Make an Appointment with Yourself

How I learned to stop worrying and love my schedule

One of the cardinal rules of GTD is the 2–minute rule.  Once picking up an item from our inboxes, we are to decide if it is actionable.  If it is, the next decision is to determine if it will take two minutes or less to do it.  If it can be completed in two minutes, one is to do it.  If it takes more than two minutes, we put it on our context lists, deferred until later.  The problem is when a task will take a substantial amount of time.  Due to the excessive time requirement, it is easy to defer it (yes, I mean procrastinate on it) until it becomes an emergency.  The answer, however, is as close as your calendar.

Kerry Gleason, in his book, The Personal Efficiency Program, has advocated for years that if a task requires excessive time, one should make an appointment with oneself to do it.  This is very similar to the system that D. Keith Robinson uses.  Keith, however schedules everything.  I have to say this is close to my heart as most of my tasks are self-imposed and, due to procrastination, are available for deferment.

My dirty little secret is that, for years, I have been using this system for any task that took over 15 minutes to do.  I found that the task increased in importance in my mind since I dedicated a slot of time for its accomplishment.  It was also easy to decline other’s requests for my time, which would have taken me away from my important project, by saying (truthfully) that I had a prior commitment.  My commitment, however, was with me and my project.  I found that I was getting more and more things done.  In addition, past calendars became important time logs for me to analyze to see where my time was going and to see if I was concentrating on my Key Areas of Responsibility.

There — I feel so much better now that it’s out.  Yes!  I love my calendar!  Son-of-a-gun — my calendar loves me!

Thanks, Keith!   By the way, Congrats on the wedding, buddy!

Comments

[Jason Ellis]

I agree with that approach, and so does David Allen. I don’t remember his exact words, but he in essence says that if you put something on your calendar, and action or an appointment, it is something that absolutely must get done that day. When he removed actions from calendars, it was to stop the endless roll of to-do’s from one calendar page to the next. I put things on my calendar as well, and I think it jives with GTD perfectly.

Jason Ellis

[Robert]

That's not Keith, that's Peter, who's sitting in while Keith is off doing better things with his time. :)

[Bert]

Man, ya can't tell the players without a program. I gotta get one next time.

[Jason Womack]

I'm asked pretty consistently if I "schedule" my workouts (in the business of it all I'm still racing through October!). I've had mediocre - at best - success with this. It seems that when I decide on Sunday when and where I'm going to work out on Thursday, and what I'm going to do then, I tend to find a way out of it ... a gentle way of saying I blow that workout out!

So, here's how I manage the "need to" of 12-15 hours of exercise a week:

I set a mileage and time goal for the month, then break that down for each week, then for every 24 hour period of time. When I check into a(nother) hotel, I write on the bathroom mirror - using a white erase Expo pen - what I have left for the week. Time or miles, that's about it. Then, during that stay, whether it's one night or four, I count down as time goes by.

I know, not exactly "traditional," but what about our workday is these days???