Real Contexts

This is the third post in a series on Extreme GTD.

As I've mentioned before, the absolute key to GTD is Processing, which is thought-driven. Everything else, including Contexts, are just tricks. Contexts is a trick specifically designed to avoid thinking, or at least to minimise it.

So it is perfectly possible and acceptable to not use Contexts in your GTD system. In fact, I recommend avoiding Contexts in the beginning. You need to feel their absence in order to understand what they're good for, and how much you can get done without them.

The key to using Contexts effectively again comes back to effective thinking during the Processing step.

The trick I use is to ask myself, "What is stopping me from doing this next action right now?" there are three types of answers to this question:

1. It's not really the next action. If so, I haven't finished the Processing step. Think of the next action and repeat.
2. It will take more than 2 minutes, but otherwise I could do it right now. Great. Put it on the actions list with no Context.
3. I need to be somewhere or with someone to do it, but otherwise I could do it right now. Great. That's the Context. But wait - there's a catch...

When I find an action in the third category, there is still some thinking to do. How will I remember this action when I'm with that person, or in that place? There's no point in adding the action to my Outlook tasks folder if I won't have it with me when I'm next there. There's no point in putting envelopes I have to post in my "Out" tray if I'm not in the habit of checking it before I leave the house. The key is to really think about what is the best way to remind myself of this action when I'm next in that Context.

One example of this that has worked really well for me lately is to use my notebook, which I carry around with me whenever I'm not at my desk. Lately, nearly all my time is in meetings away from my desk, so entering actions in my Outlook was pretty much useless, except for actions that could be done at my desk.

I use my notebook for capturing notes during meetings, and I always start a new page for each meeting, with the title of the meeting at the top, and the date. The difference now is that I start the meeting page before the meeting has happened - as soon as I have a next action that can be done at that meeting. Then, on the day of the meeting, instead of starting a new page, I go to the page I've already created, and there is the list of things I need to bring up.

The same trick works for people instead of meetings. If I need to speak to somebody to get it done, and an email won't do (really think about that choice), I start a new page for that person and write it down there. Then whenever I'm either one-on-one with that person, or happen to be in a meeting with them, I can flick to their page in my notebook and make sure I cover the actions.

The handy thing about the notebook trick is that I can write the results of those actions right there, and I will see those notes when I next do my Processing.

Another important point to note about actions that require a Context is that it's easy to use them as an excuse to not finish thinking during the Processing step. You know you've made this mistake when you see the action on an actions list but when you're there, you find you haven't got a good way to approach the subject. A warning sign is when the person you're talking to doesn't understand what you're asking them. To get around this problem, my trick is to mentally visualise the meeting, and try to think of the first few sentences I will say. That's usually enough to help shake out the real next action.