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Strategies for Assigning Due Dates Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I like to assign due dates for all actions. This ensures that they will eventually show up as Due Today, Due in the Next Week, Overdue, and so I'll (in theory) do them.

There are two kinds of due dates: "hard" due dates (taxes must be filed by April 15, need to clean house before Mom visits on Tuesday, etc.), and "soft" due dates (I'd like to reorganize the closet this weekend).

I find that I often reschedule tasks with soft due dates as they come up. So those actions rarely get completed "on time". I'm effectively just reviewing them often. And those soft due dates clutter up the Due Today view.

I wonder if I should really be using "soft" due dates. It might be better to reserve the Due field for hard deadlines, so that I'll take them more seriously. Is there a better way to handle the problem of making sure that stuff eventually gets done, even when there is no hard deadline?
 
Here's an alternative/additional tactic: use start dates. Make yourself a "tickler" perspective (context mode, group by start, available actions). When you enter a bunch of tasks, spread out the start dates a bit so that you've got a reasonably-sized pile of new work showing up in the hopper each day, hopefully long before it is due. Somehow it doesn't seem as overwhelming when you can keep knocking off the newly arriving tasks before they have a chance to ferment and turn into due soon or even worse overdue tasks. And, you don't dilute the emphasis of a due date quite so much if you avoid assigning due dates you know you probably won't honor. Looking at the tickler view and seeing that there's stuff that you've had sitting there undone for a week or more after starting gives some motivation to go clear away those tasks, whether by doing them or reassessing whether or not it is important that you do it, and saves the overdue red alarm (and Due Today) for truly critical actions.
 
I used to assign due dates to everything and had the exact same experience. So I stopped. I don't use start dates though. What I did instead was to really start using the review feature. I have a "Daily Review" item that repeats every day, and a "Review Today" perspective for project mode that groups and sorts by next review date. Then I just make sure that I have a repeating review date set for all projects, usually at one or two week intervals.
 
My projects are mostly sequential and organized so there is a well defined next action. Tasks or projects that can’t be started before a certain date get a start date. Tasks that must be finished by a certain date get a due date. Otherwise, I never assign start or due dates.

When I have time to look for a task to do, I filter the context view by next action. Then I can leisurely pick things that I feel like doing based on where I am and what’s on hand.

Tasks that must happen on a specific day and time go on my calendar instead of Omnifocus.

Very low stress to not have your task list bugging you all the time. I like to go look for the work when I can do it instead of having my machine bug me and wondering when and how I’m going to fit it in.
 
I used to use a lot of due dates but I now only restrict their use to actions which must be completed by that date. I now use flags for things that I used to use due dates (inappropriately) for and use a 'flagged' Perspective. Far less scary red items!
 
This customer's blog post has some really good ideas.
 
Is there any particular reason you're using soft due dates over the review system (which seems to accomplish what you're after)?

Personally, I only ever set hard due dates for items that really do have a due date. If I have something that I want to review more often than normal, I set up a smaller time between reviews for that group.
 
Lots of good suggestions here. Thanks!

I'll start using the Due field only for hard due dates.

Still not sure about the best way to deal with the "important but not urgent" projects. I'll try assigning staggered Start dates for a while.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristopher Johnson View Post
Still not sure about the best way to deal with the "important but not urgent" projects.
I like to flag the important but not urgent tasks that I have (with no due date). This makes it easy on the Mac to view due tasks and flagged tasks with the 'Due or Flagged' filter, and I can easily focus on only due tasks with the 'Due Soon' filter. There is no 'Due or Flagged' filter on the iPhone (at least not yet), but I can toggle back and forth between the 'Due Soon' and 'Flagged' filter. This might be an option for you, assuming that you do not already have a different strategy for using the flagged function.
 
 


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