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Don't totally understand NAs

I'm new to GTD. Just read the book over the weekend, and spent today collecting and beginning to process.

There is still something I don't understand about next actions. Let's say I have a list of 50 projects, and I go through each one and decide what the next physical action is... am I going to end up with a list of 50 actions, work through those, then generate 50 more?

Would I be kind of spinning my wheels as I rotate through all 50 projects, rather than focusing on one, and doing more actions on that one?

Or am I missing something? When I list NAs, should I list all the NAs I can do on a specific project?

Thanks for the help,

Matt

andyc's picture

Or am I missing something?...

mream wrote:

Or am I missing something? When I list NAs, should I list all the NAs I can do on a specific project?

I think, as with many aspects of GTD, the answer here is "whatever works for you". I use a software tool which lets me generate a list of NAs for each project, and moves the next one onto the to-do list each time I check one off.

If it's for a project (like winterize the house) that you can't do for 6 months, then it belongs in a tickler file or similar until then, not on the active project list.
One of the big things for me is making sure that I have a good set of NAs in place for all my projects. Which ones actually make it onto the to-do list is then a function of which projects are most important right now. But there's a always a good supply which can be brought onto the list if it's looking a bit sparse.

Hope that helps.

Andy

 
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