andrea_vk said:
DO I need to determine all actions for each project now.
Yes. Everything out of your head and into your system.
And where do you keep the projects.? Do they go in a different folder for each project. Do you also put a label into it?.
Let's say you use a simple paper system with manilla folders. The folder on top can contain as many sheets of paper as you need to list your projects by at least project name and maybe by desired outcome also, labeled PROJECT LIST. Then another folder for one page projects, labeled ONE PAGE PROJECTS. These sheets of paper will have the project name at the top and your notes as needed for only one page. Then you need a folder for each project that needs more than one page or needs support material like receipts, photocopies, faxes, UPS tracking information, bills, birthday cards, etc.
I buy all right cut manalla folders and avery file folder labels, and label my folders with the avery labels from the begining. Then as folders are reused, I put new file folder labels over the old ones. So you need a folder for your avery file folder labels.
Then you need at least one folder labeled PERSONAL.
And then based on what you do you need folders labeled for your contexts, like WORK, ERRANDS, FINANCES, SONGS TO LEARN, PEOPLE TO CALL ABOUT SOCCER, etc. These folders are for action items and supporting materials for those contexts, where maybe there is only one line per action item for action items that are not really projects. In ERRANDS, you could have your grocery list, and a list of stuff to by at the mall, and a list of stuff to buy when you are on the other side of town.
I mean some of the projects are really very small, like phoning a company to find out a product and then go and purchase it. Do I create a folder with a label for this project?
If it is that simple, it could go as one line item in a CALLS folder on a sheet of phone calls to make, or an entire sheet in the one sheet projects folder, but in my opinion, the second you print out a page from the internet about that item, you have that printout and a page for that action, so it becomes a project with supporting material. Get a folder, put a label on it, put it in your stack. When that project is over you put the file in the recycle stack, and maybe put a new label on it then. At the bottom of your stack of files you can have a stack of file folders with blank file folder labels on them ready to be used.
Oh, and a file folder labeled BLANK PAPER.
My point would be that you have everything INSIDE A FOLDER where all the folders are the same size, that you can put in a stack, and all you need is your pen and maybe a calculator and you can go through that stack and GET THINGS DONE.
This can become very expensive since the project actually may be finished in a day.
Only as expensive as the maximum number of projects that you are working on at any one time. You do not have to file every folder away or throw every folder away. Staple your supporting material together and put it in a related file, and put a fresh file folder label on the old folder and recycle that project folder. But, I have to tell you, if you have 100 separate sheets of paper, and you want to refer to those sheets of paper in the future, you will find that information quicker grouping them into 40 folders that you will by grouping them into 10 folders. Very few of my storage reference folders are thicker than 1/2 of an inch. I have one customer where I have about 20 folders that take up only about 2 inches of file box space. When my boss asks for information, I can go exactly to it. All my friends seem to want to put about 3 inches of stuff into each folder. There files are a mess and they can not find anything.
For example I call a company today to inquiry about a product, then I need to make a note to actually go and buy it.
That is a one line action item on a sheet in your ERRANDS folder, or what ever you want to call that context. With the name of the store, the shopping center, or location in town of the place where you will shop at the top of the sheet of paper.
Another question I have my next actions and projects lists on small cards, but the lists being too long...
If you did not have to eat or sleep or use the bathroom, could you do all of the items on one action item list in the same location with the same tools until all where done? If the answer is no, then it is not that your lists are too long, they are not narrow enough. If I was a carpenter, I would have one list for all the stuff I had to do in my shop, and another for all the stuff I had to buy at the hardware store, and another for customer calls that I need to make.
AM I putting too much into my lists , Should they go more in Someday/Maybe lists?
If you are not planning to actually do what is on the list over the next six to nine months, I would put it in a SOMEDAY file, only to be reviewed during a weekly review. If it is something that you do not have to do in the next six months, but you could if you have the time and interest, I would put that in a MAYBE file and look at it if you have some spare time on a rainy day. If you know that you need to do that in May, it goes in a MAY folder, that means that you need 12 more folders.
Good questions. I am not an expert on GTD and just answered your questions as if you were sitting in my office we where just talking. My advice is not gospel, just some things to think about from a guy who does paper GTD.
