I use Backpack to help me change my habits for the better, and I wanted to share this little technique with you.

The programmer in me values version control systems because they allow me to keep an indefinite record of what I’ve done. If something goes wrong while I’m working, then I can go back to an old version of a file and continue working. This is why I use Mercurial every day.

The entrepreneur in me values off-site backups because if a fire destroys my office, then all I need is any computer and an internet connection and I can get back to work. This is why I use Amazon S3 every day.

The scanner in me values getting things done, because when commitments start to sneak up on me, I have my commitments, actions and priorities in one place, and I can get back on track. This is why I use OmniFocus every day.

What I’ve noticed, though, is that my tasks aren’t really getting done. For me, most tasks require building or changing some key assets. Sometimes that’s code, or expense receipts, or drafts of an article. It’s not good enough to write the article, I want to put it into version control and know it’s backed up off site. It’s natural for me to end a coding session by committing changes to Mercurial, but it’s not yet natural for me to end a non-coding work session the same way. I need to remind myself to do this.

Whenever I hear myself think or say, “I need to remind myself…” I immediately log in to Backpack, because it does such a great job of reminding me of things. Today, I added a reminder that reads

A task isn’t done until the assets are safe: under version control and backed up

I set the reminder for tomorrow, and every day after that, until the idea is burned into my brain and becomes second nature. I’m not sure how long that’ll take, but by this time next month, I should be able to switch that reminder to every month, just to make sure it doesn’t fall completely off my radar.

This is how Backpack helps me move away from bad habits and move towards better habits.

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In the process of learning to use OmniFocus to Get Things Done, I have changed the way I group projects into folders. I started by grouping projects by purpose. I later realized why OmniFocus doesn’t have task priority: it has project priority built in, just by moving projects around in the Projects view.

This made me think that I should throw away most of my task due dates, which I’ve done, and replace “which task to do next” with “what are the next actions in my projects”. This encourages me to prioritize projects, rather than simply dump them into the Projects view and, perhaps, collect them by related purpose. Now, I group projects by “urgency”, which I happen to measure in how happy they make me: do they take care of me? do they generate more passive income? do they help me spend more time with cool people?

Incidentally, notice that I wanted to hide some of the information in the “urgency” picture, but not in the “purpose” picture. That’s a clue in itself about what I should really be working on: the stuff I don’t want you to know about until I release it. :)

So if you have found that your projects list has grown out of control, maybe you should re-prioritize your projects and group them by urgency, rather than purpose. You could even hide the “not important, not urgent” projects and look at them only during a periodic review.

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This is probably why I stayed so depressed for so long. To learn about the personality types of Scanners like the Serial Master, read Refuse to Choose.

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