Routine tasks and mental clarity

"Ok, Pop - this Saturday let's trim the bushes," I uttered.

Nothing new here. A little chore-planning with my father-in-law.

But I noticed something. After the two hours or so that it took to trim said bushes, I felt clear. Relaxed and resolved, even.

What I had failed to remember was that I had added that task to OmniFocus roughly 4 weeks ago. Every day when I came home or left the house, I would see the bushes out in front of my house and think, "Gee, I really have to trim those.”

Having just done a weekly review yesterday, I recalled blowing by my mounting Household area tasks, and just thinking, "Yep, all of those are still legit, and I need to get to them as soon as I can."

What I had failed to do was plan the time and day that I intended to accomplish them. The bush trimming endeavor didn't technically have a due date. I mean, sure, I'd like to cut them before the Homeowners Association said something to me about being a total deadbeat and then presenting me with a notice about them. But they weren't "due", so I added no due date to the task titled "Trim the bushes" in my Home tag list in OmniFocus. However, somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that it would take roughly two hours to complete. It always does.

What I'll decide to do from now on is review my Household list during my weekly review and then add calendar events containing a task to ensure that it's within my finite (timed) plans.

Once we were done trimming the bushes, I suddenly felt a lift of a small burden. I felt free.

I wonder how many tasks we let pile up, while just thinking, "Yeah, I'll get to that soon".

Try practicing the date and time addition of these tasks to Fantastical (or your calendar app of choice) on your next weekly review.

You'll probably feel better.