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The biggest problem in the world could have been solved when it was small. Laotzu

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    The Author

    Mark Forster is the author of three books about time management and personal organisation. The most recent, Do It Tomorrow, was published by Hodder in 2006.

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    « Working Live Today | Main | Working Live on this Blog Tomorrow »
    Thursday
    Sep032009

    The List for Tomorrow

    This is the list which I will be working on tomorrow. I’m posting it here as a matter of record so it can easily be compared with how it looks at the end of tomorrow.

    This particular post will remain unchanged. The actual working list will be published at 8am UK time (3am EST) tomorrow (Friday):

    Cancel Insurance Policies
    Write Henry S.
    Contribute to P & Y’s Charity
    Buy Guillotine
    Weed Old Accounts
    Ring Ben’s Gutters
    Get Phoenix Insurance Claim signed
    Investigate ways of marketing and selling E-book
    Approaching businesses?
    Photo Plus Manual
    Sort out Domain hosting
    Photos for Facebook
    “Taxi Driver”
    “Fanny Cradock”
    “I Know Where I’m Going”
    “The Edge of the World”
    Check details needed by Travel Agency
    Schedule for Newsletters?
    Restaurant for L’s birthday?
    Card for L
    Weed Noguchi
    Portuguese 17
    Aeneid
    “Then She Found Me”
    Write E-book
    Write M
    Read Gerald Coleman’s “Ultra Simple Guide”
    Camera Manual
    Return chalk to T
    Brain trainer
    Tidy Office
    “Fleurs du Mal”
    Make Bed
    German 24/3
    Facebook
    Spanish 12/2
    Mow Lawn
    Sort out Google bar
    Blog “7 Habits of Poor Time Managers”
    “Saraband”
    Write
    Bureau Top tidy?
    MicroPlaza
    Reading List (oldest)
    Reading List (newest)
    G replied?
    Desk tidy?
    Exercise
    Walk
    Tax Return
    Photo Galleries
    Squarespace Videos
    Check BP
    Journal 10+
    Investment Managers
    RegZooka
    Cut Hedge
    NumberWatch
    Carswell
    “The Cell”
    Paper
    Comments
    Voicemail
    Fix date for lunch with Carol N
    Email
    FTSE
    “Top Gear”
    Lowest Point Forecast
    Back Up
    Reading
    Doodle
    Change Wallpaper
    Reading List (quality)
    Pitch C#
    Wash Up

    All my actioned  tasks are not shown on this list, but it’s worth bearing in mind that I normally work with paper and pen so that deletions from the list are still visible.

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    Reader Comments (13)

    What in the world are you going to do with a guillotine? :-)

    http://home.comcast.net/~pqboom/tour/images/guillotineplus.jpeg
    September 3, 2009 at 23:21 | Unregistered CommenterSeraphim
    Ah, that's a relief, it's only one of those odd Briticisms. :-)

    I thought for a moment it was an attempt to break down your "take over the world" task into its component steps.
    September 4, 2009 at 2:07 | Unregistered CommenterSeraphim
    I'm curious, is this fairly much your entire AF list, or just a subset of it?
    If that's only a subset, there's quite a lot on there...
    September 4, 2009 at 2:25 | Unregistered CommenterChrisKe
    ChrisKe:

    This is my entire list. With this new version the tendency of the list to get longer and longer seems to have gone.
    September 4, 2009 at 8:14 | Registered CommenterMark Forster
    Goody: when are you coming to Reading?

    Business or pleasure? (Though of course any opportnuity to visit this delightful market town can only be a pleasure...)

    :o)
    September 4, 2009 at 11:35 | Unregistered CommenterWill
    Do you have to put "wash up" on your list? I always wash up at the same time each day, and it's as much a habit as cleaning my teeth.

    I'd love to see your reading list! Reading is my main hobby (calling?) and I'm trying to combine a reading list with my "to do" list.

    I'm trying to seriously plan my serious reading. I'm doing this by re-reading Harold Bloom's "the Western Canon" to try to find find "the best", and plan to "read the best first!" Any thoughts on how to integrate such a (developing) reading list into your system?
    September 4, 2009 at 12:31 | Unregistered CommenterMal
    Mal:

    << Do you have to put "wash up" on your list? >>

    I don't have to, but I do. I have a rule that if there's more than three items to wash up when I get to the task, then I do it.

    You can of course do it however you like.

    << Any thoughts on how to integrate such a (developing) reading list into your system? >>

    The tasks "Reading List" refer to articles etc on line which I keep track of on a Firefox extension.

    The task "Reading" refers to books. I have all my current books on a shelf, with the most recently read one on the left. When I come to this task, I look along the shelf from the left and pick the first book that stands out for me. I find that works better than putting the book titles themselves on the list.
    September 4, 2009 at 13:26 | Registered CommenterMark Forster
    Seraphim,

    Actually, "guillotine" is what it is called here too. At least I've always called it that. However, there is a much nicer version ( but not as heavy duty) which utilizeses a sliding handle. I like it better. It is also less scary ;-)
    September 4, 2009 at 13:30 | Unregistered CommenterMike
    Mal,

    I've been working a combination of the Western Cannon, the Great Books of the Western world (nearly identical) and books from several other sources I got by web searching. I'd love to know more of your experiences in this area. Reading is also my passion.
    September 4, 2009 at 13:32 | Unregistered CommenterMike
    Guilhotina is also the word we use in Portuguese (Brazil).
    September 5, 2009 at 4:21 | Unregistered CommenterSilvia
    I can't recall if you've spoken about this sometime before. Do you also use a Planner or Calendar ONLY for appointments or things to be done at a specific day or hour? And, of course, use the AF4 for everything else? Thanks.
    July 10, 2010 at 18:42 | Unregistered CommenterNelda
    Nelda:
    My system is more a case of appointments and reminders ONLY go into a diary/schedule (I'm using Office/Outlook 2010).

    Of course, I may put a task into my DWM/AF list, 'Reminder: draft report ready by 31 July 2010', then use Outlook Task reminder to bring it up on a date before that.

    I'm also setting aside some blocks of time in the schedule to focus on certain tasks or groups of tasks.

    A recent addition to my system (DWM) is to create a Daily Closed List of tasks that I feel MUST be done on the day, work tasks list from the top down, personal tasks from the bottom up, both on the same page in a Moleskine pocket notebook. Such target tasks are culled from my main DWM (or AF if you use that) list.

    For the main DWM/AF list, I have moved since the very beginning of AF from A4 to A5, to Moleskine Large (about A5), and now to Moleskine pocket book; both the DWM and Daily Closed List notebooks are in my shirt pocket.
    July 15, 2010 at 10:41 | Unregistered CommenterRoger J

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