Hi,
Common issue with paper based application is the need to feel in control about knowing to which Project does a certain Next Action belong. It's easy to achieve this in electronic format by using tags, but in paper format we usually end up duplicating entries by writing the Next Action once in the Project Support sheet and then again in the corresponding Context list adding certain markers (P1, P2, etc.) to remind us where that Next Action fits and relying on Weekly Review to follow up.
The paper system recommendation is to have a Project section where you would list all the current projects and a separate Project Support section where all the project plans would reside. The "hack" involves taking a different look at the Project Support section - the Project section remains as is.
This adaptation only works with loose leaf based paper systems where a whole Context list section (@Home for example) would be a placed in a separate tab divider. The single actions would be then written down in a typical to-do format (on a page, one underneath another with a checkbox to the left for example) while for the next steps part of a certain project, the whole sheet from the Project Support plan would be placed in that divided section. Most of the projects are typically done within a single context anyway and if the context is changed for the subsequent Next Action (typical for @WaitingFor type of next step), then take the whole page again and put it in the corresponding divider. Rinse and Repeat until the project is done and filed away. You can also place the project plan page in a sheet protector too if you'd like to keep in one place certain paperwork associated with the project like statements, receipts, and such.
For added dimension, you can use different inks to remind you if the project or next action belongs to this or that Area of Focus (or even Goal) should you need to balance things out as you decide which Next Action to tackle next - as general categories, I use Health, Wealth, Growth, and Warmth (the first three ones are Self oriented and the last one is Others oriented like for altruistic deeds). There are pens out there with more than 4 inks per pen, but that it is enough for me. Actually not, the pen I use has also a pencil built-in which I use for capturing Stuff
Levenger has a product where there are 4 different widths of the paper inserts so you can really drill down to a great amount of detail (for example, in Agendas, you can have a separate width each for say Family, Friends, Work, and Others and then within the Family width, you can have a page each for Parent, Spouse, etc.). Similar, for example for the @Home context, you can have a width reserved for Health and then use different inks to drill down to which aspect of health it is about - for example: Body, Mind, Mood, and Soul (or Drive). You can play around with similar setups as wide and as deep as you wish - the thing is to not be constrained to do so by limits (real or perceived) of certain technologies (in this case pen&paper). And don't get me started on their vertical tab dividers (again in 4 packs - I don't know why everything is in 4s really - maybe because it's the size of a typical nuclear family?) Who knows...
I use the same approach even for electronic tracking by "parking" (tagging) the whole project in the context where the next active action belongs at a time (the project plan is contained within the body of the note/title as a checklist - works for my Blackberry and it would sure work for Evernote or even Onenote). Saves you a lot of time that would otherwise be wasted on tagging each Next Action to a Project and cramping the tags list.
As an added benefit for both paper and electronic application, it would save you a lot of time in the Weekly Review as you would in effect be doing almost Daily reviews and be/feel more up-to-date.
I hope this will give you some ideas how to handle such challenges. In any case - have some fun doing it!
Regards,
Sasha
Common issue with paper based application is the need to feel in control about knowing to which Project does a certain Next Action belong. It's easy to achieve this in electronic format by using tags, but in paper format we usually end up duplicating entries by writing the Next Action once in the Project Support sheet and then again in the corresponding Context list adding certain markers (P1, P2, etc.) to remind us where that Next Action fits and relying on Weekly Review to follow up.
The paper system recommendation is to have a Project section where you would list all the current projects and a separate Project Support section where all the project plans would reside. The "hack" involves taking a different look at the Project Support section - the Project section remains as is.
This adaptation only works with loose leaf based paper systems where a whole Context list section (@Home for example) would be a placed in a separate tab divider. The single actions would be then written down in a typical to-do format (on a page, one underneath another with a checkbox to the left for example) while for the next steps part of a certain project, the whole sheet from the Project Support plan would be placed in that divided section. Most of the projects are typically done within a single context anyway and if the context is changed for the subsequent Next Action (typical for @WaitingFor type of next step), then take the whole page again and put it in the corresponding divider. Rinse and Repeat until the project is done and filed away. You can also place the project plan page in a sheet protector too if you'd like to keep in one place certain paperwork associated with the project like statements, receipts, and such.
For added dimension, you can use different inks to remind you if the project or next action belongs to this or that Area of Focus (or even Goal) should you need to balance things out as you decide which Next Action to tackle next - as general categories, I use Health, Wealth, Growth, and Warmth (the first three ones are Self oriented and the last one is Others oriented like for altruistic deeds). There are pens out there with more than 4 inks per pen, but that it is enough for me. Actually not, the pen I use has also a pencil built-in which I use for capturing Stuff
Levenger has a product where there are 4 different widths of the paper inserts so you can really drill down to a great amount of detail (for example, in Agendas, you can have a separate width each for say Family, Friends, Work, and Others and then within the Family width, you can have a page each for Parent, Spouse, etc.). Similar, for example for the @Home context, you can have a width reserved for Health and then use different inks to drill down to which aspect of health it is about - for example: Body, Mind, Mood, and Soul (or Drive). You can play around with similar setups as wide and as deep as you wish - the thing is to not be constrained to do so by limits (real or perceived) of certain technologies (in this case pen&paper). And don't get me started on their vertical tab dividers (again in 4 packs - I don't know why everything is in 4s really - maybe because it's the size of a typical nuclear family?) Who knows...
I use the same approach even for electronic tracking by "parking" (tagging) the whole project in the context where the next active action belongs at a time (the project plan is contained within the body of the note/title as a checklist - works for my Blackberry and it would sure work for Evernote or even Onenote). Saves you a lot of time that would otherwise be wasted on tagging each Next Action to a Project and cramping the tags list.
As an added benefit for both paper and electronic application, it would save you a lot of time in the Weekly Review as you would in effect be doing almost Daily reviews and be/feel more up-to-date.
I hope this will give you some ideas how to handle such challenges. In any case - have some fun doing it!
Regards,
Sasha