Iâm still undecided how to setup next actions in Dynalist. I know I can mark each task in the project with a tag so I can have an instant Next Actions list. Thatâs really amazing.
I am curious to see how other folks approach Next Actions in their GTD practice.
I use a singular list now, after a couple of revisions. It makes it extremely easy to look at too
WAITING ON
TO DO - HIGH PRIORITY
TO DO - LOW PRIORITY
INBOX
SOMEDAY - HIGH PRIORITY
SOMEDAY - LOW PRIORITY
Items near top are higher priority, items lower on the stack are low priority
If I donât know where it goes, it goes in inbox (e.g. massive dumping of tasks from another source like todoist)
If its something I have to do this week, it goes in TODO- high priority
if its something that I have to work on, but might not finish TO-DO low priority
If its something that needs to be done later, goes to someday -high priority / low priority
During week, cross out items as they are finished with CTRL+ENTER
Hide finished, CUT the items not finished, and paste into next week
Add more tasks as needed at any point in time
Add project tags, before, during , or after completion of tasks, but do it at least once a week on Sunday if not
If you want to have a daily bucket list, write it on a stickynote and cross it out throughout the day, adjust the lists in dynalist after
Can scale up and add as many items as you want
If I think of a task, then do it right away, make a oneliner task somewhere in my dailylog notes and cross it out
I donât use Dynalist for work projects so I have only one todo list for personal stuff (most of my lists are of reference material).
At that todo list, there are some itens: today/tomorrow, next days, later, when possible, scheduled, to schedule and waiting responses (Iâm not a native English speaker so some of the precedent words may sound a bit weird in the context).
At today / tomorrow sub-list I order tasks from top (next action) to bottom (lower priority).
This system is an ongoing refining work.
I use a simple @na tag but employ it in two different ways as needed:
Depending on the type of project both of these can be handy, and I find no problem having them in the same search and acting on them simultaneously.
Importantly, a major component of my weekly review is to make sure all projects have a well defined next action, and that the next action has a context tag and the appropriate urgency (which I use red, orange, yellow and #someday for so that I can easily visually scan for urgency when searching by context) - this makes life as close to irritation free as possible for the next week.
Within:today
I know Iâm violating GTD principle of scheduling only appointments on a calendar but Iâm trying out actually meeting goals set for a day
The idea of a Next Action tag is a bit of computer dirt that has crept into GTD. In GTD paper version there is no Next Action list: there are context lists.
Actions are put on a context list. So if an action is on a context list (in Dynalist: if it has a context tag) then it is a Next Action.
Advantage? No messing around with 2 tags (#tag #nextaction etc). Clean.
Multiple steps in a project can each be an immediate next action, in one or more contexts, as long as they donât rely on each other. And according to GTD youâre âallowedâ to just continue with actions in a project if you so desire.
So in my case I have a Single Actions list where I put single next actions, each with a context tag. Then I have a Projects List where each project has at least 1 next action (so designating by assigning it a context). I set these during my weekly review and/or upon completion of a task. If I want to do more right then on the project, I just drill down into that project list.
I finished setting up my dynalist today (it took me 6 weeks to get something seriously optimized for myself)
I only have one document. In all its entirety, this is what it is now. I massively simplified it so its easy to navigate
Yearly is where I keep my daily log, and my tasks / goal lines
I will post more information on the actual GTD of tasks list, goals, , formatting, etc later
