Clarifying: project, next action, reference
The five-question processing algorithm that empties a seventy-item inbox in forty-five minutes.
The fundamental distinction
A project is an outcome requiring more than one action: organise the seminar, rebuild the site, find a new accountant. A project is not done, it is steered.
A next action is something physical and visible that you can do at a given moment, with no further thinking: call Marc on 06..., to ask for the list of rooms.
This is the distinction that unblocks most situations. Organise the seminar stays inert for weeks because it is not doable. Call Marc takes three minutes.
The next-action test. If you cannot picture precisely the physical movement to be made, it is not one.
The clarification algorithm
For each item in the inbox, five questions in order.
1. Does it require an action?
The rest is part of the Organisation & Planning module
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