Comments on: Some Thoughts on a “Daily Action Pack”

By: cj9639

cj9639 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:32:15 +0000

Another “pack” item is to post comments on the sites that I read. I just finished reading the other comments and I am curious as to why people commented on the grammer etc.. Is it to prove that you are smart or that you are petty? O.k. you are.

By: cj9639

cj9639 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:22:50 +0000

I read this yesterday and used it last night when I got home. Then at dinner I told family and friends about creating an “Action Pack”. I am not overly organized and I am a procrastinator.I created a “pack” of 5 things to do daily and it took me less than an hour to do them. An example is a load of unilock bricks that need to be moved from the side of the house to the back. All I could see was 4 hours of moving them at one time. I have been putting it off for ages. Part of my “pack” is to move 4 mini lots a day. First night I moved 8. I can’t believe how accomplished I felt. Thanks.

By: Terri

Terri — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:53:38 +0000

I am studying for my A+Certification computer exam in December while still in School. I will start this as a project: Study and Review A+ Test starting from beginning of my studies. I think I can do one hour per day most days and at the least 1/2 hour.

By: KimC

KimC — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:03:22 +0000

[facepalm]
I knew this. Why did I need to hear it from a stranger before I decided to implement it? Ah, the wonders of the internet.
Doing it now…thanks…

By: Stever Robbins

Stever Robbins — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:18:53 +0000

Cathleen: The goal of the daily action pack isn’t to split things into tiny chunks or limit the time you spend on them; it’s to identify some amount of progress you can make daily on your most important tasks. You quantify each element either by the amount of time you’ll spend or the milestone you’ll strive for. If you executive the DAP every day, you’ll eventually make sufficient progress on your tasks.

Your DAP might include “spend at least 2 focused hours writing my book” or “complete a chapter of my book” or “write 800 words of my book.”

If you make consistent progress on everything that’s important to you, then a DAP would be redundant for you. The technique is intended as a structure to keep you moving forward on your top priorities so nothing gets left behind.

By: Gianna

Gianna — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:52:46 +0000

I love this idea. My husband and I are trying to start a blogging “business” to help with finances around the house and I told him that 3 days a week, I need an hour to read blogs and comment, 2 hours dedicated to just writing, and 30 to 45 minutes for blog maintenane and email correspondance. I love this idea. Oh, have I already said this?

By: Christina Crowe ( @CashCampfire )

Christina Crowe ( @CashCampfire ) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:49:25 +0000

This is a wonderful idea! I’ve been meaning to get a fiction novel published, but haven’t worked on it at all recently because I just have so much work on my plate right now.

If I’m able to do a page a day, I’ll at least be making progress and I might be able to finish the book in 6 months or less! Definitely better than just letting the unfinished novel sit.

Thanks for the awesome idea! I’ll start my daily novel writing tomorrow.

By: Holly

Holly — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:27:16 +0000

I like this idea, since seeing the words written and the progress made each day is similar to killing the debt monster…a little (or a lot) at a time.

By: David/moneycrashers

David/moneycrashers — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:50:24 +0000

The operative word in this piece, to me, is action. Whenever I find myself complaining about how much I have to do in “life”, I try to stop the complaining and start the “doing”.

By: marta

marta — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:33:07 +0000

@deRuiter: ending a sentence with a preposition isn’t wrong or the grammar no-no some people say it is. The example you quoted actually sounds fine.

I take issue with sentences that sound awkward, such as “…where you are at.”, which I have known Trent to use. “At” is completely unnecessary here.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:13:05 +0000

‘……. figure out what to get rid of.’ is bad grammar because it ends sentence with preposition. ‘……somewhat weaved together’ should be ‘woven’. Is someone going to edit the new book for grammatical errors, etc? With all the practice, it’s time to get better at writing. You were clever and lucky to find a topic of interest for a blog when the economy co operated by collapsing, but quality writing is better than sloppy work.

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:23:14 +0000

Sandy L: I also have your type of situation in my job–part of the problem is not having the luxury of being able to plan because of having to switch gears so frequently.
I have started using sticky notes so that I can quickly remind myself about things that need to be done when I have some time. Small tasks get one sticky (phone calls/emails, etc.) and larger projects are broken down into tasks on separate stickies. I link those together so that I can pull them off as I accomplish them. Whenever I finish something I move it to the accomplished pile, which also gives me a record of things that I have done. I don’t know about you but I used to get to the end of the day and feel like I really hadn’t done much of anything.
It is working for me so far. Whenever I get the thought of “I need to do this” it goes on a sticky and goes up on the cabinet in my office. I often spend a few minutes at the end of the day emptying my mind onto stickies which works better for me than doing it at the beginning of the day.
Part of this idea came from reading Getting Things Done (although I am not done reading it yet :o). The time I spend writing on stickies is minor compared to the time I used to spend thinking about all I needed to do (and the energy it took to keep it all in my head).

By: Finance Train

Finance Train — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:08:05 +0000

I think this is a superb idea. While reading your post itself I am remembering all the projects that I haven’t looked at for quite some time. I am going to d this for all my projects.

By: Sandy L

Sandy L — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:49:26 +0000

In my line of work (sales), there is a lot of incoming work that is reactive in nature and must be responded to immediately. I struggle in 2 areas. First, is how to be pro-active when you’re day is being interrupted constantly. For example, sometimes I just have to shut my phone off for an hour.

The second is how to switch into proactive mode when you’re just used to dealing with the incoming tasks and not having to think about how to fill the day.

I would love articles on these topics.

By: Kelli

Kelli — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:19:30 +0000

Do you feel this technique works well with your own use of GTD, or can you say more about that?

By: 50plusfinance

50plusfinance — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:38:09 +0000

All that organizing is daunting to some. But like all advice we have to adapt it to our own life. Everybodys situation is different. Organizing your to do list and writing it down is so important. I cant get anything done without a list. I never thought of the long term list as you describe. Very interesting.

By: Cathleen

Cathleen — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:02:08 +0000

Sorry about last post, should say ” for things I truly enjoy”
Word substitution without proofing :)

By: Cathleen

Cathleen — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:59:29 +0000

This will work for some people and not for others, like me :)
I enjoy getting into a zone and working for a longer period of time in a more focused way but I can see how this would work for certain tasky items of larger projects. Still, it goes against my natural enjoyable way of working.

I will say that for mundane, routine tasks, like housecleaning, I do break it into 15 minutes tasks so it doesn’t feel like drudgery.

For things I turkey enjoy in like ton devote whole afternoons to immerse myself in the work. YMMV

By: Dianne

Dianne — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:21:44 +0000

This is good. Thanks for sharing. I feel like I’m going in several directions right now and need a way to feel like I’m making progress. This is doable. Thanks!

P.S. I like your comment guidelines!