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Context headaches
mdl | Aug 25 2006
I'm having a lot of trouble these days with contexts and wondering if anyone can help. Basically, I'm finding it very artificial to work out of contexts. I sit there staring at my "Calls" list or my "Internet" list and lose sight of the reason for doing the actions that are on it. I'm finding that I work more effectively in "project" mode than in "context" mode. For me, the latter seems to divorce actions from their original environment, so that they don't make a lot of sense. When I make a call, my next thought isn't, "Yippee, let me see what other calls I can make." Rather, it's "what else do I need to do to push this project forward." If I think of the next action for a project, I'm more motivated to jump to that right away. But if next actions for that project are scattered among other context lists, then I have to rummage around through all my lists until I find them. Also, multiple context lists encourage me to accumulate more to-dos than I might if I had only one list. This means a lot of less urgent items get mixed in with high priority stuff. Most often, I end up shuffling through all my context lists to find the items that need to be done sooner rather than later. But this would be easier if I just had one to-do list. Right? At the moment, my contexts are: Calls, Email, Internet, Work (i.e., day job), Errands, Home, Office, and Mac (Mac specific stuff at home). I'm thinking of reducing these to: Road, Home, Both. (In other words, things done only away from home, things done only at home, and things that can be done in both places). Does this sound feasible? Or I am missing a crucial aspect of GTD? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! 7 Comments
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I'm looking forward to hearing...Submitted by jethro. on August 25, 2006 - 11:07am.
I'm looking forward to hearing what other folks have to say about this, because I share your views. The only real benefit I've found from contexts is that they allow me to remove from my list all those items I CAN'T do where I am right now. For example, I keep my NAs in a simple spreadsheet. At work, I sort by context so that all of the non-work contexts (home, errands) and waiting are at the end of the list. I draw a line between the work and nonwork NAs, and I'm off to the races. Likewise, it's useful to print the phone NAs separately when I've got a car trip planned. Beyond those two applications, I'm at a bit of a loss when it comes to applying contexts. Maybe they're more relevant to someone who travels frequently or works in multiple locations. » POSTED IN:
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