Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Recurring Projects and Smart Add
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
This week's tip, shared by hogan82, covers using our email service plus Smart Add to quickly add a series of tasks related to a specific project.
[Using Smart Add and email] I now create task lists for recurring projects (e.g., quarterly patch updates) in Microsoft Word that include all the required task fields. Whenever the time comes to repeat the project, I just cut and paste from Word into an e-mail using my RTM import e-mail address and the name of the list I want it to go to as the subject and I'm good to go!
Not only does this make it easy to set up my task list each time I need to complete the recurring project; it forces me to think through the process carefully. I’m coming up with steps that I might have easily missed if I hadn’t thought it through. This is a great way to document a recurring process.
Below is a very simplified list to show what a recurring project list might look like in the body of your e-mail:
First task Monday #na #karen !1 @work
Second task Tuesday #na !3 @work
Third task next Friday #na !2 @home
Thanks for sharing this tip, hogan82! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Keeping track of untagged tasks
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
It's great to be organized—a list of tasks, all lined up and ready to be completed—but it helps to set up methods to help keep yourself organized too. This week's tip, shared by sylviavas, features a great method for organizing those tasks that you add quickly:
When I first started using Remember The Milk, I didn't see the point of tags. Well, I've done a 180 – now I couldn't imagine living without them!
In "Getting Things Done" terminology, there's an "in" box, or universal capture. This is where you write up all your tasks, without necessarily sorting or prioritizing them.
I use untagged tasks for this. I specifically don't tag or prioritize them – I just log them as I think of them. It just takes a moment, because I always have a Remember The Milk tab open, or I can get to it very quickly on my smart phone.
Later, when I have a bit more time, I open up a specific Smart List that I've created in Remember The Milk. It's called Untagged, and the only criteria it has is "isTagged:false".
It might have items I just jotted down quickly, such as:
- library
- bulb in kitchen
- oil change
- investments
I then go through these (I try to do it on a daily basis) and assign tags like "home", "errand", "calls", etc. And I also prioritize at this point, and delete tasks I no longer want to do. I might end up with a list like this:
- (errand) Pick up books at library
- (home) Change burnt-out light bulb in kitchen
- (call) Call Acura dealership to schedule oil change
- (computer) Review investments on financial website
When my "Untagged" Smart List is empty (because the tasks disappear as I assign tags to them), then I know I've got everything sorted.
I even put non-task items on this list (things to buy, books to get, movies to watch, etc), even if they won't eventually go into Remember The Milk, because it's such a convenient universal tool.
Thanks for sharing this tip, sylviavas! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
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Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Half Marathon Training
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
If your exercise routine seems unmanageable, check out this week's tip, shared by robyn.horn, on training for a half marathon:
Recently, I felt pretty overwhelmed looking at my datebook, trying to keep all of my training and cross-training straight for an upcoming half marathon — so I simplified. I created a list called "Training" and have used it to simplify and sort my workouts. By assigning high priority to runs, medium to strength training and lower priority to cross-training, I have a color-coded breakdown of what my week will look like. Using category tags like #tempo or #long allows me to easily identify what type of run I'll be doing, and using the Time Estimate feature to indicate how long each run should take me. I tag each type of cross-training (#climb, #yoga, etc.) so I can visually see how often I'm doing each so I can keep things mixed up and interesting. It's really helped me with keeping training straight and more manageable.
After you achieve your milestone, perhaps you'd continue this method for your marathon training also? :)
Thanks for sharing this tip, robyn.horn! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
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Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Dieting with Remember The Milk
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
If you're keeping up with some New Year's resolutions in full swing, or just watching what you eat, this week's tip shared by bonniefaust, offers a good way to keep tabs on what you're eating:
Like many people, my husband and I made a New Years Resolution to lose a few pounds. He's opting for the Weight Watchers online program while I follow the Eat Clean program.
The best way to stay on track is to plan your meals out, so I started listing different foods that we like and tagging them respectively.
For example, I make a large egg white frittata with tons of veggies that we usually share. I created a list called "FOOD" and each task is a different food (not a whole meal, just individual dishes). So I'll list "Egg White Frittata" and tag it the following ways:
- #breakfast
- #main
- #WW (for Weight Watchers)
- #EC (for Eat Clean)
- #2 (number of points for WW)
- #Protein (It's an Eat Clean protein)
- #CCV (It includes Eat Clean Complex Carb Vegetables)
In the notes I can specify quantities and any directions/recipe info.
Now, when I'm planning meals (well he plans his own breakfast and lunch for himself using this shared list) I just search for #breakfast & #EC and it brings up all the breakfasts I can have. He can use the same list and create his meals. I included the points because sometimes he is hungry at the end of the day and wants something but only has a certain number of points left. So he can simply search #2 or #1 or #3 and it will include foods that have only 1, 2 or 3 points each.
Thanks for sharing this tip, bonniefaust! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
