PKM

The 4 Basic Principles and 3 Essential Elements You Need in Your PKM’s Action System

2 min read

I love simplicity.

The Action System is the one you use to manage your actions, the things you have to do.

4 Basic Principles

Your Action System should follow 4 principles:

  1. Structure.
  2. Prioritization.
  3. Sequentiality.
  4. Vision.

1. Structure

Your Action System should help you move from your high-level goals in life to the smallest to-dos you need to perform to achieve those goals.

2. Prioritization

Your Action System should allow you to prioritize any element inside the system.

3. Sequentiality

Your Action System should force you to follow sequential steps.

4. Vision

Your Action System should allow you to zoom in and zoom out to show you:

  1. A bird eye’s view to see the big picture.
  2. The smallest view possible to see any small little “stupid” to-do.

3 Essential Elements

Based on those principles, your Action System should have these 3 essential elements:

  1. Action Funnel.
  2. Batches.
  3. Routines.

1. Action Funnel

It gives structure and vision to your Action System.

It allows you to move from high-level abstract goals to the small and concrete to-dos you need to perform to achieve them.

Your Action Funnel has 4 components:

  1. Goals.
  2. Projects & Habits.
  3. Tasks.
  4. To-Dos.

Goals help you to define what you want to achieve.

Based on your goals, you have two ways to achieve them:

  1. Projects.
  2. Habits.

Projects have a start and an end date. Habits don’t.

Your projects and habits generate tasks.

Tasks are a way to group to-dos.

2. Batches

They give prioritization to your Action System.

Your Action System is not a line. It’s a dynamic endless loop where you constantly move items on it.

Batches allow you to prioritize items based on time. Remember: you manage time, not tasks or to-dos.

You need 3 batches:

  1. Daily
  2. Weekly
  3. Monthly

Your Daily Batch tells you to-dos you’d like to do today.

Your Weekly Batch tells you to-dos you’d like to do this week.

Your Monthly Batch tells you to-dos you’d like to do this month.

3. Routines

Routines force sequentiality within your Action System.

They tell you to-dos you have to perform daily.

They’re the perfect fit to become a habit top-performer.

I use 3 routines:

  1. Morning
  2. Afternoon
  3. End of the day

Each routine tells me things I have to do sequentially on a daily basis.

Takeways

Your Action System has:

  • 4 principles: structure, prioritization, sequentiality, vision.
  • 3 elements: action funnel, batches, routines.

You don’t need anything else.

I love simplicity!

 

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash.