Re: [MLO] Newbie Needs Direction, Please

[Lisa Stroyan]

What platform are you running on? The Windows version help has a good "getting started" section and then explains various features, but when you get stuck, just ask and we can point you to the right section.

What might be catching you is that we all use slightly different terms in conversation. RTE, Rapid Entry both refer to the Rapid Task Entry Dialog which is listed under "Advanced Features" in Windows help. Ctrl-Shift-M brings it up by default, even when other programs are up on the screen making it very handy to quickly enter tasks, or "quick capture" tasks (I don't think quick capture is an MLO term).

Goal, Project, Folder, etc are attributes of tasks. Everything in MLO is a task but you can mark that it is also a Project or also a Goal. These help you organize and slice your view tasks.

One way to learn is to play with the builtin templates on Windows -- hopefully one "feels" right for how to organize your tasks.  Also, look at the various views in the Todo tab -- so you can see some of the default ways to view tasks, then play around with the settings on the views.

Lisa

On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 10:07 PM, LostInSpace <gst...@letterpail.com> wrote:

I have just started using MLO. It appears to have more than enough function for me, however, I feel lost in a sea of options and vocabulary. I haven't found any simple how-to or anything in the contextual help in the program. (Things like: what are RTE, Rapid Entry, Quick Capture, Goals vs Projects vs Tasks and their relationships to each other). I visited the forums and hear even more concepts and words that I find no definition for in the help file, and searching for some of these comes up with no results. I desperately want this to work, and if the only way to learn is to trudge through, research, experiment and trial/error through, then I will. I just hope that I am just missing something that will shed a light on this wading through the darkness that I have been doing. Can anybody help? Is this just the way everybody learns it? Thanks.

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Lisa

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Lisa Stroyan, mailto: lstr...@gmail.com

[pottster]

If you haven't already, have a look at the introductory video on the website. It gives a good brief overview.

http://www.mylifeorganized.net/Video/Screencast-Overview.htm 

For more details refer to the User Guide:

http://www.mylifeorganized.net/Video/Screencast-Overview.htm

It's best to determine how you want organize your tasks first and then see how MLO can support that rather than work backwards from the feature set. MLO is not prescriptive about your To Do methodology; just the opposite. It supports a wide variety of approaches and is set up to use as much or as little of the functionality as you wish. My guess is that most people only use about 70-80% but what that 70-80% actually is would vary greatly from person to person.

[Holmes245]

LostinSpace, I would also like to add that there is a learning curve so don't get easily discouraged if you don't readily see how it all works together. I've seen a couple reviews on MLO online that didn't give it as high a rating because due to the fact that it is feature-rich. Simpler systems work for others but I have to say that in the last few weeks, I've been using it a lot more extensively than I ever have before and now see why MLO has all these features. It make it very flexible to in forming your own system of organization. Just my two cents.

Joel

[robisme]

My 2 cents.

- Rapid Task Entry is great if you're working on another program. AND ALSO has a HUGE power :  if you paste a list (from a mail, word, whatever), you'll get as many different tasks as the number of lines you've copied.

- Project : every task that have subtask should be consider as a project, in the GTD philosophy.

Personaly, I'v estarted by creating big folders for each areas of my life (work, family, administrative, activities, routines)

Then subfolders for "sub-areas" : things to by, contact related, sport, customers)

Then come projects and "one shot tasks"

I'm not aware of goals, because I don't understand the difference between "monthly goal" and "monthly recurrence", seems redundant.

Using this software is like falling into the secret cavern of REAL PRODUCTIVITY, because you will be able to manipulate, format, check, everthing that is task related, with ease. There is a lot of hiden functionalities that will make your life easier. (drag items from outlook, auto colour task depending on it's content, drag and drop, bulk-change multiple task's attributes, filtering.

MLO won't stuck you into a method, but will be YOUR tool to apply the method that fits best for you.

Now, find a method, thats your first project to set-up in MLO ;-)

[Lisa Stroyan]

I use Goals to mean, "Should be done sometime in the next (rolling) month" and recurrence to mean "this gets done every month/one month from the previous occurrence".

A task could recur monthly, and have a weekly goal setting, if it needed to be done soon, or no Goal at all.

But, that's just how I use it (it's only a bit setting on the task, so you can use it how you want).  I'm not sure it has a place if you are using strictly GTD, because it is a prioritization mechanism, really :)

Lisa

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[David R.]

Hi LostInSpace!  Fear not!

First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?  The most salient things are (1) are you a "Getting Things Done" user?  Have you read the David Allen book? Do you use another personal management system, and if so, which?  (2) What is your computer experience and--more important--your computer confidence?  No need for details, just "I close my eyes before I reach out and touch a key" or "I use the keyboard to beat my monitor"--something like that.  Finally, (3) what are you trying to accomplish to start?

[John Smith]

Those screencasts seem to have disappeared.  :(

Are they still visible anywhere?

J