Staying ultimately productive and enjoying your work at the same time is difficult enough without the added interruption of "task reminders".
Instead of having to "react" to reminders, we would recommend a proactive approach. Staying on-top of your commitments without reminders is easier said than done, because if your outstanding tasks don't come looking for you, you need to go looking for them!
This short piece looks at how you'd move from being a task reminder slave to a proactive commander of your own time.
You can also see a video presentation of this material via our video gallery.
One approach to being proactive in your activity management is the use of visual cues. We promote the use of three existing MindManager icon markers: flags, priorities and percent complete. These icon markers make great visual cues on individual topics.
An even more powerful extension is rolling up these Flags, priorities and percent complete icons to parent topics and maps. You can then quickly zoom in on items that need attention. This automation is provided by TPAssist 2007.
Another approach to proactively managing and finding your next action is the use of TPAssist's Task Summary view on a daily basis.
The Task Summary provides a view of all outstanding and approaching actions found with-in your Dashboard. When executed regularly, you'll find the 7 day horizon view an excellent alternative to the dozen task reminder appearing in your face every 5 minutes. Instead, you can go looking for your next action when you are ready, holding comfort in the fact that if you get drawn away from a task for a period, you'll easily find it again later via the Task Summary.
Using the Task Summary and/or visual clues in your Dashboard assumes you are using your map to plan your actions. Therefore at a minimum you need to ensure your map includes everything you need to do. If you forget to include some action you may find yourself not trusting the Task Summary or visual clues.
In Summary, our recommended approach to becoming a proactive commander of your own time is as follows:
- Use flags, priorities and percent complete as visual cues.
- Use the Task Summary daily to set your priorities for the day and see where you are going.
- And at a minimum capture everything you need to do in your map.
