How do I keep a track of what I have done?

Hi all,

I have now set up my GTD system and have had it going for about a month. I have done a few weekly reviews and all is going kind of okay. My main sticking issue now is how to keep a track of things that I have done / that have happened. Let's suppose I have waiting for car insurance cert on my waiting for list. When it comes I will file it away and tick it off the waiting for list. If in the future as often happens with me I think "oh, did that car insurance cert come" how can I check without actually physically going looking for it- the number of times and the number of different things that I have to double check for takes up time. Knowing that I have done something and that I can trust that I have done it is, for me as important as getting clutter out of my head that I am thinking about doing. It is something that keeps me thinking about have I done this / done that.

I am using onmifocus.

I should say that for some important thinks I keep a diary of what I have done like the date I posted something or spoke to someone on the phone about something important.

What methods can I use for smaller things? should i keep a diary of everything that I do so that I know that I have done it and can just look at the diary to confirm that I have.

I do have a little OCD! sorry :)

Omnifocus allows you to view all completed tasks - perhaps you could set up a Perspective for this. Would that give the peace of mind you are looking for do you think?

If you don't trust that ticking off an action as done, always means complete though, how about adding a note in the notes field as you finish the task stating where you filed the insurance document for example? Again using OF functionality, you could date/time stamp entries if you needed that level of assurance or detail.

I am using Pocket informant - when a task is completed I tick it off, and it stays in the system. I also have checklists in my project plans (project support material), which I tick off when I've done tasks, usually this will happen during either a project review or weekly review.

As part of my weekly review I check the completed tasks to see if there are any follow up actions I might have to do, and then I delete them from the app.

A side thought - you may find that as you use the system for a little while longer, and develop increasing trust in it and in things not falling through the cracks, that your need for this will decrease.

Using OF I always delete a task if its no longer relevant and only compete a task if I really did it. Then search completed tasks. Agree that you will trust the system more as you use it.

To your example of the car insurance paperwork, I've started scanning everything into Evernote as it comes in. I tag it as explicitly as I can, then all I have to do is search and voilá... easily found! In most cases I don't even keep the hard copies anymore, which frees up space in my filing cabinets.

There's lots of info out there on using Evernote with GTD... let me know if I can help in any way.

Good luck!

I write notes about accomplished actions into the respective project support materials.

Thanks for the replies guys. I think that I will get in the habit of making notes on OF when I complete something:D

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Originally Posted by helenr

Omnifocus allows you to view all completed tasks - perhaps you could set up a Perspective for this. Would that give the peace of mind you are looking for do you think?

If you don't trust that ticking off an action as done, always means complete though, how about adding a note in the notes field as you finish the task stating where you filed the insurance document for example? Again using OF functionality, you could date/time stamp entries if you needed that level of assurance or detail.

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Hello all,

This would be great for me now

I was initially keeping notes of what I had done / when I had completed actions in a word doc to get into the habit of doing it...how do I do this in omnifocus? I was thinking of making notes within the action as you can. How do I search for completed tasks / set up a perspective?