@Robert Here is what I have found helpful.
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First and foremost, to minimize the types of problems you are describing (which all of us face) the daily and weekly reviews are essential. It is only through a consistent, systematic review process that one can keep on top of “real” tasks (see below) and the ideas/somedays that we all have.
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Any task should start with a verb: “call”, “email”, “write”, “review my articles and book reading lists”, “follow-up with …”, etc. Some of these will have a definitive date and some will be recurring. Most will not have a date—they will be in the equivalent of “someday.” For example, I have a Daily Review recurring task which shows up in my Today list every day (Complete my Daily Review). The daily review is a review of my inbox, calendar, emails, and anything showing up in my weekly list. As I conduct the review I answer these questions:
Daily Review
- What is my #1 goal for the day? This goes in my Today list.
- What should I do with this task?, make subject actionable with a verb
- When do I need to complete this task?
- Who is responsible for this task (if delegated, or, should it be delegated?)
- What else about this task? (add notes, tags, checklist, deadline, like to notes related to this task/project, e.g., from Obsidian, DEVONthink, Apple Notes, Craft, Bear, whatever you use to keep up with meeting and project information.
Weekly Review
- I systematically go through every project list. I schedule an hour each Friday morning for my weekly review as I setup for the following week.
- I schedule only actions I absolutely MUST complete by a specified date or bad things happen.
- Add/delete/revise projects and todos
- Select one key goal for week: a goal that will have the largest impact for the week
- Review my reference, someday/maybe, reading, book lists, etc.
- Schedule any task I MUST accomplish THIS WEEK with a due date, see above
- Todos are always preceded by a verb
NOTES
- All of my notes include project details and documents and emails or links to documents and emails.
- When in a meeting I take notes and list any action items. I then process those action items in my task manager (I’ve been using Apple Reminders). As noted above, these action items (todos) are reviewed daily/weekly.
In short, todos/action items are discrete, tangible things I can do, they always begin with a verb.
Notes are details of projects and meetings, e.g., names of committee members, reference information, research notes, and a list of action items that are then transferred to my task manager.
With all of that said, I want to emphasize again that without a daily and weekly review, things will fall through the cracks and or things will feel overwhelming and stressful. Here is how I schedule my daily and weekly reviews:
I hope this is of some help.