Am i on the right track?

I have 3 projects for home currently: 1. remove efflorescence from my basement walls and apply dryblock to affected areas, 2. Replace the outer door handle on my car and 3. Get the car's radiator system flushed.

My plan is to get a spiral bound notebook and label it Home, which is an Area of focus. Then I will list the titles of these Projects on the first page of 8.5 x11 paper in the notebook, e.g. 1. Repair basement walls, 2. Fix car door handle, and 3. Flush radiator system. I think I get that.

Where should the list of next actions [1. home depot: scraper/dryblock/brush 2.search internet for car parts and 3. call repair shop for estimate] be written? Would this be on a different page in the same notebook as the titles of the projects or would it be best to have them in a separate notebook that is labeled by context?
 
I'd recommend separate sheets of paper (to avoid having too many old completed things distracting you.)
 
If you consider having 1 notebook per area of focus, then I'd also suggest that you regroup all of your next action on a separate sheet, divided by context.
 
Folke and Popoye,

While i like the idea of physically separating the list of next actions from their titles on the project list, I also wonder though if it would be wise to scribble the title of the project near each of it's next actions as a way of always keeping the project in view.

What do you think?
 
Absolutely, if you think it is worth the effort. I personally like it that way, which in fact is one of the reasons I moved my lists onto a computer in the late '90s. In many modern todo apps you get that option at no extra effort, and it also allows you to alternate views between, say, a per-project view and a per-context view or a sorted-by-deadline view. Very neat and useful.

When prior to that I used paper, I settled for just writing the actions clearly enough for me to understand.
 
curtis said:
I have 3 projects for home currently: 1. remove efflorescence from my basement walls and apply dryblock to affected areas, 2. Replace the outer door handle on my car and 3. Get the car's radiator system flushed.

My plan is to get a spiral bound notebook and label it Home, which is an Area of focus. Then I will list the titles of these Projects on the first page of 8.5 x11 paper in the notebook, e.g. 1. Repair basement walls, 2. Fix car door handle, and 3. Flush radiator system. I think I get that.

Where should the list of next actions [1. home depot: scraper/dryblock/brush 2.search internet for car parts and 3. call repair shop for estimate] be written? Would this be on a different page in the same notebook as the titles of the projects or would it be best to have them in a separate notebook that is labeled by context?

When I used a paper system, I had 1 notebook with projects listed on the first couple pages and next actions in the same notebook - separate sheets of paper per context. The only time I would have kept a separate notebook for next actions would be if it made sense for that specific context, e.g., keeping a list of errands in my car. But even then, I usually just brought my little black notebook everywhere I went, so it didn't make much difference.

You could scribble the title of the project next to each next action, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra effort. The way you keep the project moving forward is by competing next actions, and the weekly review keeps the project in front of you.
 
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