A worked week
A worked week
This is one ordinary week for someone restarting after a quiet couple of months. The point is the shape of the decisions, so you can copy the moves with your own words.
Monday afternoon: the dump
They speak Inbox full on the walk home:
- tax return
- tap still dripping
- call dentist
- maybe learn to bake bread
- Priya owes the damp photos
- parking fine on the kitchen table
- email accountant the questions
- idea: repaint the spare room
Monday evening: clarify
| Inbox line | Decision | Where it ends |
|---|---|---|
| tax return | More than one step, and they are committed | Project in Money: Tax return filed. Notes hold “pay anything owed” for later. Subtask: “Email accountant the questions” #anywhere. The separate “email accountant” inbox line is the same action, so it is deleted. |
| tap still dripping | A project, because someone has to look at it and then it has to be fixed | Project in Home: Kitchen tap fixed. Subtask: “Priya: photos of the damp patch” #waiting, When Messaging set to Priya. They realise the photos are about the tap, so “Priya owes the damp photos” is that same subtask. |
| call dentist | One phone call | Next: “Call dentist and book a checkup” #call. |
| maybe learn to bake bread | Not a commitment | Someday, untagged. |
| parking fine on the kitchen table | One step, needs the house because the letter is there | Next: “Pay the parking fine” #home. |
| idea: repaint the spare room | Not a commitment this month | Someday, untagged. |
Inbox is empty. Anywhere contains “Email accountant the questions” under the tax project. Calls contains the dentist. Home contains the parking fine. Waiting contains Priya under the tap project.
Tuesday
They have twenty minutes on the bus. They open Anywhere and email the accountant. They tick that subtask. The tax project has no live action, and they know the next one, so they add “Gather the interest statements” #anywhere immediately.
They do not open Home. They are on a bus.
Wednesday
Priya sends the photos while they are chatting. When Messaging surfaces the waiting item. They tick it and add “Book the plumber from the shortlist” #anywhere under Kitchen tap fixed.
Today also shows nothing dated, so they leave Today alone.
Thursday morning
They are at home. Home shows “Pay the parking fine”. They pay it and tick it. They flag “Gather the interest statements” because they want it done before the weekend, then do it from Flagged while the kettle boils. They tick it and add “Call the accountant with the questions list” #call on the tax project.
Thursday, leaving the house
Out is empty. That is fine. They had no errands. They do not invent an errand to make the list feel used.
Friday review
They open Weekly Review.
- Inbox has two new items (“buy a washer for the tap”, “look at spare room paint”). The washer becomes an
outsubtask on the tap project, because they will pick it up in town. The paint stays in Someday next to the spare-room idea. - Waiting is empty.
- Both projects have a current tagged subtask.
- Next still has the dentist call. It is still one step.
- Someday still holds bread and the spare room. Both stay.
- They look at their horizons note, see “sort the tax year without a last-minute panic”, and leave the tax project as it is because it already serves that.
- They clear the flag, which is already done.
Then they open Calls and book the dentist, because the review reminded them the action existed and they have the phone in their hand.
What this week did not need
No @computer tag. The email and the bank payment were Anywhere and Home, based on the real constraint. No tag per person: Priya was a waiting title plus When Messaging. No energy tags. No separate later list: “pay anything owed” waited in the project notes until the return was further along.