From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Processing your paper or digital notepad

From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Processing your paper or digital notepad

“

- Many of my clients process tasks directly from their notepad, either paper or digital. The same what, when, where processing system applies with a minor adjustment to the where step. Note pages often contain a mix of reference notes and action items. As you take notes, indicate actions by writing a checkbox next to them. Consider this example from a coaching meeting with a client, Samuel. I have several general notes and one action item. Samuel committed to send me his project schedule by October 1. I'll need to follow up with him. During processing, I focus on the first action on the page. What is the next step? Follow up with him. When will it be done? It's short and flexible and I want to give him the opportunity to get it in on time, so I create a task reminder to occur on the morning of October 2. If he gets it back to me before then, I can delete the reminder when it pops up. Now, where is its home? I've processed the task, but I want to keep the other notes for reference. Remember the three-deep filing system for digital files? This also works well for digital notes. I've created two folders in my Notepad app, work and personal. Within the work folder, I have a sub-folder, coaching. Within that, a final sub-folder, Samuel. I drag and drop the note page there and I'm done. This rule applies even for paper note pages. After I process the checkbox task from my written notes, I can store the paper note in a manila folder using my alphabetical files, or take a picture or scan and store it digitally. During the mind clearing exercise, you likely listed some tasks in your notepad. These are perfect for practicing what, when, where processing from your notepad. Pause this course and process some of these tasks, one at a time, for 30 minutes. Each rep will help you develop your mental processing muscle.

Contents