[whpalmer4]

I make extensive use of start dates to hide things I don't want to see at the moment, coupled with a "tickler" perspective that accomplishes the same general flow as a "tickler file" as described by David Allen. The tickler perspective is a view in context mode, grouped by start date, available actions, all durations and all flag states. I look at this every morning to see what new things are available to work on, and refer back to it frequently throughout the day.

As for assigning start dates, putting things on hold, waiting contexts, etc. I'll typically put a start date on an action or project that I don't want to see for some predictable period of time. For example, I expect to get a notice from the DMV about the registration for the car needing to be renewed in early summer, so I'll put in a start date of June 1 for the project to renew the registration. I know when I buy a 4-pack of orange juice cartons at Costco, that it will take about 4 weeks before I need to buy some more, so the repeating reminder to buy orange juice will get a start date about 23 days out from the date of the last purchase.

Projects that are conceptually "on hold" (I haven't decided to drop it, but I don't really know when I'll ever get back to it) get put On Hold. I know, I know, this is a brilliant idea :-) I make limited use of "waiting" contexts. I've got a general Waiting context, with nested contexts for email, mail, and people (the latter created on an as needed basis), all marked On Hold. The auto registration project mentioned above has "mail from DMV with registration paperwork" as an action in the Waiting For : Mail context, which blocks the actions beyond it until I've
gotten that piece of paper, without my needing to assign start dates. I've also got a "Looking For" context on hold to track various misplaced items that are obstructing progress on something. Whenever I'm going to do some cleaning or organizing that might turn up some of those long-lost items, I'll have a look at the list to refresh my memory so if I come across it I'll know to set it aside and allow that stalled project to move closer to completion.

When using the contexts and projects marked "on hold" it is important to look at Stalled projects in the sidebar as part of the review process, as those projects and actions won't show up in the normal tickler view (they aren't available). For the projects I've put on hold, I'll typically have a monthly review frequency set, just to get them some occasional consideration.