Next action is at an unknown date in time

ChristinaSkaskiw

ChristinaSkaskiw

0
Hello,

Coming back from my last trip with British Airways, I spotted a set of head phones in their inflight shopping catalogue. I ripped out the page to have a think whether I wanted to get them or not. Now that I've decided I do want them, my next action will take place next time I fly British Airways, but the problem is, I don't know when that will be, so I have no where to park this thing.

Does anyone have any tricks on how to monitor these kinds of things? On the Waiting for list?

(In this instance, I do have the option of ordering the head phones on line, but there are other instances where this is not an option.)

Thanks!
/Christina
 
I may be wrong, but I hada similar situation and this is how I dealt with it.

The issue here isn't just next action: It's context. You have a very specific action that needs to be accomplished, and you don't need to have a due date: but you need to make sure you record that the context is @Plane or @Airport, or @Travel (depending how often you travel and the granularity you want)

I wanted to pick up something the next time I was in Los Angeles and saw a friend. Rather than having a context @LosAngeles or @Friend, I put it in @Travel - since I travel relatively infrequently, and often to the Los Angeles area.
 
Sid is right, that the context is the limiting factor here, but I don't like to have my contexts as granular as that. I have an @errands context which you could add an airport item to.

Or, you could add it to your airport/travel checklist (if you have one). This might be bending the rules a bit, but takes the action out of your thoughts and puts it somewhere that you'll find it at the time you need to.

Bryn
 
If you're at the airport a lot, it's probably worth having an @airport list.

Personally I'd put it on either my someday/maybe list or my travel checklist, which is a list of things take with me and do when I go travelling.

The main thing is to get it out of your head and into a list you trust yourself to look at when the time is right.
 
Someday/Maybe

I'd pop this into the Someday/Maybe list - a weekly review should pick it up before the next flight.

The only time it would fail, is if you had short notice of a flight, for example if you only found out about the flight the day after you'd done your weekly review!

If I was flying on a weekly basis, I'd possibly have a @Airport type context and pop it in there, but as I rarely fly, it's a context that would hardly be used so I'd use Someday/Maybe instead.

If I have too many very specific contexts/lists, particularly those that I wouldn’t visit often, there's a danger of me becoming numb to them.

With fewer lists/contexts that are checked more regularly, it keeps them current and nothing's missed - hopefully!

Cheers,

Andy.
 
AndyD;61637 said:
I'd pop this into the Someday/Maybe list - a weekly review should pick it up before the next flight.
Click to expand...

Generally, I'd agree with Andy. It needs to be on some sort of a list that you have a high probability of reviewing before your next trip.

In my specific case, I actually have a small file folder called "airplane work". Since I travel a fair bit, I like to have stuff that I can do during take-off and landing when I can't use electronics. At any given time the folder make have nothing in it, an unfinished sudoku from my last trip, or a manuscript to review.

So if I had the headphone situation, as you describe, I'd put the page in that folder, which is always in my backpack.

- Don
 
I see two viable options for handling something like this.

  1. As previously suggested, add a reminder to the Someday/Maybe list and put the paper article in a general reference file. When you see it during your weekly review, ask yourself if you'll be flying before your next review. If the answer is "yes", add the article to your support material for that trip.
  2. Place the article in your tickler file (if you use one) a week out from today. When it reappears in your in basket, add it back to the tickler file a week out if you aren't flying within that time, otherwise add the article to your support material for that trip.

I prefer option 2 for this sort of thing.
 
In this case, I would just use my suitcase as the tickler file. Just drop the catalog page in your suitcase and you'll be sure to see it next time you pack for a flight.
 
Thanks for tips

Good advice, thanks you all!
Clearly the idea is to put it somewhere where it's seen during the weekly review. Maybe a list called "Next time I'm...". Could even put a reminder on the travel checklist to look at that list.

All the best,
Christina
 
I like jknecht's idea. I'd stick the page in my suitcase, file it with my passport, or otherwise put it somewhere where I'll see it when (and only when) I'm getting ready for a trip. I don't travel enough to have an @travel context, but if I did I'd put it there.

In this particular case, it might be worth a few minutes online to see if you can find the same headphones elsewhere. Captive audience venues aren't known for competitive pricing.

Katherine
 
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