Quote:
Originally Posted by henry
Today lists are a form of prioritisation. You're saying that these items are more important than anything else based on some arbitrary measure which may not be valid when you come round to doing the task. There may be a perfectly valid reason why you CAN'T do the task when the time comes, but you will feel bad about not being able to do it.
Also there may be other tasks that you are able to do but they won't get done because they aren't on your today list.
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aren't all lists by definition a form of prioritisation in that they exclude all things not on them? the arbitrary measure is that i want to do today items today, and want to have quick access to a coralled list of those actions.
i don't feel bad about not being
able to do something on my today list, and having a today list doesn't
prevent me from doing things which aren't on it (in fact many things not on the list get done anyway since no list is biologically exhaustive). the today list is not a very rigid thing in my world, but it's something i can refer to when i get distracted.
this is simply a memory aid. david allen suggests that ultimately, intuition is the deciding factor in where one's focus should go at any point in time (all other things being equal eg available resources/context), and the today list for me is simply an informal and quick memory aid for noting the results of that intuitive process.
in a similar way, software such as concentrate and vitamin r helps me to stay on track for periods of time even when i have decided what to do next.
we're talking real world idiot-proofing for those of us like myself with more monkey mind than zen-like powers of concentration...
whatever the pros and cons - and i have yet to see any cons to having a today feature,
i want a today list, i use it in things, and i want it in OF! ninjas have been alerted. it's only a matter of time!