The Routines section lets you set up tasks you need to do regularly. The system automatically generates the actions for each routine according to the frequency you’ve set.

If you click on the Add Routine button to define a new recurring task, the Routines Editor will appear:

The Routine Editor organizes all the information you need to set up a routine into several sections.

• Description of the event or action to be performed. Describe the task clearly and specifically in the text box. You can include the context in which the task should be done using tags. Below the text box you have the list of the most used tags. To use one, simply click a tag to add it to your text.
• Perspective. To be meaningful, every action should align with a larger purpose, defined by a goal and/or one of your areas of responsibility.
• Notes. Add any supporting information needed to complete the task here.
• Files. You can also add support material needed to perform the task by attaching files that you have on your computer or in the cloud. These files will be associated with each action generated by the routine but they won’t be duplicated, that is, they will not occupy extra space for each action.
• Checklist. Sometimes, having a checklist within the routine can be very useful to ensure that you will not forget any detail when carrying out the action. You can sort the points in the list by dragging and dropping them. You can also import previously defined checklists.
• Choice criteria. The choice criteria are valid for the recurring actions that do not go to the Calendar, but to the Next Actions list. This lets you use the “What to do now?” tool in the Engage stage. If the action doesn’t need to be done on the same day it’s created but it can be done on any of the following days, uncheck the Calendar option and it will appear in the Next Actions list.
• Recurrence. In this section, you define all the scheduling details of the routine. It will be discussed in detail below.

When you edit an existing routine and save the changes, the recurring actions will not be generated again, unless you have modified any data within the Recurrence section.

If you only edit information that doesn’t affect the routine’s schedule (description, notes, choice criteria, etc.), the current programming will not be updated and the new info will be effective when the next occurrence is generated.

Routine programming

You can set up routine schedules by adjusting the options in the Recurrence section. Four types of frequency can be defined:

• Daily. You can generate actions every day, on weekdays or weekend days. You can also create schedules like “every several days”, specifying the number of days between occurrences.

• Weekly. For actions that you have to do on specific days of the week. Select the days of the week when the task should occur and whether you must do it every week, every two weeks, etc.

• Monthly. For actions that you have to do on a specific day of the month. You can also define recurrences like “first Monday of the month” or “last Friday of the month”. Also, you must specify if you have to do it every month, every two months, etc.

• Yearly. Reminders for a particular day of the year. Useful for birthdays, anniversaries, renewal of contracts, etc. You can also specify how many years apart the event repeats.

You can indicate that the task must be done at a specific time of the day. By default, 00:00 means the task has no specific time or lasts all day. Also, you can set the duration of the event, which by default is one hour.

If the Calendar option is checked, the actions generated by the routine will go to the Calendar. In this case, the “choice criteria” are deactivated because they do not make sense in actions that belong to the Calendar — following the GTD method, in the Calendar there must be only actions that have to be done on a certain day. Regardless of your energy level or available time, these actions must be done.

If you uncheck the Calendar option, the generated actions will go to the Next Actions list and will include an expected date (not a deadline). In this case, the time and duration of the event are deactivated since they are not used in that list.

Advanced options

The advanced options let you adjust how dates are calculated and how recurring actions are generated.

• Inactive until: Lets you to “hide” the action in the Tickler File until a few days before it’s scheduled to occur, so that it does not distract you when it is not yet necessary.
• Starts: Allows you to set a date from which the actions of the routine will begin to appear. The first action will appear on the first date on or after the one you set that matches the chosen recurrence.
• Ends: You can specify how long this routine should keep generating actions. You can define a specific number of occurrences, or an end date.
• Calculated. Some recurring events need to shift the next occurrence if the previous one is delayed, such as “vaccinate the dog every three months.” If you delayed the last vaccine by a couple of weeks, the next one should be scheduled three months after it was given. For this type of action, use the calculated on completion option, and define a daily frequency. This option is only available for daily routines, but you can, for instance, assign a ‘90 days’ frequency in order to schedule a quarterly routine.

Turning actions into routines

You can turn an existing action into a routine by editing it and using the date-assignment window within the Task Editor. If the action you’re editing is already part of a routine, you can update its recurrence directly from that window:

This option lets you schedule a recurring event just as you would in the Routine Editor.