[smiggles]

I find that I'm using my flags as a way to pull out tasks that are either more urgent or are what I'm going to work on today. This has worked for me so far, but it gets unweildly, as I find myself reviewing my entire project list everyday in order to make sure the flags are current to priorities.

How do you all use your flags? What other ways do you use your flags?

[curt.clifton]

I use flags to mark the projects that are related to my monthly goals. This means that I don't have to change the flags often, just set them in my monthly review. During the day, I first work from an "urgent" perspective, that shows my tasks that are due soon. After knocking off those tasks, if any time remains, I switch to an "important" perspective, that shows my flagged available actions.

I've found that breaking out of my old habit of planning the day's actions to be both time saving and stress reducing. Time saving because I'm not doing the planning. Stress reducing because I don't have the guilt of not accomplishing everything on my plan when life interrupts.

[MJK]

I use them to mark my "hard landscape items", so I can quickly see what's coming up that I can't cancel even if I wanted to.

[BwanaZulia]

Funny, I don't use flags at all.

If I need something on a hard landscape, I give it a due date.

Now, in Mail.app, I flag things as I get to Inbox Zero and go back to a smart folder of "Flagged" and give them more attention (respond, record, task, etc) but when things get to OF they have been broken down beyond flags.

BZ

[nggalai]

I use flags in OF to denominate projects (never tasks) that are most dear to me. Projects I simply CAN’T afford to forget about, projects I am passionate about but still might need a kick in the bum from time to time to keep going.

I decide on flags during my weekly review. Never, ever, do I give a project the flag after I’ve just entered it. I need time to see whether it’s really one of those really, really important projects or just one where my histrionics play tricks on me.

So, yeah, you could call it priorisation. Which I’m told I’m not supposed to do in a GTD environment, but somehow, it just feels natural.

Cheers,
-Sascha

[Eye_Doc]

Since my task list is always full of varying stuff, I tend to use them for an 'Ultra-High' priority.

I know it isn't canonical GTD, but I need to know those things that have just got to get done ASAP.

For any of you true GTD gurus out there, let me know if this is the 'wrong' way to use it!

[BwanaZulia]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

Funny, I don't use flags at all.

If I need something on a hard landscape, I give it a due date.

Now, in Mail.app, I flag things as I get to Inbox Zero and go back to a smart folder of "Flagged" and give them more attention (respond, record, task, etc) but when things get to OF they have been broken down beyond flags.

BZ

I will amend my first statement by saying I NOW use flags on tasks because it floats them to the top of my OmniFocus iPhone, which is easier to drill in. It is kind of using the Big Rock/Little Rock.

I flag things during my weekly review that I want to get done next week which keeps them on my radar.

BZ

[omnibob]

I was going to start a new thread on 'triage prior to vacation (etc.)', but I think this thread has quite relevant information.

I'm getting ready to go on vacation in a week, and due to volume and deadlines, need to madly triage OF for things I must do (or really hope to get done) before I leave.

I've been using techniques here and Curt's method linked off this thread. I'm setting future start dates on projects I can then hide by filtering on available. Single action lists are different, so I'm future start dating actions. I'm also using flags. What's been written in this thread so far may have all the answers, but if anyone has any yet different ways to somewhat expeditiously triage prior to a leave of absence, the floor is all yours.

Bob