Concept
Projects List
A projects list is a single inventory of every outcome you have committed to that takes more than one action and can be finished within about a year, with each one written as a finished state and linked to at least one next action.
In David Allen's Getting Things Done, the word project is deliberately broad. Renewing your passport is a project, because it needs photos, a form and an appointment. Finding a new dentist is a project too, and so is planning a birthday dinner. Apply the definition honestly and most working adults end up with thirty to a hundred entries. That number doesn't mean you are failing. It is the first accurate picture of what you already carry. The list doesn't hold the steps. It holds outcomes, each phrased as the finished state. You write “New passport in the drawer” rather than “passport”, so you know exactly when you are done. The steps live on your next-actions list. One simple rule links the two lists: every project keeps at least one next action. A project with none isn't moving. It just sits in the back of your mind and worries you.
A real-life example
Maya, a nurse in Manchester, expected about ten projects. After an hour with her notebook she had forty-two, from “Boiler serviced before winter” to “Mum's seventieth dinner booked”. Several had no next action at all, which explained why they kept surfacing at 2 a.m. She added one physical step to each, such as “Ring the engineer whose number is on the fridge magnet” and “Text Aunt Linda for restaurant ideas”. After that, the list stopped feeling like a threat.
How to use it
- 1Walk through work, home, money, health and family one at a time. Write down every outcome that needs more than one step and can be done within a year.
- 2Rewrite each entry as a finished state you could tick off, such as “New dentist chosen and first check-up booked”.
- 3Check that every project has at least one concrete next action on your actions list, and add one wherever it is missing. Repeat this check in every weekly review.