43 Folders

Back to Work

Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

Join us via RSS, iTunes, or at 5by5.tv.

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Linked next actions?

Say I have a small project like replacing the tires of my car which could look like this in a mission statement...

Mission (should you choose to accept it) : replace tires

Steps :
* Check what type of tires I need
* Call friend about contact he knows
* Call dealers to get some comparision prices
* Call handyman to do the job

Breaking this down to actions:
* Check what type of tires I need
- Check manual (@Home)
* Call friend about contact he knows
- Get number (@Work)
- Call friend (@ToCall)
- Call contact (@ToCall)
* Call dealers to get some comparision prices
- Get numbers (@Work)
- Call dealers (@ToCall)
* Call handyman to do the job
- Get number (@Home)
- Call handyman (@ToCall)

Several of these I can begin with at once, the collecting information parts as get number, get tire type etc. But I can't call anyone until I got their numbers. But still all this work can be done in a day if I just pass the diffrent containers during the day.

So should I add all these things to my contextlists even if they are not do-able right now? Or should I keep the undo-able things and add them at the daily review for the next day? Such a thing can drag a little project like this for days.

How do you keep track of these things? I mainly use paperbased contextlists but any idea is welcome :)

spalmer47's picture

Playing PigPog

You may want to look into the PigPog method.
http://pigpog.com/node/1031

Even for my paper-based lists, I denote the project on the task line within the context list. That way, I can tell at a glance what's important.

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

Popular
Today

Popular
Classics

An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »