File Folder with separate paper notes?

J

jkwan

0
When David talked about "lists", he said it could be "a file folder with separate paper notes." (p141) Does that mean in my "Projects" folder I have a sheet of paper for each project? And a sheet of paper for each next action in my "Next Actions" folder?

If not, please explain what David really meant?
If yes, wouldn't it be a problem if there were too many sheets of paper and how do you organize them?
 
Note the spirit

In principle yes. You could have a separate sheet for each item. That's just one of the three possibilities listed on that page, and then there could be more. The second of them is just the list as you would write items one below the other on a sheet of paper.

What is more important is the context of this line that you have quoted. The paragraph begins with
When I refer to a "list," keep in mind that I mean nothing more than a grouping of items with some similar characteristic.
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The spirit is (in my opinion) that people may go on looking for technologically "advanced" (read: unnecessarily complicated) set of features for managing these items, when nothing more than grouping is required.

On the practical side, if I were using paper, I would use one sheet per project leaving scope to add project notes for those projects which do not deserve a separate folder, but I would list actions one below the other on a single sheet, because they move fast and usually won't require that much of space.

In the free articles available on this website, there is one describing how to set up a paper system using a folder, called "Organizing a paper organizer" which you can use as a starting point.

Regards,
Abhay
 
I interpret this to mean that you have a single sheet of paper with a list of projects - one per line. This is like a master project index that you can scan down each week to trigger your memory about each one. Each project itself may then have its own file folder containing necessary support material such as notes, schedules, diagrams, etc.
 
Agreed with what folks have written here.

I keep my list of Projects on one sheet of paper, one Project per line, hand-written.
 
jkwan;76020 said:
When David talked about "lists", he said it could be "a file folder with separate paper notes." (p141) Does that mean in my "Projects" folder I have a sheet of paper for each project? And a sheet of paper for each next action in my "Next Actions" folder?
Click to expand...

That's how my system works. I've been very happy with it. As David says,

Believe it or not, putting one thought on one full-size sheet of paper can have enormous value.​

jkwan;76020 said:
If yes, wouldn't it be a problem if there were too many sheets of paper and how do you organize them?
Click to expand...

I haven't run into that problem myself. If I started getting overwhelmed with Next Actions I'd probably break it out into folders for each context (which isn't a bad idea in any case.)

Cheers,
Roger
 
Roger;76033 said:
Believe it or not, putting one thought on one full-size sheet of paper can have enormous value.​
Click to expand...

I heard this idea even before reading GTD.
But somehow it feels strange when I picture myself doing it.

Do I write a small line at the top of the page and leave the rest blank so that I can add more to it later? Or do I write it bigger so that it is more readable. I guess it's me not knowing how to deal with the amount of space that a blank sheet of paper provides.

Can you tell me it works for you? Thanks.
 
It's a little strange to start with, yeah, but it becomes familiar soon enough.

I typically take a blank sheet of paper, write the date in the top right corner, and then write the action or project in big bold letters.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on, on a psychological level. I think it's sort of confrontational in a way; I'm writing "SHOP FOR DAD'S COFFIN" in big bold letters because I'm the master of this thing and it does not scare me. But that might just be my purely personal response to it.

Anyway, I'd recommend that you give it a try, see how it feels, see how it works for you. You might be happy with it.

Cheers,
Roger
 
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