It took me almost a year to write it. I’ve put a lot of effort into it, and I am very happy with the result.

Bill Polm, one of the early readers, who also helped me with editing, predicted that the “[The] book has the potential for becoming a classic in the field. It covers [task] management better than any I have read before it“.

We’ve not even announced it yet, and several people have already purchased it! This is very exciting.

I plan to keep improving the e-book, based on the feedback I will receive. Updates of the e-book will be free.

You might have a lot of questions – so I will do my best to answer them. If you have any other questions, post it in the comments.

Who is Swift Mind Freedom for?

Swift Mind Freedom is for anyone who has a lot of things to do or keep track of, and works with a Windows computer.

If you use or would like to use Swift To-Do List, it’s perfect for you.

What will I gain from Swift Mind Freedom?

As you start applying Swift Mind Freedom, you will:

1. Experience instant and complete relief from stress and overwhelm.
2. Get in total control of your work and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
3. Become super-efficient, racing through your surprisingly motivating to-do list in record time.

The results are permanent. Once you read this e-book, your to-do lists will never be the same.

What are the contents?

The e-book has 3 main sections:

• Introduction and motivation – this helps you understand why being organized is important, and it gets you moving. I also share the story of my personal “to-do list journey”.
• 11 Swift Mind Freedom Principles – these 11 powerful principles are the core. Each principle comes with a fun hand-drawn illustration, and an action step so you can immediately apply it into your life
• Q&A and Troubleshooting – this section lists many questions and problems, along with the answers.

Each section is divided into chapters.

It has 110 pages in total.

It comes as a PDF file, so you can read it on your computer, table or e-reader.

(In the future, I would like offer .mobi and .epub formats as well if there is interest.)

If you would like a short sample, see my recent post “Tasks and oranges“. That post explains why it’s important to break down complex tasks into subtasks. In Swift Mind Freedom, there is a whole chapter about this (it is one of the Principles), including a how-to and step-by-step instructions for Swift To-Do List.

How does Swift Mind Freedom compare to other books?

This e-book is unique because it shows you how to apply what you learn directly in Swift To-Do List.

Also, it is easy, fast and simple. It is possible to read and apply it in a single day.

I’ve read all the books on task management, time management, organizing and productivity I could find, and after a lot of research, experiments and hard work, I’ve distilled them into Swift Mind Freedom, so you can get great results fast and with minimum effort.

Each of the 11 core principles comes with a fun hand-drawn illustration. This helps you understand and remember better, and learn faster.

Finally, I am here for you. I am committed to helping you get the results you want, so you can email me at any time with your questions.

How much does it cost?

The e-book costs $39.95.

If you purchase it with a new Swift To-Do List 8 for Windows license, you will get 50% discount.

Purchasing this book is 100% risk-free for you, because it comes with 90-day money back guarantee. If you won’t be completely happy with it for any reason, I will refund you the full amount. No hard feelings. Again, I am fully committed to helping you get the results you want.

Where can I purchase the book?

Right now, it is available exclusively on our website, where you can purchase it using our secure online store.

You will receive it immediately after payment.

Will there be a sequel?

Yes, I would like to write a sequel.

Swift Mind Freedom is focused mostly on getting and staying organized, stress relief, control and efficiency. It works beautifully with Swift To-Do List.

The sequel will be heavily focused on productivity. It will build upon Swift Mind Freedom (getting organized is always the first and most important step). My working title for the sequel is “Ultra Productive: Eat your to-do list“.

I love feedback!

I would love to hear what you think. If you read the book, please send me an email and tell me what you think. What you loved and what you didn’t care for. While I know that Swift Mind Freedom is already pretty good, your feedback can help me improve it further.

Any questions or thoughts? Post them in comments below!

Related Posts:

• How to keep your to-do list useful, short and motivating
• How to murder your productivity
• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?
• Always get stuff out of your head
• “Why should I care about being organized?”
• Centralize Your Lists with Swift To-Do List

Swift Mind Freedom released! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

A quick recap -

1. Create the to-do list and do the initial dump, placing all your “stuff” into it. This clears your mind.
2. (continuously): Look at your to-do list, see what’s next, work on it.
   » Whenever you get interrupted or distracted, repeat.
   » Whenever you finish a task, repeat.
3. (continuously): Whenever a new idea or task comes to you, write it down immediately into your to-do list, then proceed with what you were doing before.

Today, we will add one important advanced technique. It is the missing secret ingredient.

We are going to learn a solid to-do list maintenance routine, using which you will keep your to-do list relevant, short and motivating.

Your to-do list is like a garden.

If you don’t tend a garden, it will soon become full of weeds and dead plants. The beautiful flowers and useful plants will have hard time flourishing in such an environment, as they become oppressed by the weeds.

The same thing can happen to your to-do list. If you don’t remove done tasks, and if you don’t remove tasks that are no longer important, and if you don’t reprioritize tasks when priorities change, your to-do list will be just like a garden full of weeds; and not nearly as useful as it could be.

1. Reprioritize. When your to-do list becomes an obstacle to your productivity, it’s usually because there are too many tasks in certain priority categories. Usually, you will have far too many high priority tasks. So, demote some of them. Ask yourself: What is really important here?Keep in mind that tasks lose importance over time. There are two main reasons for this. First, in the moment you are writing a task down, it usually seems emotionally more important than a few days later when the emotion fades away. Second, some newer tasks are indeed more important than the old tasks, so the old tasks lose relevance because of the opportunity cost. As you know, you can’t do everything.

   The problem is that we seldom decrease priorities of tasks in our to-do lists. For many of us, it just feels wrong – it feels like slacking. But reprioritizing is necessity to keep your to-do list relevant and up-to-date. Things change, and your to-do list must reflect that.

2. Delete everything that is no longer important. Sometimes you might realize that you don’t want to do something at all, because things changed. That’s perfectly OK. You can never do it all. You have just so much time. If you are sure you don’t want to do something, delete it. If you are unsure, then reprioritize it accordingly – as an “Info/Maybe” task, and perhaps move it to a separate list. Try to keep your main to-do list for tasks that absolutely want to do.
3. Hide tasks that you don’t have to worry about now for later. To keep your list at a reasonable size, hide low-priority tasks until later. If you know that you don’t have to worry about something for a couple of weeks or even months, hide it until a later date. In Swift To-Do List, this can be easily accomplished by setting the Hide Until field, added in version 8.
4. Move all non-tasks to a separate list. Your main to-do list should be for actions only (tasks). Keep the non-tasks (info, ideas, reference material) in a separate list; otherwise, it will be impossible to finish your to-do list.
5. Break complex fear-inducing tasks down into sub-tasks. If there are any important task you are procrastinating on, then you should break them down into subtasks.
6. Remove duplicate entries. If you notice the same item appearing twice or more, perhaps in slightly different words, delete all but 1 copy.
7. Rewrite task names to make them more actionable. Use verbs and be specific. When you read any task name, you should immediately know what needs to be done. If you have to think even for seconds, then the task name is probably wrong. You can also spice things up and include fun words and phrases – but be careful to preserve the full clarity. If you can make daunting task rhyme, you might be able to do it sooner, as it will stick in your mind. Play with it. Just don’t overdo this step – it might be a sign of procrastination.
8. Remove projects and goals, and replace them with next action tasks. If your to-do list contains enormous tasks which are not really tasks but projects or goals, you should instead create the next action task (or a couple of them) for each project, and remove the projects from your to-do list. Keep the list of projects separately.
9. Delete completed tasks. Delete them permanently or archive them. In Swift To-Do List, deleted tasks are automatically moved to task Archive, accessible via menu Manage – Archived Tasks. You don’t actually need to do this manually. I recommend you to use the auto-archive feature added in Swift To-Do List 8: Go to menu File – Options, and in the Task-View tab of the Options window, check “Automatically archive done tasks” at the bottom. Using this, done tasks will get automatically archived after the specified time (Immediately, The next day, After 2 days, etc.)

To sum it up: Reprioritize; delete tasks that you no longer want to do; hide all the tasks that are of no concern to you now until later; move all non-tasks to a separate list; break complex tasks into subtasks; delete duplicate tasks; rewrite task names to make them more actionable and specific; remove projects/goals and replace them with next action tasks; delete completed tasks.

If you do this, your to-do list will stay fresh, crisp, laser-focused and super-useful. It will help you flourish.

There is also a second huge benefit to this: By maintaining your to-do list, you will also effectively review it, and maintain a pretty accurate picture of what needs to be done. Your mental model of tasks, non-tasks, project, goals and commitments will very closely reflect the actual information captured in your personal organizer, thus helping you to make better decisions and estimates. By keeping an accurate mental picture, it will also help you avoid capturing the identical information multiple times (thus creating duplicates).

You might now be thinking: “Whoa, I thought that the point of keeping a to-do list is NOT to have things on mind. Well, you are spot on. But what we are trying to do is to make sure that you don’t NEED to keep things in your head, because they are already captured in a trusted organizer. It is the “necessity to remember” which is stressful. Looking at your list and getting the feel of what’s there is not the same as having to remember it all.

When you are reviewing/maintaining your to-do list, your goal is not to memorize it all. The fact that you refresh your mental picture is a side-effect. You are not trying to remember things here, just as when you read a novel, you are not trying to remember it. When you review items in your organizer, it will refresh your mental model of what needs to be done, which is usually beneficial. It helps you make better decisions.

Finally, there is a third enormous benefit. In Agile methodology (used for software development), there is a saying: “If something is painful, do it more often”. If you do the to-do list maintenance just twice a year, it will be very tedious and painful. But if you do it weekly, you will oftentimes notice that many of the steps aren’t even necessary. You will learn to apply these principles automatically, even when you are not doing the routine – this is an incredible benefit. You will become a to-do list master without even trying!

And by the way, many productivity systems have separate maintenance and review routines, or lack one or the other. I’ve combined both review and maintenance routines into one for maximum efficiency, and threw out everything non-essential. Therefore, doing the routine is time extremely well spent with enormous leverage.

Implement regular to-do list maintenance routine into your life, now

I recommend doing the to-do list maintenance routine at least once a week. I think that doing it on Monday morning is perfect, because it will help you review everything that needs to be done during the week, and it will also ensure that you are well-equipped for the week with an actualized and useful to-do list.

But beware – the strategy “I have to remember to do X” (e.g. “I have to remember to do the weekly to-do list maintenance/review”) is a guaranteed failure. Why? You won’t remember it at the right moment. You will be busy; other things will usurp your attention. Even worse, having to remember something is a stressful burden. And each time you fail/skip, you will feel bad about yourself. Don’t do this to yourself! Setup a weekly reminder, and forget it. When it reminds you, do the routine. It’s that simple, and it’s nearly miraculous.

Because merely trying to remember to do the to-do list maintenance routine is a horrible strategy guaranteed to fail, I want you to do the following in Swift To-Do List for Windows:

1. Click the Add Task button. We will create a new task specifically for this.
2. Name the task “Do the weekly to-do list review/maintenance routine”. I also recommend including “- no matter what” at the end of the task name. It’s a little note which tells you that you really, really want to do the routine, even if you might not be feeling like it in the moment. The “- no matter what” appendix works great for me, but something else might work better for you, depending on your personality, self-talk, and preferences.
3. Now go to the Notes tab. What we want to do here is to write step-by-step instructions for doing the routine. Every time you are reminded, the notes with these instructions will be shown. This way, you won’t have to refer to this post. You will also learn the routine faster and do it the right way. And the best part is – doing the routine won’t be as overwhelming, because the steps will be simple and obvious. You won’t procrastinate on this. If you want, you can also include a couple of motivational sentences, reminding yourself why you want to do the routine and how it serves you. Think of this as a message you can send yourself into the future. Right now, you are all enthusiastic and energized about this, but in a few months or weeks, you might feel different, because there can be several important deadlines looming, etc. So – copy the following text into the Notes, and modify it as you see fit. You can also highlight the steps which you think will have the best payoff for you personally.
   

   Go through all tasks – it’s easy! And -
   1) Reprioritize (priorities decrease over time!)
   2) Delete tasks that I no longer want to do
   3) Hide Until later all the tasks that are of no concern to me now
   4) Move all non-tasks to a separate list
   5) Break down intimidating complex tasks into subtasks
   6) Delete duplicates
   7) Rewrite task names to make them more actionable and specific
   8) Remove projects/goals and replace them with next action tasks

4. Now it’s time to go to the Recurrence tab and setup a weekly reminder for this task. Select Recur Weekly, and then set a time. I recommend setting it bit earlier than the usual time you arrive at work, so the reminder immediately pops out. So, for example, if you usually arrive at work at 9:00, set the time to 8:30. Then, check Monday. In the Action dropdown, select “Set undone and remind me”, and optionally, for extra punch, check “Email me”. And that’s it. You can also click the Preview to see the times you will be reminded to do the weekly review. If all looks good, click OK to add this task. Once added, you can check off the task (mark it done), because on Monday, it will uncheck itself and remind you to do the review.

Now, once the reminder-task is set up, go through the steps and actually do the routine right now! This will help you do it well the next time.

Congratulations! You are now ahead of 99% of people who want to get organized, because you have actually made sure that you will succeed. This what true winners do.

The next week, when you are reminded about your to-do list maintenance routine, do it – no matter what.

At first, this might seem tedious, but it will get easier every week. And who knows – after a few months, you might realize that you all you have to do each week is to read your list to refresh the tasks in your mind, because you apply the principles automatically during the week, like a true to-do list master.

Related Posts:

• Swift Mind Freedom released!
• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?
• Is your to-do list impossible to finish?
• Always get stuff out of your head
• 3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating
• How to separate work and personal tasks

How to keep your to-do list useful, short and motivating is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

One Minute To-Do List method is perfect for people who want to quickly start using some proven organizing system, instead of doing things haphazardly and randomly on their own, or learning some complex organizing system.

One Minute To-Do List approach is very simple compared to both GTD and “Master Your Workday Now”. And since it is so simple, I will explain it to you – along with some of my own insights and remarks – and show you exactly how to use it with Swift To-Do List.

Once you read this this post, you will:

1. Learn the proven One Minute To-Do List method
2. Know exactly how to use it with Swift To-Do List for Windows

But what this really means to you is that you will get your workday and life under control and bring intelligent system into your to-do lists. Your to-do lists will finally help you to eliminate stress, not add to it!

I’m so glad that Michael Linenberger developed this simple method that I can now teach to you. Sure, perhaps the method could be even little bit simpler, but I believe that anything simpler probably wouldn’t work. This is as simple as it gets. Do you know the 80/20 principle? 20% of the effort will bring you 80% results – and that’s exactly what One Minute To-Do List is about.

Michael is a truly brilliant guy. This method is backed up by a real-world experience of him as a very successful coach, seminar organizer and best-selling author, who has helped 10.000s of individuals to eliminate stress and become organized. It really works, and it is proven. Michael trains employees of Microsoft, GE, GE, US Coast Guard, and other organizations. And I really believe that you can reap the 80% benefits of his expertise by learning this simple method.

We will cover 4 areas here: Prioritizing Tasks, Capturing Tasks, Reviewing Tasks, and Keeping the List Reasonable. Feel free to skip the “Why this works” box for each area, although the boxes can provide you with better understanding.

You can start using this method today. Just follow the instructions. Let’s get going!

1. Prioritizing Your Tasks

The One Minute To-Do List method works with just 3 task priorities, all based on urgency:

1. Critical Now
2. Opportunity Now
3. Over the Horizon

The Critical Now priority is for tasks that are urgent and must be completed today. At any point, you shouldn’t have more than 5 tasks with this priority. This priority should be used only when necessary. If any action is not urgent and doesn’t absolutely have to be done today, then don’t prioritize it as “Critical Now”. It is perfectly OK to not have any “Critical Now” tasks.

Opportunity Now is for tasks that you would like to do today or this week, given the opportunity. You shouldn’t have more than 20 tasks with this priority.

Over the Horizon is for everything else. It’s great for tasks that are not concerning you right now, but that you don’t want to lose. You will revisit these later.

Why this works: Prioritizing by urgency makes much more sense than prioritizing by importance, because we tend to think that nearly everything is important. There is always some reason why any particular task is important. Yet, if everything is important, nothing really is. Also, it is the urgent tasks that are the most stressful. You simply need handle these first in any case. Mark Forster (Author of “Do-It Tomorrow”) also agrees that prioritizing by importance is a guaranteed failure. If you stop doing do the less-important things, they will eventually pile up and clog up your work.

How to implement this with Swift To-Do List: Because Swift To-Do List is very flexible, there are multiple ways of implementing this. You could either edit the inbuilt task priorities using menu Manage – Priorities, or, you could create a separate to-do list for tasks of each priority. Let’s go with the priority customization here, as that will allow you to use the to-do list tree for something else than priorities (e.g. project/area categorization).

Start Swift To-Do List (Download it if you haven’t already). Then, use menu Manage – Priorities:

This is how the default priorities look like:

Let’s delete the “High” and “Low” priorities, so only “Highest”, “Medium” and “Lowest” remain. Then, we will rename these remaining priorities:

1. Edit the “Highest” priority and rename it to “Critical Now”.
2. Edit the “Medium” priority and rename it to “Opportunity Now”.
3. Edit the “Low” priority and rename it to “Over the Horizon”.

This is how it should look once you are done:

And hey, feel free to change the colors. It’s your to-do list after all!

2. Capturing Your Tasks

• Always use the next action necessary to accomplish the task as the task name. That way, all task names will be actionable. It will be obvious what you need to do to move things forward.
• All your tasks should be in one place. The best place is your computer.
• All new incoming tasks should be put into your to-do list, regardless the source (email, phone, notes from co-workers or family members, meetings).

Why this works: Having actionable task names removes friction when it’s the time to actually do the task. You won’t have to think about what’s the next step, and it will be less intimidating. Having all your tasks on your computer is important, because your computer is the place where you carry out most of your work. Even if you would have your to-do list somewhere else, you would still need it on your computer. To-do list software has many advantages over paper to-do list. You can easily re-prioritize things, easily capture new tasks, write notes for each tasks, create reminders or recurring tasks, attach files and emails to your tasks, email tasks to others, and many other advantages. If you ever need a paper to-do list, you can simply print it. Mobile devices are useful for capturing new tasks, which you can put later into your main to-do list on your computer.

How to implement this with Swift To-Do List: Not only you should put all new incoming tasks into Swift To-Do List, but you should move all your existing tasks and lists into Swift To-Do List as well. This includes any tasks you have on your phone, on paper, in text files on your computer, or in other software.

To quickly enter multiple tasks, use menu Task – Add Multiple Tasks (Ctrl + H), then enter one task per line. If your tasks are in other software or spreadsheet, you can usually export them to CSV, and then import the CSV file into Swift To-Do List by using menu File – Import Wizard.

With Swift To-Do List, it is especially simple to create tasks from emails. If you use Outlook, Windows Live Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Lotus Notes, The Bat, or other desktop email client, you can just drag & drop the emails into Swift To-Do List to create tasks. Here is a quick video how to create tasks from emails.

3. Reviewing Your Tasks

You should review the “Critical Now” tasks about once per hour.

You should review the “Opportunity Now” tasks once per day or more often.

You should review the “Over the Horizon” tasks once per week.

Why this works: If you review your urgent tasks often, you will feel in control, always know what needs to be done, and therefore greatly reduce stress. But it’s not enough to review just the urgent tasks, because non-urgent tasks will eventually become urgent too. You need to “catch” these before they get the chance to become urgent, and that can be accomplished with the daily and weekly reviews. Additionally, the reviews will help you to constantly re-focus to adjust your efforts. If you are focused on the right things at the right moment, you will be very efficient and productive.

How to implement this with Swift To-Do List: First, to be able to quickly review the Critical Now tasks, learn to use the global hotkey for quickly displaying Swift To-do List. This will allow you to review your tasks as often as you need. The default hotkey is Ctrl + Alt + S, and can be changed using menu File – Options. (In the Options window, it is located in the Hotkeys section.) Start using the hotkey often. It is useful especially whenever you are not entirely sure what to do next, and/or if you get distracted or interrupted.

Second, make it a habit to review your Opportunity Now tasks either when you start your workday or when you finish it.

Third, create a recurring weekly task to remind you to review all your Over the Horizon tasks. To do that:

1. Click the Add Task button.
2. Then, in the Add Task window, enter the task name: “Review all my Over the Horizon tasks”
3. Select the Priority – this task will have the “Over the Horizon” priority.
4. Go to the Recurrence tab, select “Weekly” as the interval, and in the Action dropdown, select “Set undone and remind me”. This way, Swift To-Do List will remind you once a week to review all your Over the Horizon tasks.
5. Press “OK” to add the task.

4. Keeping the List Reasonable

With a little discipline, it’s easy to stick to the rules of having no more than 5 tasks with the Critical Now priority, and no more than 20 tasks with Opportunity prioriy Now. If you have more than that, simply move some tasks to the lower (less urgent) priority.

The real problem here is that your list of tasks with “Over the Horizon” priority can quickly grow out of proportions. This is a problem, because you want the weekly review to be fast and easy. No one wants to read hundreds of irrelevant tasks.

To keep things manageable, Michael Linenberger recommends using the Start Date field for this purpose. Using the following clever technique, you can defer some Over the Horizon tasks for later review. That way, your list of Over the Horizon tasks that you review weekly won’t become too long. This is how it works:

First, all new tasks should have the Start Date set to today.

Second, all tasks that have Start Date in the future should be hidden.

Third, you can start deferring tasks by setting their Start Date to future. So, if don’t want to (or need to) review some tasks for some time, then set its Start Date to a future date. This will hide the task, and when that particular future date comes, this task will start appearing on your to-do list again.

Why this works: The number 1 reason people abandon a to-do list or organizing system is because they get overwhelmed. They put in too many tasks – and the once helpful tool now just adds to their stress, instead of reducing it. That’s why it’s important to regularly delete irrelevant tasks from your to-do list, and hide things that you don’t need to worry about for now. That way, your to-do list will stay relevant, up-to-date and useful.

How to implement this with Swift To-Do List: First, to make sure new tasks get the “Today” Start Date automatically set, do this: Use menu Manage – Columns, and enable the Start Date field (if it’s not already enabled). Then, use menu File – Options, and in the New Tasks tab of the Options window, select “Today” upon “Start Date”, as shown below:

Second, to hide all tasks with Start Date set to a future date, we will create a new filter: Use menu Manage – Filters, then click Add. In the Add Filter window, check “Start Date” and select “Today”. At the bottom, check “Include tasks with expired dates” and “Include tasks with unspecified dates”. Name the filter “Started” (or anything else) and click OK:

After you add this filter, apply it the main window by clicking the Filter toolbar button:

That’s the whole setup part. Now, every time you want to defer any task for a future review, edit it, and set its Start Date to the desired future review date. That will immediately hide it, and the task will start re-appearing in your to-do list on the future date.

And by the way, to move multiple tasks to another priority (e.g. from Opportunity Now to Over the Horizon), select them (e.g. using Ctrl + Click), then right-click them, and use Batch Edit – Priority in the popup menu.

And that’s it!

We’ve now covered all 4 main components of the One Minute To-Do List system: Prioritizing, Capturing, Reviewing, and Deferring. You are ready to use it. Just stick to the simple rules described in this short guide and you will reign over chaos and improve your life. For the best results, re-read this guide a week later or so once you have some experience with the system.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me, or submit a Reply in the form below. I am here to help. I am also very much interested in your results, so don’t hesitate to let me know them once you try this.

And by the way, this is what Jason, one of our customers/fan wrote me recently as reaction to this post:

I’ve read most of your blogs over the past couple of months as I’ve been looking for ways to calm down the task crisis that I’ve had. They have been very helpful and I thank you for taking the time to post them all! The One Minute To-Do List blog [post] is what finally clicked with me and that’s when I finally broke down and bought the Ultimate Edition.  I’ve been using ideas from that along with my own tweaks to help organize all the tasks I have for all the work and personal projects that I have going on.  I love how I can set a new start date to review something in the future and know that it won’t be forgotten nor in the way as I focus on my current tasks.

Related Posts:

• Swift Mind Freedom released!
• How to keep your to-do list useful, short and motivating
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Do I Need to GTD?
• Meta Productivity released! “Dramatically Increase Your Productivity”
• 3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating
• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?

One Minute To-Do List is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

The practices that promote productivity and GTD are somewhat akin to fractals – if you keep looking closer and closer, the same patterns inevitably recur. At a macro level, GTD requires managing your commitments and tasks through organization and clarification. And at a micro level, GTD requires managing the actions, or steps, each task requires.

Horizontal task management is the macro level. Vertical management is the micro level.

Managing actions helps to further the process of converting the overwhelming mass of your commitments into a coherent, organized and, most importantly, workable set of steps you need to take. Managing actions gives you a clear plan of attack, a manageable group of goals and an improved perspective. And, because breaking things down as far as possible helps make things easier, we’re going to divide your actions into two categories: horizontal and vertical.

Horizontal Action Management

Horizontal action management may sound like a complicated fitness move, but it is simply a means by which you can accomplish actions relating to a number of tasks efficiently. You can think of it as your ‘two birds, one stone’ system, because horizontal action management looks at all of the tasks you have and identifies a common action or actions that moves multiple tasks toward completion.

For example, if your tasks include washing your dog and taking a shower, securing towels is an action that will help you move toward completing each task. Instead of getting one towel when you need it, a horizontal action management system would have you get both towels at once so they are ready when you need them.

If horizontal action management sounds difficult, you can use Swift To-Do List to simplify matters. The program allows you to attach notes and documents to tasks on your list, which is perfectly suited to action management. I like to create bulleted lists of actions for each task in the notes area so I know what steps I need to take to complete a given task. To perform horizontal action management, I look at the bulleted list for each task and identify actions common to multiple tasks. Then, I create a sub-list and enter these actions as my priority/efficiency actions – the steps I can take to make progress on multiple assignments at once.

After a while, you may notice that your horizontal action management tends to reveal preparatory actions, like gathering supplies or research. If the same actions recur in an organized manner, you can use Swift To-Do List 7 to send you reminder e-mails on a consistent basis. Often, the common actions are “first steps” in completing tasks, and by managing them all at once, you can have a head start on future projects.

Vertical Action Management

Vertical action management doesn’t have as much of a “big picture” scope as horizontal task management, but it is still important. Vertical action management is, as Allen puts it, “’project planning’…focusing in on a single endeavor, situation, or person and fleshing out whatever ideas, details, priorities and sequences of events may be required for you to handle it.”

You can think of vertical action management as a checklist or a to-do list, which makes Swift To-Do List 7 such an effective tool for this technique. For vertical action management, you need to list all of the steps required for completion of a task. It’s important to be as detailed as possible and list even preparatory actions. Breaking down tasks into as many actions as possible is important because it makes them more manageable and allows you to identify common actions in the horizontal action management process.

Discover more about the benefits of “breaking tasks down” in the very popular post called “10 best tricks of fooling myself to work“.

The smaller the actions, the more likely you will be to knock them out during the time you have between meetings, lunch or major task work. If you don’t break down your tasks, they can be overwhelming and you’ll need to set aside large blocks of time to accomplish anything and you’ll miss out on the consolidation of actions offered by horizontal action management. Additionally, having a list of actions enumerated for each task allows you to assess your progress more often.

Putting It All Together

Both horizontal and vertical action management are effective tools, but they are most effective when used together. Typically, beginning with vertical action management can be helpful, because when you finish you’ll be able to see the common actions you need to consolidate in the horizontal action management stage.

While action management is time-consuming initially, it will save you time later and can help keep you focused while working on projects. Breaking tasks into steps will also help you understand what tasks need to be completed and how you should work on them. Finally, action management gives you a better appreciation of the scope of your tasks and how much time will be required for completion. With experience gained while using this approach, both your time estimates and productivity will soar.

Post by Brian J. Willet

Related Posts:

• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Commitment Management
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Perspective
• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?
• Swift Mind Freedom released!
• Getting In The Ready State (To Get Things Done)
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Do I Need to GTD?

Managing Actions Horizontally and Vertically is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Unfortunately, modern life presents with a dizzying array of commitments, both work-related and independent of work. Thus, a major component of GTD stressed by author David Allen is that of commitment management. Commitment management offers a way to clear your mind prior to taking on tasks so that you can focus all of your energy on the task at hand.

The first component: Identifying commitments

The first part of commitment management is essentially a brainstorming session in which you identify all of the commitments you have and put them on paper. These commitments can be new assignments or ongoing projects – “anything you consider unfinished in any way,” says Allen – and can be work for your boss or chores you need to do at home. Because these thoughts are cluttering your mind, merely thinking about them won’t help you focus on anything in particular. Instead, you need to put them into what Allen calls a “collection bucket,” and what we like to call a Swift To-Do List task list.

The key features of a “collection bucket” are that you can easily see all of the individual tasks and that you can revisit them whenever you need to. A Swift To-Do List 7 task list satisfies both of these, as the list is just a mouse click away. Using Swift To-Do List 7 actually improves upon the traditional “bucket” design thanks to the to-do list tree. You can create different lists and sub-lists to keep commitments organized. This is particularly helpful if you have multiple projects going on.

Virtually everyone has multiple projects – at minimum, you have your work and personal life. Both can be divided into additional sub-projects.

Second component: Clarifying commitments

According to Allen, the second part of commitment management is clarifying commitments and actions you need to take to complete them. This allows you to further free your mind and understand the scope of your projects. Swift To-Do List 7 is particularly well-suited to this task, as you can write notes and attach files to each of your tasks. This creates an individual workspace for each of your projects, so you’re not muddling your mind with ideas. And instead of worrying about jotting down new ideas on the nearest napkin, you have a place to keep things organized.

Swift To-Do List 7 allows you to attach not just text but images and files to each task in the notes area; consider using this option to create flow-charts or other visual aids to enhance your understanding of the requirements of each task.

The use of sub-lists can also help you plan ahead – further easing and clearing your mind for work – and assess your progress as you move toward your goals. In fact, being aware of your progress and the next step you need to take for any given task is essential to complete commitment management. If you fail to clarify the actions required, the uncertainty will remain on your mind and compromise your focus.

Third component: Creating organized reminder system

The third component of commitment management – and arguably the most important – is creating an organized reminder system that you can review whenever you need to. While you can rely on your brain for this, Allen notes that your brain’s reminder system is often inefficient and tends to kick in only after you needed to take action. Thankfully, Swift To-Do List 7 is tailored to take on this task as well.

Swift To-Do List 7 allows you to set reminders not just on your desktop but as e-mails as well, so even if you’re away from the office but have your mobile device, you can stay informed. This is particularly useful if you often travel for business or have a mixture of commitments in and out of the office. If you’re a freelancer or self-employed, e-mail reminders are invaluable, as your workplace is often mobile. Relying on an external reminder system can eliminate the distraction of trying to keep track of commitments in your mind.

Summary

While identifying absolutely every commitment at once would be ideal, it doesn’t often happen. But don’t be discouraged – remember that commitment management is an on-going process, so you can always add more later. This will ensure your mind is fresh and focused until you’ve checked all of the tasks off of your list.

(…) remember that commitment management is an on-going process, so you can always add more later (…)

Commitment management is a simple yet effective way to take the pressure of juggling all of your assignments off of your brain so you can be totally committed to the task at hand. All it takes is (1) identifying commitments; (2) clarifying completion requirements; and (3) creating an organized reminder system.

Post by Brian J. Willet

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• Centralize Your Lists with Swift To-Do List

Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Commitment Management is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Although you may not need to be in the Ready State to do work, it is a definite prerequisite for Getting Things Done. This is because GTD is focused on achieving your ideal level of productivity and efficiency; likewise, the Ready State is an ideal psychological environment. As Allen notes, this state will help you get more done with less effort; the Ready State is “a condition of working, doing and being in which the mind is clear and constructive things are happening.”

Thankfully, the Ready State is achievable for anyone and can be reached more easily than you might expect. To reach this zone, you need to do three things (and Swift To-Do List can certainly help):

• Understand the Task
• Eliminate Distractions
• Embrace the Task

So, let’s look at these in detail:

Understand the Task

The first step to reaching the Ready Zone may seem like the most obvious, but it is also the most frequently overlooked. In order to Get Things Done, you need to know what the things are. However, this step entails more than just reading the subject line of an assigning memo. Rather, you need to engage in PREP:

1. Figure out the Priority
2. Identify Resources that are required
3. Identify End goals
4. Acquire proper Perspective

While the PREP factors are relatively self-explanatory, a brief explanation can help eliminate misunderstandings. Assessing the Priority should be simple, as it’s often explained to you by your supervisor. If it isn’t, ask; you should also ask other authorities for whom you have assignments where the new task falls into place with your existing assignments. Using the Task Type and Priority fields in Swift To-Do List 7 can ensure you don’t mistake the Priority.

Assessing and acquiring the Resources you need can be easy but time-consuming, and it’s important to remember that your best resources can include your coworkers and work you’ve already done. Obviously, there’s no need to redo work you’ve already finished, but even if your task is a completely new one, you may be able to enlist data or techniques from past work into your new assignment. A promotional strategy designed for a poker app could easily provide the foundational timeline for launching a fitness tracker or a local dining guide. Repurposing these existing frameworks frees up your mental bandwidth to tackle the unique, unexpected hurdles of the current project.

Your End goals will determine what exactly you do and how you go about doing it; do you have specific budget or time constraints? Or do you simply need to say, reach 10,000 Likes on Facebook by any means necessary? Be sure you know what the End goals are and what time frame you have to reach them.

Lastly, you need to adopt the proper Perspective; we explained the importance and methodology of this step in this post. Briefly explained, the proper Perspective is acquired by understanding where the task at hand falls in your workflow and the overall company objectives; see the task for what it is and don’t be overwhelmed; do only what you need to but never less than that.

Eliminate Distractions

Just as you might expect Understanding the Task to be the easiest step, you probably have an inkling that Eliminating Distractions will be the most difficult. And you’d be absolutely correct. Thankfully, difficult does not mean impossible, and over time you will tackle this task with increasing ease.

Eliminating distractions requires willpower, but it doesn’t require you to make sacrifices; instead, you can make compromises. Using Swift To-Do List 7’s inbuilt timer can help you set productivity goals – you can work on the task at hand for a specific amount of time before you take a break and then time your break to ensure you’re not wasting too much time. By setting out specific blocks of non-productivity, you will be less likely to get off task when it’s time to work.

Additionally, you don’t need to eliminate everything that could qualify as a distraction; listening to music, for example, can provide stimulation while you work on a task and help stave off boredom. It is up to you to assess what is distracting and what is not; common culprits include eating, chatting with coworkers, browsing the internet and multitasking.

See also 10 tips to create more productive environment at your desk.

Embrace the Task

Embracing the Task is what Allen describes as making your “mind like water,” or in simpler terms, going with the flow. This crucial step involves simultaneously letting go of everything else in your mind – work and family commitments, worries and expectations, etc. – and allowing your mind to focus simply on your assignment. Instead of thinking about what else you have to do, start thinking about how anything that does enter your consciousness can help contribute to your task. For example, if a coworker engages you in conversation, ask for feedback on what you’ve done so far. Or, if your computer crashes, let IT staff handle the task and outline strategies on paper.

Often, making the act of emptying your mind of internal and external commitments and refilling it with concerns relating to your assignment can help. Do this by typing out your non-assignment related commitments as a new to-do list in Swift To-Do List 7, and then fully concentrate on a separate to-do list for assignment-related needs. This can set your mind at ease and help you truly Embrace the Task at hand.

Another powerful technique is to utilize the task notes in Swift To-Do List to write down all the details related to the task. See more about this in 10 best tricks of fooling myself to work

Post by Brian J. Willet

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• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Perspective
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Do I Need to GTD?
• Swift Mind Freedom released!
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Basics
• New research explains why you can’t get anything done

Getting In The Ready State (To Get Things Done) is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Getting Things Done is often touted as a revolutionary system, as it provides a significant departure from the productivity practices ingrained in the workplace. Obviously, overthrowing tools and methods that have been established as ‘the norm’ in offices around the country and world can be a hefty task, so it’s best to approach the task in manageable pieces. So where to begin? By changing your perspective.

Embracing the Big Picture

In the traditional work place, tasks are assigned as individual projects, completely out of the context of the larger overall project of which they are components. Assignments such as memos, spreadsheets and press releases are typically presented as existing in a vacuum, just one project afloat in a sea of unrelated work. And while this may seem to make work more manageable – you only have to think about the page in front of you – it’s actually doing you a disservice. One given document is merely an ingredient in the recipe that your company uses to present a finished product, so it should be treated as such.

As GTD author David Allen notes, “focusing on primary outcomes and values is a critical exercise,” but to be successful, you “must incorporate the results of big-picture thinking as well as the smallest of open details.”

In other words, you need to keep the overarching goals of your company (or business) in mind when you perform each task. By considering what place your assignment has in the larger scope of the project, you can refine your task and focus on what you need to do and what will be accomplished by other components of the project performed by your coworkers.

Big-Picture Benefits

This big-picture mindset can also take pressure off of you and open you up to more stress-free productivity. Altering your perspective – from seeing your task as the end-all, be-all to seeing it as a component in the scope of a larger project – can help alleviate anxiety and bring a feeling of teamwork into even your individual projects. The mindset can aid in promoting collaboration, which facilitates improved productivity and enhanced consistency with end products.

Collaboration is a breeze with Swift To-Do List 7, as you can assign tasks to others, email tasks to others, use notes to capture input from others, and utilize attachments to attach files (such as others’ work product) to tasks on your list. Since version 7.32, you can even create tasks from emails. Swift To-Do List 7 will also soon have full-blown online synchronization and collaboration feature (currently in beta).

From Outcomes to Inputs

But changing your perspective from focusing on small tasks in a vacuum to seeing them as part of the big picture can also work in terms of your own personal workflow. To help you make this transition, it may be helpful to adopt the vocabulary Allen uses in his book. The author classifies tasks as ‘inputs,’ which demonstrates the idea that your projects are means to an end, namely the company’s overall output. Your inputs are all interrelated and support overall project goals; this can be visualized easily with Swift To-Do List 7’s to-do list tree.

If that conceptualization doesn’t help, try a favorite of mine – consider your projects as ingredients in the overall recipe of your workflow.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The big-picture perspective is crucial because it promotes prioritizing in your workflow. For example, if you’re making chocolate chip cookies (trust me here, I have a lot of experience), some ingredients, such as flour and sugar, are more important than others, such as vanilla extract or chocolate chips. Thus, you need to dedicate more resources to the tasks that represent your flour and sugar, because if you concentrate too much on securing chocolate chips, you may not have dough in which to incorporate them.

Perspective-Promoting Tools

By using Swift To-Do List 7’s filtering feature and ability to view all tasks at once, you can more easily assess the big picture for a given span of time; the feature allows you to view tasks due only in certain time ranges. Additionally, you can assign priorities to each task and sort the list by priority, due date, task type or name for proper perspective. You can even sort the list by multiple columns at once (eg. by Priority first, and by Due Date second).

Often, your mindset can determine your overall productivity. And while it can be tempted to imagine every project as a massively important event, you should remember that completion of an input task is merely a primary outcome, a component of the big picture. This realization will help prevent you from doing overlapping work on multiple tasks and increasing your workload inadvertently.

Seeing your tasks in perspective as part of your Swift To-Do List can alleviate the anxiety associated with getting weighed down in the details of individual projects. GTD guru Allen suggests that a combination of a calendar, to-do list and priority coding are more effective in combination than when used individually, as you may still be susceptible to distraction and lack of appropriate focus. Thankfully, Swift To-Do List 7 incorporates these features and more into one convenient, streamlined piece of software.

Post by Brian J. Willet

Related Posts:

• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?
• Swift Mind Freedom released!
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Commitment Management
• Getting In The Ready State (To Get Things Done)
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Do I Need to GTD?
• Centralize Your Lists with Swift To-Do List

Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Perspective is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Acknowledging that you need help can be a difficult thing. But rather than wait for some sort of efficiency intervention, it’s always best to come to the conclusion yourself when it pertains to your productivity. Although the realization that you need to enhance your efficiency and better organize your workflow won’t instantly improve your results, it can act as a definite indication that you need to adopt GTD practices. Taking simple steps within the large realm of GTD practices – such as changing your perspective and taking control — can put you on the path toward increased efficiency and improved work performance. So how do you make this determination? Many telltale signs of the need for GTD exist, but here are a few that stand out in our minds.

Top 5 Reasons You Need to GTD

1. You’re reading this article
2. You’re falling behind
3. You have trouble “getting motivated”
4. You’re not sure if you’re productive
5. You’re overwhelmed by stuff

You’re Reading This Article

Knowledge is power. But power doesn’t equal results, so you’re going to have to move from awareness of the issue – which is commendable, as ignorance is anything but bliss in the workplace – to action on the issue. So if you’re reading an article to help you decide whether GTD is relevant to your interests, great. But that’s not going to make you more productive. In fact, investigating the issue without acting can be what I call a ‘procrastination proxy.’ That is, instead of just being full-out unproductive, you’re putting off tasks that are seemingly beneficial but are still keeping you from the tasks you need to accomplish. Sometimes, your needs have to come before your interests. Reading about GTD may ease your conscience, but it doesn’t address your productivity problems; it’s a proxy for procrastination.

When I work from home, sometimes I feel an incredible urge to clean the kitchen or read up on a topic somewhat related to my work. And while these activities can be described as productive, they don’t help put words on paper, which tends to be my primary goal. When you are seeking out information related to GTD, be sure you’re not just a passive spectator, but are instead consuming the information with the intent to utilize it – be sure your activities are productivity partners, not procrastination proxies.

You’re Falling Behind

No one likes to be behind on work (or play, for that matter), but it’s better to reach the conclusion than to be told about it. If your to-do list grows by the day and tasks keep getting pushed from one day to the next, chances are you’re not keeping up. That’s why Swift To-Do List is so advantageous – it provides a clear, easy-to-understand list of your tasks so you can see individual items that need work and an overall view of the big picture. Swift To-Do List 7 lets you prioritize items and provides customized reminders of your choosing to keep you on task. A personalized, prioritized task list with deadlines makes you accountable and can prevent you from falling behind.

You’re Having Trouble “Getting Motivated”

There are many reasons why you don’t feel motivated to complete work. Stress, lethargy and a lack of interest are possibilities, but a common cause is not knowing where to start. A big part of GTD is gaining perspective; thus, getting your goals and tasks on paper is essential. Visualizing the work you need to complete, in the order you need to complete it, provides a framework for productivity and an impetus to get started because your goals are clear and attainable.

Using Swift To-Do List 7 can get you motivated with on-screen reminders, e-mails, printed task lists and settings for types and priorities of list items. Thus, you won’t just know where to start but you’ll want to start. The ability to attach files and maintain notes on each list item can also help you get over the anxiety of getting to work because you’ll already have some work done to get you off on the right foot.

You’re Not Sure If You’re Productive

At this point, you may be wondering if GTD is really for you. If you’re not consistently behind on tasks or receiving warnings from superiors, you may feel as though you’re productive enough. But could you be more efficient? Honestly, we all could.

One way to tell is to time your tasks. Swift To-Do List provides a timer so you can see how long your work takes you; this allows you to track your performance and see if there is a trend – perhaps you work quicker in the morning or on Tuesdays or after having pancakes for breakfast. Whatever the circumstances, a timer allows you to take notice and take control.

But a less common, though equally advantageous, use of the timer is timing how long you are not on task. Create a task “not working” and time track it every time you surf over to Facebook or start shoe shopping. This will show you just how long you are at work but not working; the results can be astonishing. Tracking this downtime can help you avoid being unproductive in the future by making you cognizant of the time you’re wasting and by making you re-think what you’re about to do; the act of starting and stopping the timer is a reminder that you’re not being as productive as you could be. Save the aimless surfing for your lunch break or you might find yourself permanently on break.

You’re Overwhelmed By “Stuff”

In the workplace, “stuff” can loosely be defined as all of the things standing in the way of you and your work. Whether it’s remembering to grab ice cream on the way home from work or filling out an office survey, having a lot of stuff floating around is never beneficial for productivity. GTD can help you cut through the stuff, if you have the right tools. Stuff tends to be most distracting when it’s floating around your head, so putting your stuff on paper to keep track of it can help you move through it. But still, the stuff remains. What is truly useful is a tool like Swift To-Do List 7’s filters – these allow you to choose what stuff you see, based on due dates, status, start date, priority or task type. This makes your stuff more manageable and keeps you from seeing your stuff until it’s absolutely necessary to do so.

Make your stuff work for you – prioritize appropriately by using lists and sublists (the colored icons can serve as great mental reminders) and your stuff won’t seem so imposing any more.

Related Posts:

• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Basics
• Getting In The Ready State (To Get Things Done)
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Perspective
• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?
• Swift Mind Freedom released!
• One Minute To-Do List

Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Do I Need to GTD? is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

The explosion of mainstream technology, in the form of smart phones, net books and tablet computers, has served to provide ample opportunities for employing your own personal GTD methods, but it has also created an atmosphere ripe with distraction and potential for inefficiency – whether from group chats, betting sites, or endless social feeds. The key is creating a balance by – to borrow terms from Allen’s book – maintaining proper perspective and control of the tools of your trade.

While you may be tempted to cut corners as a means for GTD, that’s not what GTD is at all. Rather than forcing you to accept impaired productivity due to the inefficiencies of your resources and your efforts, GTD allows you to streamline the work process to get everything that you need accomplished finished and polished in the time you have. Instead of cutting corners, adopting GTD practices is a process of rounding off sharp edges so that your tasks fit into the time allotted and in a properly prioritized order. It all comes down to perspective and control.

GTD on a Digital Desktop

Although GTD should be easier in a digital age, it is often more difficult. From the minute you start up your computer, you’re under assault by information – warnings from your anti-virus software, pop-up ads from the internet and perhaps underneath it all, information you actually need. For this reason, it’s important to make your desktop work for you. The best way – in addition to removing unnecessary startup tasks from your computer’s settings – is to employ a desktop GTD client, such as Swift To-Do List 7. Having such a tool essentially gives you a desktop secretary, as this program in particular not only allows the creation of a to-do list, but also offers multiple settings for reminders, the attachment of files and notes to items on your list and the ability to time how long you’re spending on each task. Swift-To-Do List 7 cuts to the heart of GTD, as it puts you in control of your work and gives you a broad perspective on what needs doing, when it needs doing, and how it can be done.

GTD and YOU

The primary benefit of GTD is that it takes stress off of you so that you can focus all of your efforts on the task at hand, one-by-one, until everything is finished. A tenet of GTD is not relying on your memory to put things in proper order and remember when assignments are due. GTD preaches creating external reminders, which is exactly what Swift To-Do List 7 does. You can choose to get desktop and e-mail reminders, and upon each reminder – or any other time you review your tasks – you can also see your personal notes, attached files, images, links and other relevant information associated with the task. And instead of seeing just one task in isolation, you can see all of the items on your to-do list, which gives you ample perspective and opportunity to control your workflow. Swift To-Do List allows you to relieve your brain of its mental notes so that you’re less prone to distraction and a wandering mind.

Timing is Everything

A key component of control and perspective is being aware of timing. You should have a timeline of your tasks and know not just how long you are spending on your tasks, but how long you can afford to spend. Thankfully, Swift To-Do List 7 has a timer integrated with the program, so you can see where you’re putting your temporal resources. And take it from me – having a timer on your screen keeps you on task!

In essence, GTD is what you know you should be doing but just haven’t had time to implement yet. Luckily, as soon as you adopt GTD practices, you’ll enhance your perspective and control and have more time than ever to tackle your tasks.

This tutorial is written by Brian J. Willett.

Related Posts:

• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Do I Need to GTD?
• Getting In The Ready State (To Get Things Done)
• Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Perspective
• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?
• Swift Mind Freedom released!
• One Minute To-Do List

Getting Things Done (GTD) Tutorial: Basics is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog