I’ve been a proponent of David Allen’s Getting Things Done way of task management over the years. I’m certain it isn’t for everyone, but it worked for me. But I had a problem. It always seemed as if there was some sort of friction-a difficulty in using it where there ought not to be. It worked, but it always seemed like I was forcing tasks in ways that caused more problems than GTD solved. After many years of using it, the solution hit me.

GTD uses the concept of a context. A context is a place where a task needs to be done, such as the office, the store, the home, etc. That was the friction I was encountering. As a technical analyst and corporate educator, context was less important than deadlines. Even now that I’ve retired, my life is driven by time, not place. I was trying to fit time into place-round pegs, triangular holes.

I thought about this and wondered if time would work better as a context. I added folders based on time, rather than place. Once I started using these folders, the friction disappeared for me.

Now I know what I have to do and when, regardless of where it has to be done. This is how road-warriors work: hotel rooms, client locations, cubicles, home, etc. Now I just have to surface the Next Action based on the current time and I know what has to be done. If I can do that task at my current location, I’d do it. Otherwise, I’d defer it an hour, and check it an hour later.

Here is what my folder structure in Apple Reminders looks like now with what I’m calling GTDoT. The number prefixes are optional. They let me sort the folders based on number rather than alphabetically.

I also have folders for tasks that are more vague, such as the Until Done folder. This is for open-ended projects and tasks that have no deadline.

The Apple reminders app is great on its own, but I use an iOS app, GoodTasks which syncs to Reminders and lets me surface a Next Action. GoodTasks has the same folder structure since it uses Reminders as the source of truth. It just has more functionality than Reminders.

I’ve now used my GTDoT variation for a while now, and it, for me, is a vast improvement over the core GTD. You may find this works for you as well.