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Goals, lists, and organization
Jun. 8th, 2010 01:50 pmI think there are different types of goals and different types of lists.
As someone who has (or at least had and haven't acknowledged the change) a good memory, I don't usually need a list of every single thing I feel needs my attention. In fact, if too many things get onto my list, I get overwhelmed easily.
I do need a list to keep me focused on priorities so I don't lapse and do laundry when there's no milk. (Those tasks are incompatible because I cannot be in two places at once and the shared laundry room requires me being here so other people don't put their hands on my panties.) It also helps, somewhat, with scheduling. I have a good sense of how long things take and I will start on dinner at 4 if it will turn out better for a slow cooking. It also helps so I do things which will be easier for being done while everyone else is at work before 5pm.
Today I saw a posting about goal minimums. That is how I do my goals. If I tell you I'm going to read 25 books this year, I might read 50. If I said I was going to read 50, I'd be so far behind by now that I would give up and not read any more books at all. Most people seem to construct goal lists by looking at the maximum and aiming for that, otherwise they don't start until it's too late.
I hope the Google Tasks people stop sucking quite so much. I hate that you can't view more than one list at a time even in full-screen mode. I hate that you cannot have sub-tasks which are hidden until the main task has focus. I hate that they don't have schedule-able tasks. Like every Tuesday I'm going to wash sheets and every Friday I'm going to the grocery store so I don't have to go on the weekend. The current Tasks is like a really awkward interface to an electronic sticky note.
I would also like the kind of list where I can note things I have done and collect praise for them. It's 2pm and I haven't showered since I got up. (I did shower after midnight though, so that's "today" and I think it still counts; I'd rather shower after going to the gym.) I did eat lunch. It's not unreasonable if when I ticked off something I should do every day it puts up a little smiley face. There should also be space to add a note if something happened-- like yesterday I not only went to the gym, I measured myself and when I added that into the spreadsheet, I realized I'd slimmed down by an inch in the hip and waist both.
I want something where I can keep myself organized. So I could put down that the car was washed and then later I could find out how long it's been. Or better yet, there'd be a reminder added if I hadn't done that in N months. I'd like to have the ability to tell when we had tacos last, it seems like we're always having tacos but it had actually been almost a month.
But even if there aren't great organizational tools out there, I was glad to see the acknowledgement of "minimum goals" and seeing that other people get overwhelmed when the list is too long.
As someone who has (or at least had and haven't acknowledged the change) a good memory, I don't usually need a list of every single thing I feel needs my attention. In fact, if too many things get onto my list, I get overwhelmed easily.
I do need a list to keep me focused on priorities so I don't lapse and do laundry when there's no milk. (Those tasks are incompatible because I cannot be in two places at once and the shared laundry room requires me being here so other people don't put their hands on my panties.) It also helps, somewhat, with scheduling. I have a good sense of how long things take and I will start on dinner at 4 if it will turn out better for a slow cooking. It also helps so I do things which will be easier for being done while everyone else is at work before 5pm.
Today I saw a posting about goal minimums. That is how I do my goals. If I tell you I'm going to read 25 books this year, I might read 50. If I said I was going to read 50, I'd be so far behind by now that I would give up and not read any more books at all. Most people seem to construct goal lists by looking at the maximum and aiming for that, otherwise they don't start until it's too late.
I hope the Google Tasks people stop sucking quite so much. I hate that you can't view more than one list at a time even in full-screen mode. I hate that you cannot have sub-tasks which are hidden until the main task has focus. I hate that they don't have schedule-able tasks. Like every Tuesday I'm going to wash sheets and every Friday I'm going to the grocery store so I don't have to go on the weekend. The current Tasks is like a really awkward interface to an electronic sticky note.
I would also like the kind of list where I can note things I have done and collect praise for them. It's 2pm and I haven't showered since I got up. (I did shower after midnight though, so that's "today" and I think it still counts; I'd rather shower after going to the gym.) I did eat lunch. It's not unreasonable if when I ticked off something I should do every day it puts up a little smiley face. There should also be space to add a note if something happened-- like yesterday I not only went to the gym, I measured myself and when I added that into the spreadsheet, I realized I'd slimmed down by an inch in the hip and waist both.
I want something where I can keep myself organized. So I could put down that the car was washed and then later I could find out how long it's been. Or better yet, there'd be a reminder added if I hadn't done that in N months. I'd like to have the ability to tell when we had tacos last, it seems like we're always having tacos but it had actually been almost a month.
But even if there aren't great organizational tools out there, I was glad to see the acknowledgement of "minimum goals" and seeing that other people get overwhelmed when the list is too long.
