The system consists of one long list of everything that you have to do, written in a ruled notebook (25-35 lines to a page ideal. As you think of new items, add them to the end of the list. You work through the list one page at a time in the following manner:
Read quickly through all the items on the page without taking action on any of them.
Go through the page more slowly looking at the items in order until one stands out for you.
Work on that item for as long as you feel like doing so
Cross the item off the list, and re-enter it at the end of the list if you haven’t finished it
Continue going round the same page in the same way. Don’t move onto the next page until you complete a pass of the page without any item standing out
Move onto the next page and repeat the process
If you go to a page and no item stands out for you on your first pass through it, then all the outstanding items on that page are dismissed without re-entering them. (N.B. This does not apply to the final page, on which you are still writing items). Use a highlighter to mark dismissed items.
Once you’ve finished with the final page, re-start at the first page that is still active.)
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- [note::This seems very similar to First Version Perfected (FVP).]

(highlight:: Work on that item for as long as you feel like doing so
Don’t force yourself to continue working on the item for longer than you feel right doing so. This system encourages a “little and often” approach. Once you feel you’ve done enough, stop.)
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- [note::I am prone to feeling like "I need to work on this thing during every moment of work time or else I'm not optimal", so this might help with that!]

You may already have some backlogs of work when you start this system. If you have a backlog of tasks then I recommend you enter all the tasks into the system in one go and let it sift them. If you find some of them end up being rejected then you need to ask serious questions about whether they really need doing at all.However with backlogs of email and paper there is a danger that a large backlog may get in the way of the efficient processing of newly arriving emails and papers. So I recommend moving your backlog(s) into separate folders and having tasks called “Email Backlog” and/or “Paper Backlog” as well as the standard “Clear Email” and “Clear Intray”.
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