooner, but it can't. Project Managers do not like the concept of, "I could work on that but I don't want to." Setting personal priorities, as well as using Start Dates to filter out tasks is most appropriate for _personal_ task management. One limitation of RTM is that it does not support nested folders. In fact, it treats lists like projects, so I create a **project list** named: `1 Project - Put Thorn Proof Tires on Brompton`. Now inside that list, I brainstorm the following three tasks. - [ ] Order plastic tire changing levers from Amazon - [ ] Go to Portapedal and buy thorn proof tires. - [ ] Remove old Wheels from Brompton - [ ] Swap new tires on rims - [ ] Replace wheels. - [ ] Inflate and test tires. If I were to assign priorities, the lists could look like: **2 Area - Health** - [ ] Go to gym Priority: **high(1)** **2 Area - Personal** - [ ] Get Haircut Priority: **medium(2)** **1 Project - Put Thorn Proof Tires on Brompton** - [ ] Order tire changing levers on Amazon Priority: **medium(2)** - [ ] Buy thorn proof tires from Portapedal Priority: **medium(3)** - [ ] Remove old Wheels from Brompton - [ ] Swap new tires on rims - [ ] Replace wheels. - [ ] Inflate and test tires. All other task would be Priority: **Over the Horizon(3)**. I am just not going to get to them. Now here's the problem. These tasks are all in separate lists! I have to click in each Area, or Project to see what I need to do. But what if I just wanted to see **only** the most important tasks that I want to work on **today**? That's where **MYN** comes in. Using a smart filter, I can view **every** tasks from every area, and every project that I might want to work on **NOW** That list would look something like: ### MYN Tasks **Priority 1: Critical Now** - [ ] Go to gym **Priority 2: Opportunity Now** - [ ] Get Haircut - [ ] Order tire changing levers on Amazon - [ ] Buy thorn proof tires from Portapedal None of the priority 3 tasks are visible. They are all filtered out. Suddenly, my todo manager is presenting me only the tasks that make sense to work on, sorted by how urgent and important they are. For reference, the advanced filter for my **MYN Working List** is as follows ``` startBefore:Tomorrow AND (priority:1 OR priority:2) ``` In plain english this means, only show tasks that - have a StartDate before tomorrow (today or earlier) - AND has a priority 1 or 2. This allows me to set some priority 1 or 2 tasks, that won't appear on my daily work list UNTIL I can act one them.