putting single action projects in life areas instead of the single action project cat

[madalu]

Recap:

Instead of normally putting :

Single Action Projects
- Print out bank statement ( 1step action)

I say I should put it:

Personal
- Finance
- Print out bank statement ( 1 step action)

I'm not sure what you're describing here. Could you please clarify? It looks as if the list above is a mixture of areas of responsibility, projects, and actions.

Is "Finance" a project? If so, it might be helpful to rewrite it as a "desired objective" (e.g., "Manage finances"). Or is "Finances" rather an area of responsibility (20,000 feet), beneath which you would then put the various projects that are part of that area of responsibility? (E.g., set up new savings account, diversify my retirement portfolio, etc.)

"Print out bank statement." Why are you doing this? Are you printing it out to keep a paper file of all your bank statements? In that case, you might schedule this as a recurring task in your tickler or on your calendar. Or are you printing the bank statement as part of a larger project, such as "look into strange withdrawal from my checking account" or "gather financial documents for taxes"? Often things that seem like single actions actually belong to projects.

There is no such thing as a "Single Action Project," since a project, by definition, requires two or more steps.

Which raises a third question. Why would you be putting a single action on your projects list? This should go on your next actions list. Otherwise you waste time writing/storing it twice. Or are you using some specific software package that requires this? If so, could you please clarify what that is.

You say putting "print out bank statement" under areas of responsibility is against the rules? I don't believe there are any "rules" in the book about how you map out the "higher levels" of your life. The "rules" rather have to do with making sure you really do have concrete next actions on all of your action lists (i.e., runway items).