43 Folders

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

Next Actions

How do you organize/store your "next actions," and how do you actually use that list/info on a daily basis?

Flexiblefine's picture

A tour of my Word doc

pooks wrote:
So do you keep NAs in separate lists for separate projects and then pull out the ones you need for that day, or do you have them categorized by @phone, @home, etc?

I don't recreate my list every day, I just update it. My Word document is two pages of two columns, printed front-and-back on one sheet of paper. The "front" side has my contexts labeled Work Compuer, Work Office, E-mails, Calls, and Waiting For, plus an agenda for my boss. The "back" side has Home, Online, Errands, Read/Review, Anywhere, an agenda for my wife, and an agenda for a work committee that never meets.

I cross items off as they get done during the day, and update the list during my morning processing session. This way I have a clean, legible list to work from each day.

So it's one sheet of paper with all these categorized lists on it. Simple and easy. I've attached a small screecap of a two-page "Print Preview" to give you the general look of it.

 
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