My Memo database now contains just the following categories:

• 0203
• 01/17/02
• Aids
• Completed
• Email
• Selected
• Unfiled

The 0203 (stands for week three in the year 2002) category contains To Do items that will need to be accomplished this week (it's the third week of 2002 as I write this). The 01/17/02 category contains today's To Do items (that's today's date). The Aids category contains some support text files used by me in managing my time (you might also choose to name this category "support"). Completed is the category containing all my completed To Do items. Email contains copies of email messages important enough for me to keep. Selected is a temporary holding area for holding groups of Memos I've selected using Memo Leaf's Lookup or Find operations. Finally, everything else (and that includes hundreds of Memos in my case) just sits in Unfiled. This category contains everything from To Do items scheduled for the future (that is, beyond this week) to copies of Web articles I want to keep.

What do your To Do Memos look like?
All my To Do Memos are formatted in a fixed manner. This makes them much easier to find using Memo Leaf. An example To Do appears in Figure B.

FIGURE B

This is how my To Do Memos are formatted.

The first line (which is the Memo title) is the task to be performed. The second line contains three key items: a week code, a context code, and the due date if one is known.

The week code and due date should be self-explanatory. The context code will require a little explanation.

One key aspect of the Getting Things Done method is the idea of organizing To Do items based on the context in which they can be performed. For example, there are some tasks you can only perform at work while others can only be performed at home. Some tasks may require that you have access to a computer. Other tasks require you to have access to a phone. Simply put, the context in which you currently find yourself controls which tasks you are currently able to perform.

Here's a list of my current context codes:

• Call
• Computer
• Home
• Work
• Errands
• Waiting For

I use Memo Leaf to select just those tasks for the context in which I'm currently working. For example, if I find myself sitting in an airport boarding lounge today, probably the only task I'll be able to perform is to make calls on my cell phone. So I'll use Memo Leaf to find all those Memos in the 1/17/02 category that have a Call code in them, and then I can take care of all the phone calls I need to make. As each To Do is completed, I'll change its category to Completed.

The Waiting For context is a special one. This context allows me to keep track of anything I'm waiting for. For example, if I assign a task to someone who works for me, I'll create a ToDo entry with a context code of Waiting For, and a due date of when I expect to receive the results.

How do you update your To Do items?
The routine I go through to keep the To Do material up-to-date is as follows. At the end of each day, I rename the current day's category name to the next day's date and scan through the current week's category for tasks that will be due that day, or which I wish to work on that day.