Getting Things Done

PART TWO
"Pick up pictures at framers," and "Buy petunias at nursery" would
all go here.
This list could, of course, be nothing more elaborate than a
Post-it that you keep in your planner somewhere, or a screen in an
"Errands" category of the "To Do" section on your Palm orga-
nizer.
It's often helpful to track sublists within individual
"Errands" items. For instance, as soon as you realize you need
something from the hardware store, you might want to make
"Hardware Store" the list item and then append a sublist of all the
things you want to pick up there, as you think of them. On the
low-tech end, you could create a "Hardware Store" Post-it; on
the high-tech side, if you were using a digital list, you
could attach a "note" to "Hardware Store" on your list
and input the details there.
Because I travel in major metropolitan areas so
much, I keep 
two 
"Errands" lists—"Errands—Ojai"
(where I live) and "Errands—Anywhere," for all
those other things I can pick up even when I'm on
the road. "T-connectors for irrigation" would go on
"Errands—
Ojai," but "Get dress socks" would go on "Errands—Anywhere."
"Office Actions'/"At Office" 
If you work in an office, there will be
certain things that you can do only there, and a list of those will
be a useful thing to have in front of you then—though obviously,
if
you have a phone and a computer in your office, and you have
"Calls" and "At Computer" as separate lists, 
they'll 
be in play as
well. I'd use an "Office Actions" or "At Office" list for anything that
required an Internet connection available only, or even most con-
veniently, in the office—for example, a reminder to download a
large software program from the Web would go on this list for me.
"At Home" 
Many actions can be done only at home, and it makes
sense to keep a list specific to that context. I'm sure you've got
numerous personal and around-the-house projects, and often the
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We must strive to
reach that
simplicity that lies
beyond
sophistication.
—
-John Gardner

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