Delineating Next Actions by Meggin McIntosh, PhD
When you are processing your inbox, one of the main questions you need to answer is, “What is the very next action I need to take on this item?” Often, one of the reasons we procrastinate on doing something is because we haven’t delineated what the next action is. Below are ten common answer stems for the question, “What is the very next action I need to take on this item?”
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Contact via Phone
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Contact via Email
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Decide
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Discuss with
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File
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Give to
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Order
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Ponder
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Read
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Write
If you would like to download a form that I created for my own use so that I could just check off what the “next action” is, then go to the download page of Top Ten Productivity Tips and get a PDF document that you can print and use.
It’s surprising, really, the difference it makes when I use this form vs. when I just sit and think about ‘so, what do I need to do next?’ This helps spur me to action. I hope it does for you, too.
If you liked these tips and would like over 560 practical, immediately-implementable tips to read, print, and/or post as reminders, then you will want the Top Ten Productivity Tips – The Collection, available to access and download right away! Inside this full-color, 108-page productivity manual, you’ll find several hundred tips covering topics such as meetings, workspace organization, planning your day, effective delegation, and how to keep your mind focused on your work. With these clever tips in hand, you’ll be more peacefully and predictably productive than you’ve ever been.
