How I managed to eschew the 43 folders

[jwarlander]

In addition to the above, I keep a hardcopy planner, separated in the categories suggested by DA. See here. This is no trouble or time waster for me, because I use the Custom Views in my spreadsheet to practically instantly print:

a) My Calendar (for any day or other period I like).
b) Next Actions lists by any Context that I have defined.
c) Waiting for list(s).
d) Agendas.

I'm kind of interested in how to do that.. I'm currently putting my NA lists into Excel (though with a separate sheet for each context), but I'm not yet satisfied with the printouts. For one thing flipping through the sheets for printing is kind of bothersome, but I guess I should fix that by including the context as a column instead.. But more importantly, I have to have my sheet formatted for output instead of having it formatted for easy work on the computer screen. Since I print to A5, that means it looks a bit compact.

 

[DoingIt]

jwarlander, a single Excel spreadsheet should cover all your needs. For example, if you Autofilter the Context column (choose your Context) and the Date Done column (choose blank cells), will show you all pending NAs for that context.

I usually copy the selected range into a Word blank document (you could use an A5 size document), where it's easier to manipulate it as a Table. For starters, use menu Table --> Autofit --> Fit to Window to make sure that your table will fit on the A5 size paper.

 

[cornell]

I just use my (paper) calendar instead of the ticker file

I couldn't justify managing a ticker either, based on how I (didn't) use it. Instead I just use my calendar for these kinds of actions/information. I simply put the item as a bullet at the top of each appropriate day. You can find some "screen shots" at Four Planner Hacks for Paper-Based Productivity, if you're interested.

matt