FAQ

Why an index card? Why not a to-do list in a notebook or an app?

Three reasons.

It’s your best shot at avoiding distraction. Social media gets a bad rap as a source of distraction, but our own productivity systems can be just as distracting. Planners, outlines, apps, and lists of projects can all pull you away from what you should be doing now. The card is meant to be separate from all that. It is its own thing. It is today.

It leverages the feeling of a fresh start. A brand new card works the same way a brand new planner does at the beginning of the year. When the place you figure out today’s work is the same place as yesterday’s leftover junk, your mind knows it. A fresh, blank, separate piece of paper gives your mind permission to take things on with a new attitude — every single day.

It’s portable and concrete. Being able to feel the card and carry it with you makes what’s on it more real. It becomes a talisman for doing your best today. The card you’re carrying is the best you can do today. Everything else is icing on the cake.

Do I have to go to the higher levels?

No. You can stay at Level 1 and fill out a daily card for as long as it works for you. When it stops working as well, Levels 2 and beyond might help.

I love a good master productivity system as much as the next desk jockey, but I recognize a brutal truth: the people who need a system most are often those least likely to succeed with a grand unified one. It’s too much, too soon. They haven’t yet learned how to feel good about today. That’s what the card offers.

What should go on the front of the card?

Whatever makes it easiest to look at the card and be ready to start item #1. I’ll defer to David Allen and suggest the next physical action step that moves things forward. But such actions may only take a minute — and just because something takes a minute doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable or important.

For bigger actions that take several steps, capture the first action that gets the ball rolling, and let momentum carry you. You could also use commas, write small, and sneak three related actions onto one line. It depends on how you think, how you work, and your emotional state that day.

Why only nine items?

Partly because that’s how many lines are on the card. But also because there’s power in trying to do fewer things of a kind that yield a higher return. Stay within the constraints until you’re quite sure they no longer apply to you.

Are there days you get more than nine things done? Yes. Are more than nine of them the kind that are really important and require you to push yourself? That seems highly unusual. The card isn’t for everything you might do today. It’s for the things that, if you do them, let you feel really good about today.

How many items should I put on my card?

Take the hours you have free to work on these things today, multiply by 1.25, and that’s roughly your number. That leaves buffer for things that drop in — and they will — without putting yourself under undue stress.

Can I integrate time-blocking into the card?

Yes, and I do it frequently. It’s hard to know how long a task will take, so I commit to a solid hour or ninety minutes of work on something. That becomes an item on the card. It’s helped me move forward on projects where I’d usually have procrastinated.

Can I use the card alongside another system, like GTD or Bullet Journal?

Absolutely. The card plugs into any existing productivity system as a way to clarify what to do today and keep you focused and motivated on it.