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How I Do My Morning Pages Action Cards System

Some additional information in one line
Mari L. McCarthy April 7, 2012

Hello everyone, it's Stephen Smith again. Mari had asked me to write up some more information on how my Action Cards system works after getting some feedback on the How I do My Morning Pages post. I have been doing Morning Pages since 1997 when I found The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron in my (then) girlfriend's bookcase. We had just moved to Connecticut from New Orleans and I had not found a job yet. Looking for something creative to do with my time while I was waiting to hear back from employers, I started reading. I started doing Morning Pages the very next day and it has made quite a difference in my life.

My own practice is a little different in that I capture some of the thoughts and ideas that arise during the writing onto index cards that then go into my system to be processed and acted upon.

Background on My Action Card System
Action Cards are simply blank 3 x 5 inch index cards with a note written on them. After reading Dave Seah's post about organizing to-dos with index cards, I took another look at this method. I had used something like it quite a while back, but the stack of cards became unwieldy and hard to organize. There was a piece of genius in Dave's post, though, that really struck me:

The advantage of electronic media over paper, of course, is the ease of reordering data.However, electronic media suffers when it comes to direct manipulation of overlapping data; there is a lot of clicking and dragging of the mouse, which is slow and makes comparison of data sets cumbersome.

Cards do not have this disadvantage, and their tactile qualities make manipulating them a pleasure. They naturally lend themselves to manipulation; <em>when you're dealt a hand of cards, the first thing you do is order them according to your strategic intent</em>. Cards can be grouped, stacked, stuck together, taped, glued, and shuffled.

"... according to your strategic intent"
Well, now. Isn't that a remarkable way of looking at things? Dave is, of course, talking about being dealt a hand of cards in a game (such as poker or what have you) but the metaphor is a powerful one. Earlier this year I fell in love with a notebook that I planned to use to keep a running list of my To-dos. Unfortunately, the running list just got too messy - as tasks were accomplished they were crossed off, but some were deferred and left behind. Pretty soon the "list" existed on a bunch of pages, with one or two items on each sheet.

Looking at these islands of incomplete activities made me think, "If this was important enough to get written in this notebook, why hasn't it been important enough to do?" - more accurately, had it been captured and stored in the wrong place? In either case, the list was creating more work and stress than it was alleviating. Flipping through all of the pages to find List items that hadn't been done was more frustrating than anything else!

Now, after a little thought on how to best format the cards for their most efficient use, I am back to the index cards, and work is fun again. I still have a lot of things to do, and sometimes I re-arrange the order to accommodate changing circumstances. Sometimes I realize that I should file a card somewhere else. The important thing is that my Tasks and Actions are being completed like never before.

It's all in the details

There are essentially three "types" of Action cards:

  • Actions

  • Projects

  • Contexts

Actions are Action Cards that have some fairly detailed notes or reminder information. For example, I may have a single card that says "Write Guest Post for Mari" at the top with some notes on the topic underneath.

Projects are Action Cards that contain more than one step. Obviously these are for very simple projects, you probably wouldn't be able to lay out all of the steps in building a skyscraper on an index card. A project like "Plant the vegetable garden" would fit on the card, with its subsidiary steps listed below: Get mulch, manure, weedkiller at garden center; choose seeds and plants; roto-till the garden plot; stake out rows; plant seeds/seedlings. Often just listing the steps needed to accomplish the project brings fresh ideas to the surface, like "Be sure to plant corn at north end of garden" or "Find gas can for roto-tiller".

Contexts are Action Cards that contain lists of related short tasks or actions.For example one card might have a list of all of the people that I need to send emails to, with a note on the topic of the communication. Another might be a list of people that I need to call on the phone, again with a note regarding the topic of the conversation. The idea is that the tasks are related by being completed within the same Context - my email client or being on the phone. Your Contexts can be as granular as you want, "email Mari about scheduling" and "write blog post about Action Cards system" could both be grouped in a Computer or Desk Context, but since they are actually going to be done with different tools is is better to split them into two different Contexts.

No matter what kind of card it is (Action, Project or Context) I write the date at the top right corner. Generally speaking, any tasks on that card are likely to get that same day. If there is an Action or Task that needs to be done at another time it will get its own,separate card with the due date. I have also discovered that the method for overcoming the weakness of the notebook, having page after page with one or two things to do on them, is to make the Action Cards as granular as possible. For instance by listing all of the emails on one card it is very unlikely that any of them will not get sent.

Stephen's Action Cards

As I mentioned in the previous post I know that these very same things can be recorded and managed in a digital application on my computer, in the cloud or on a smart-phone. I choose not to do it that way because I like writing with my fountain pen on paper. I have learned over the years while developing my Productivity System(my Kindle book on Amazon) and studying Getting Things Done that the most efficient and productive tool is the one that you enjoy using - because if you don't enjoy it you won't use it.

A Portable System for Tracking My Responsibilities


It usually takes me about an hour to 75 minutes to write out my Morning Pages and the Action Cards that they generate. I believe that this is a fantastic investment of time for preparing myself for the days activities. When I am done my mind is clear, my tasks and Next Actions for the day/week have been captured and I can start my day organized according to my strategic intent.

Even if there is an interruption or break in my day I can easily scan over the cards and make a choice as to which tasks have the highest priority. Then start working on them.

About the author: Stephen Smith writes about Productivity and Social Media Literacy at the In Context Blog. He will be publishing a compilation of best practices for personal and business development in May 2012. You can follow him on Twitter at @hdbbstephen.

 Learn more about Morning Pages here.


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