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Thread: How to mark actions as complete on paper? (ticky boxes or cross out?)

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    11

    Default How to mark actions as complete on paper? (ticky boxes or cross out?)

    When you have a written to-do list on paper, how do you mark an action as complete? Do you cross out the entire line? Or add a checkmark? Or put a tickybox in front of every item in the list, so the tickyboxes for the completed ones get filled in?

    My to-do lists look messy when there are many items, some completed and some incomplete, and I tend to rewrite them to clean them up, which is a loss of time if I had a cleaner way of marking which ones are complete and which ones still need me to consider doing them, a way to let me quickly scan the list and know what's going on visually.

    Sonja

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
    Posts
    42

    Default

    I cross out done items. They don't fully register in my brain as "done" if the status is denoted in the margin.

    I use checkboxes during the weekly review for any two-minute items that come up. Under other circumstances, I would simply do the two-minute tasks, but during the review, even a two-minute doing can take my focus away from managing everything. So I check those short items and do them immediately after completing the review. I also do the same for any two-minute items that can't be done in my current context.
    Tools for Thought: Explorations in Thinking and Doing

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Luxemburg, Luxemburg
    Posts
    38

    Default

    Sonja,

    I use a highlighter to mark finished tasks (based on a tip from of the coaches, I think).
    It is easy to distinguish between finished/unfinished tasks and you still can read the finished tasks!

    tb

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    11

    Default Use Highlighter

    2nd the Highlighter. Easy to id what's not done.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Houston, Texas, USA
    Posts
    98

    Default Dated actions

    I date my actions as I add them to my list, so I know how long something has been waiting to get done. So I might have an action that looks like this:
    [06/30] Take car for oil change

    When the action is done, I cross through the date. If I decide not do do the action at all, I cross out the whole thing.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    28

    Default

    I loves me a highlighter!
    Author, Lifemuncher

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    523

    Default

    Most of my system is electronic, but I still do some capture using paper (pocketmod booklet) and pen (Fisher spacepen). The really cool thing is that the booklet and pen fit neatly in my cellphone pouch with my phone.

    I cross out stuff that gets done or that gets entered into the system.

    - Don

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    283

    Default Mark for to do list and following context

    Could we open a thread how could we follow the mark ( vatark system it seems the best) to identify the context?

    - D MT Send "a proposal" to Mr. Customer

    means - action; D delegate; the name of the person and then what

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