A little taste of black belt?!
2b. If there is no project (ie., this is a single-step next action), then create one for it.
2c. Write it into the Notes section of the Project (I'm assuming an electronic system, but it should be easy enough to do this on paper as well)
2d. Delete the item from your context list
3. Repeat step 1 until your context lists are empty.
4. Move all of your projects to Someday/Maybe.
Now, go do a weekly review.
From here, there are two schools of thought: (1) It is bad to have too many active projects, because you will feel overwhelmed and will get nothing done; or (2) It is bad to have too few active projects, because you will feel like you have all the time in the world and will procrastinate. Decide which school of thought applies to you, and activate projects accordingly.[/QUOTE]
Thanks -- that's helpful. I do think it's good to get back to zero at times. As for 2b above, I think (if I'm not mistaken) that it's perfectly OK to have single next actions that are just what they are, and not tied to a larger outcome? Errands come to mind as an example. Sure, I could tie "pick up dry cleaning" to a larger outcome, but for me that would feel like overkill.
I have found over the past week or so that (a) I've knocked a bunch of actions (project-related and discrete) off my lists, or decided they just weren't going to happen, and I have moved a TON of things onto Someday, Maybe. Once I bit the bullet it wasn't as much of a pain to review the action lists for related projects as I'd feared. Resistance is a funny thing, isn't it? Coincidentally, I had a week at work where I doubt 5 minutes went by without an interruption -- had about 4 major deadlines due on Wednesday! And, amazingly, what happened was that I got a little taste of what David talks about the "hidden tiger crouching monkey thing..." or however he so amusingly puts it! I was able to stay in the moment much more than usual, and didn't allow myself to freak out about what I wasn't doing. I'd get the interruption, corral what I was working on and put it into my in basket, handled the matter at hand -- I wasn't multi-tasking (which I think is a TOTAL waste of time most of the time), I was focusing clearly on one thing at at time -- just rapidly shifting from one to the next. It was WAY cool!
So, all in all a productive week of widget cranking during which I really moved stuff forward, learned new things about my recording equipment, impressed the boss (uh-oh! more stuff coming down the pike...!), and wasn't wracked by stress.
Hope everyone has a great, relaxing, productive Memorial Day Weekend!