A little more than a month ago I wrote about how I had begun to print out my daily action list on 3×5-inch index cards using my HP IIIP laser printer. This afternoon, as I move into a new phase in my organizational structure, I thought some readers might be interested in seeing what each day’s list looks like and decided to add it to the mini-blog that fills my left-hand column.

But since the shorthand I use can be confusing to anyone not on the inside, I know it needs a little explanation.

First, my list is based on principals I learned from Charles Hobbs Time Power. This is a top down system that begins with an individual’s Universal Principals and moves logically downward to daily actions.

On my list, those actions tagged as TM (for Time Management) are my most simply articulated Universal Principles. I have a total of 10 such UPs. Each day I choose three of the UPs and a daily action associated with them. These are marked by the upward and downward carrots: â–¼ for the UP and â–² for the associated daily action.

I select the six most important actions that I have to work on that day and mark them A1-A6. (A-actions are vital, B-actions are important and C-actions are convenient or nice-to-do. If I should complete all six before the end of the day, I re-evaluate items from my Grass Catcher file and pick another six to make up a second list.

Items not complete are not automatically placed on the following day’s action list but return to the hopper to be evaluated anew. What is vital today may only be important the following day.

My A1 priority is to write each morning with a target of 1,984 words per day for the novel I’m currently working on. Why not an even 2,000? I’m anal, OK? Deal with it. The number is parenthesis is the actual number of word I’ve written.

The student list shows the number of pupils I’ll be working with each day.

As each task is completed, I place an “x” in front of it.

Any questions?