Remember the Milk is one of my favorite task managers, but there are so many options that you may get overwhelmed, or not use them because they just take too much time to implement into your work flow. There are a handfull of handy shortcuts you can use to ease all these tasks and navigate the RTM interface swiftly.

Multiple editing

Multiple editing is the one mode which can save you a boatload of time. You can enter tags, places, URL’s completion information for any tasks you like at once, or you can mark them complete en masse. Just press “m” to enable multiple mode and from then on, when you select more than one task you will be editing them all at once. Handy lines to the right will enable you to visualize this better, and also to help you notice that you’re in multiple mode when you want to be in single edit mode. If you want to switch back, just press “m” again.

Editing task specifics

When creating a task you need to click on tags, then click on tag, enter it, click on location, enter it, click on time spent and so on, and while these are small additions to the time of task creation, they still amount to a considerable waste of time. There is a letter shortcut however for each task property, so when adding a task all you need to do is press “u” for url, enter it, then press enter, press “s” to change tags, enter them and press enter. While this sounds longer written down it’s actually about 30% faster initially and when you learn the shortucts it shaves at least 50% off your task creation time. Here are the shortcuts to all the properties in the order they are found in RTM, and also the shortcuts for assigning a priority on the fly.

• r - Rename
• d -Due
• f - Repeat
• g - Time estimate
• s - Tags
• l - Location
• u - URL
• p - Postpone
• y - Add a note
• 1 through 3 - Priorities

Navigation and Misc

Apart from just changing and adding tasks you can navigate easily around the interface with just letters. “a” selects all the tasks visible while “n” deselects all tasks, both logical choices and highly productive, especially the select none option. You can easily move up, down and select an item with “k”, “j” and “i” respectively. Another way to easily navigate and input details is the tab key which will save your input and move to the next field. The last keyboard shortcut I use a lot is the delete key which of course deletes the selected task(s).

If you use these shortcuts a bit you will get very used to them and your productivity will soar, shaving precious time off what you spend adding and modifying tasks which in itself is not an effective task.

Nozbe, a GTD related application I like (and am affiliated with), has just cut rearranged its plans a bit and cut its prices. I believe they actually made some very good decisions in there, especially because of the creation of the new solo plan.

I think they guessed that in accordance with the laws of economics, their marginal profits weren’t at 0, so they could lower their prices. This essentially means that for a lower amount, disproportionately more people sign up, creating a higher profit.

Anyway, they created the new Solo plan, which is actually pretty well thought out and suited for entry level GTD people. I mean if you manage your own tasks, do you really need multiple users? Do you need SSL security to remember to write a post or make repairs on your truck? The new Solo plan is down 30% from the previous entry level plan, costing $3 a month if prepaid for a year, and $6 monthly if not prepaid. What I’ll do is pay $6 for the entry level plan, and if I am content enough I can always prepay for two years next month right?

For those of you not familiar with Nozbe, let me give you a quick intro. In short it is a service that allows you to manage tasks, projects and events your life and closely follows David Allen’s GTD method. You will find familiar territory if you have some GTD experience, projects, next actions, context, it’s all there. If you’re interested in the app, take a look at the 10 part video demonstration which will give you insight into Nozbe, but also into GTD.

One of the best tools for GTD is Thinking Rock, an application developed in Australia, and free for all to use. It utilizes all the principles in David Allen’s Getting Things Done book, and applies them with great efficiency and productivity.

A great place to start using this application for any user, especially new GTD fans is the Home Page. This page not only shows you data flow, but also shows you those basic principles I talked about in a simplified, but very well understandable manner.

If you click on the pic you can see the full size version, which breaks down GTD into three + one steps. The plus one step is the setup, which is only needed once really, or following setup is only needed once in a while. The first real GTD action is the collection of thoughts. This should be a fairly large task at first, but once completed, you will only spend a few minutes a day on this.

The next step is thought processing. This is where you take all your thoughts and enter them into the real system behind GTD. Basically you have three choices. You can store the information as reference, store it for a future date, or decide that this is something that requires an action and either create an action item or a project (which is composed of action items).

The last process is where you actually do things. This doesn’t mean you sit down and do everything on your plate of course. Again, you have three choices. Do the item in question while it’s still warm, delegate it so it burdens someone else, or you can schedule it (defer it in GTD speak), meaning you push it off to another time.

The starting page of Thinking Rock displays pretty well that GTD is based on choice. It is based on the fact that people don’t usually make efficient choices, at least not in the context of their tasks as a whole. It forces you to categorize and make choices on a task level, and them the app is able to create reports, showing you how your decisions affect the whole. Using Thinking Rock, and the GTD method in general will get you into effective decisions in no time, so don’t worry, but you need to stick to it!

If your GTD contexts are not used to their fullest potential, you might want to think about exchanging them for action types which will add an extra layer of clarity to your system. Since I work 100% of the time at my computer I don’t have tasks which are not done here. I could use labels like @online and @offline, but these would not show any real meaning to me.

My solution for this problem, and I know many others have context problems, is to use action types instead. Instead of trying to put my items in context by where I am doing them, I rather say what I need to do to them. For example, you can use contexts like @post (for posting on blogs), @download, @research, @develop (an idea), and so on.

This also creates some extra space for you, by allowing you to use the space required for the actual task. Until now a typical task for me would either be very vague like “write post”, or much too long like “Write post on action types instead of contexts for Hack Your Day”. However you can replace two items in that long task with contexts and categories. You can put the task in the Hack Your Day category and the fact that this is a post in the @ post context. You can now use the title of the post as the task name, which will give you more meaning, and more context.

You can use this method for any tasks you may have. Instead of having “Buy groceries”, you can simply have the task name be “milk, potatoes and juice” with the context @buy. Instead of “Marketing meeting” you can have “New brands discussion” with the context @meeting. These are all simple examples, but they will let you create lists with more meaning at first glance, and more context under the hood.