How I Capure

Hi there. It has been longer than I would have wanted. I have stories and excuses, but those are topics for a different day. Today we will cover my personal process and how I handle my day to day business.

We last left off with a brief history of why I started doing this, how it helps, and a little about the tools I use. I want to reiterate that any software can work as long as you can input things quickly and consistently. I have mulled over how to present this, and I think I will walk through my folders and lists with a description of each.

Capture Lists (in Wunderlist but these can be generalized to work with any other task software like Todoist and Microsoft To-Do)

• Inbox - inbox is the default list in Wunderlist and I use it to capture things that don’t fit in with any of the defined lists below. My capture shortcut (iOS) and Google assistant will use this box for ubiquitous capture so I work out of this list regularly as a catch-all.
• Personal - This is where I put general items related to my personal life. I keep them separate because I like to be able to segregate work stuff so don’t let thoughts of work in when I am trying to be productive at home.
• Work - General work list.
• Folder: Follow up - This is a series of lists I use to keep up with items I am not actively working on, or things I want to look into sometime in the future.
• Questions - This is a list of questions I like to ask people that are experts or generally mindful about a specific topic. Keeping this list has helped me fill in awkward silences with questions that I find personally helpful in some way, and will ensure I am actively listening to the response. I also put stuff in there for me to look up when I get the chance. The current question I need to google is why do some jalapenos turn red.
• Personal/Work follow up - These are two different lists that I keep separate for the reasons outline above. If I assign someone a task, or need to follow up with the dentist, it goes into one of these lists. It allows me to stay on top of things and set the precedent that I don’t forget once I give someone a task or say I'll be in touch. Reliability is important to me so I am diligent with this list even when I am being slack with other parts of my process.
• Things to tell people - I use this list to remember compliments I want to give. I see so many good things going on around me, but I don’t often appreciate it until I get the chance to reflect on it. If that happens and the person/group is around, great. If not, I write it down for later. Showing appreciation is a very positive habit to build.
• Wife - These are topics I specifically want to talk to my wife about. This is how I make sure I ask or say the things I need to. I have been guilty in the past of overlooking the person closest to me. If she is around, great. If she is not, capture. (she is not a big texter)
• Folder: Meetings - I won't go into detail on the specific lists, but every regular meeting I attend has it's own list. If I want to bring something up, or add to the agenda, I simply pull from these lists. I have been using this method for years, and it works well at keeping the communication fluid in meetings that tend to get bogged down with familiarity and tedium.
• Folder: Lists - Lists in this section are for accumulating information in a stress free way, that I can use whenever I am ready to build something or take some action. These lists fluctuate based on my current projects and interests
• Camping - this is an item checklist I use when going camping. It makes sure I have a source for colleting stuff, but if I didn’t think about something before hand and learn the hard way to bring something next time, I just add to the list.
• Shopping - Self explanatory. Everyone has a shopping list, I just fill it in as I think of stuff so I have a list started when shopping time comes around.
• Gift Ideas - I am bad at buying presents. I created this list with the intent of writing down stuff that people I buy for want. A casual mention that I wouldn’t normally pick up on is now put into this list. Come Christmas time, I don’t have to start from scratch. This has the added benefit of getting things at a better price as well as reducing the last minute stressful shopping experiences.
• Things I don’t want - This is a list I am keeping until I initiate a project for other people I work with to take some operational responsibility from me. Again, the intent is to allow this list to help me start the project by giving me some direction which is where I most often fail when it comes to starting something new. If I reduce the unknown, it is more approachable.
• Goals - Just as it says, I keep my goals in a list. That way they are always with me. These could be easily kept in long term notes, but I like being able to see them regularly.
• Networking - I have my own networking strategy I follow that requires me to be proactive with setting up meetings, calls, texts, you name it. I put the person in the list, and depending on the follow up schedule, set a repeating reminder for every week/month/quarter/year. When we get to networking we will see how this plays out, but for now we will keep it simple.

A couple universal rules for keeping track of things.

1. I use the notes section and attach files whenever possible. If I have a task to call someone and their number is already in the notes section the task is a lost easier to start and more likely to be completed. Reviewing a contract in OneDrive or SharePoint? Link to the document in notes. If I do put anything in the notes I put an asterisk (*) before the task description so I know to check the notes and/or attachments in Wunderlist for the info I need so I don’t waste time trying to find it in my files, emails, or contacts.
2. If the task is something I repeat on an interval, I always set the task up to repeat. It saves me some time to set a task to repeat instead of moving a task when I don’t want to do it just yet. For example, I will have an item I want to do two or three times a week, but no idea of where I want to schedule it in my calendar. I set it to repeat every day, week, month until the larger task is done. If it comes up and I don’t have the time for it, I check it off and wait for it to come up again. This is messier than I typically like, but sometimes it's just like that. I eventually get to it, and spend less time than I would changing the date on a non repeatable task. Well why not just set it further out if it is low priority? Because that is how I get lower priority stuff done timely. I need it in my face regularly or I will never do it. If I only see it once a quarter, 4 reschedules is an entire year.
3. I clear out my daily tasks no matter what. This keeps time sensitive stuff visible in notifications. I have let my tasks pile up over the weekend intending to run them down Monday morning only to find out Monday that I missed a ballet registration, or some other task that was time/date sensitive. I want to be someone that is reliable (as I have mentioned multiple times), so clearing/rescheduling my stuff due today is something I have to do unless I want to break out time sensitive stuff into it's own process, which I don’t.
4. If you capture something, schedule a due date. Having a date ensures the task doesn’t "fall through the cracks". My default is the next day at 9AM, but I try to be as accurate with this as possible to save time working in the app.
5. List review is the last thing I will mention today. I do a quick review every quarter in order to keep things less cluttered. In addition to removing lists associated with a completed project, the review helps me figure out my areas of procrastination. Someday I will build that treehouse….I swear.