A free email course by Nicholas Pedding

What goes first?

Sort the pile in your head into three lists, with one thing in Now. Order, not effort, is what keeps a beginner afloat.

  • Free
  • Two short emails a day, for about 17 days
  • One-click unsubscribe in every email

What you'll learn

Six steps. In this order.

A three-day starter, then two weeks of short notes. Each step uses what the one before it made. Nothing in step three works without step two.

  1. 1Days 1–2

    A plan is just an order.

    Not a goal. Not a dream board. A short list of things in the right order. Why piles feel heavy, and the three lists that fix it.

    From the notesa plan is just an orderthree lists, that's all

  2. 2Days 3–5

    Get it out of your head.

    Ten minutes, everything on paper. Then fifteen minutes to give every line a home: Now, Next or Later.

    From the notesten minutes, everything out of your headsort the pile in fifteen minutes

  3. 3Days 6–7

    Park it. Don't chase it.

    A better idea shows up every week. Where it goes so it stops knocking out what you're already doing.

    From the notesthe better idea that showed up every weekpark it, don't chase it

  4. 4Days 8–10

    What goes first, and how big.

    One question puts a list in order: what has to be true before I can do this? Then size Now so a stranger could tell when it's done.

    From the noteswhat has to happen firstdecide what done looks like

  5. 5Days 11–12

    Keep it running.

    A fifteen-minute Sunday reset. A ten-minute version of Now for bad days. How to restart after a gap without catching up.

    From the notesa fifteen-minute sunday resethow to restart after a gap

  6. 6Days 13–14

    Put it on one page.

    Everything from the course on a single sheet. Five small pieces and a weekly check. Then go and do the Now.

    From the notesthe fourth listyour whole plan on one page

Where you'll end up

Your whole plan. One sheet.

Three lists and four small pieces of furniture. A pencil is the whole stack.

Now
One item, written as a verb you can start. With a ten-minute version for bad days.
Next
Up to three. First in line, not today.
Later
Everything else. A shelf, not a failure. You don't look at it daily.
Parking lot
New ideas, one line each, with the date. Then straight back to Now.
Not Doing
Things you've decided against, so you stop re-deciding them every Tuesday.
Done
Each finished thing, with the date. The only list that grows in a way that feels good.
Reset
Fifteen minutes, once a week. When the timer rings, stop.

Why join

Who it's for. And who it isn't.

Join if

  • Everything arrives at once.You're busy every day and getting nowhere, because the world is choosing your order.

  • You're starting from nothing.You want to learn how this online stuff works and don't know what goes first.

  • Your days don't go to plan.A job, kids, or both. Some days you get ten minutes. The course is sized for those days.

  • You have too many tabs open.You'd like one sheet of paper to do the job thirty-one tabs aren't doing.

Skip it if

  • You want a promise about money.There isn't one. This is a sequence, not a promise about results.

  • You want the perfect app.Paper first. Move to an app when paper hurts, not before.

  • You want long reads.Most of these take two minutes. Some take one. Each ends with one thing to do.

  • Two emails a day is too many.That's the pace. Better to know now than to unsubscribe on day two.

A real one

Here's what lands in your inbox.

Nicholas Pedding <nicholas@nicholasspedding.com>
Subject: three lists, that's all

Here's the whole system. Three lists. You can set them up in under a minute.

Take a sheet of paper and draw two lines to make three columns. Label them:

Now: what you're working on this week.Next: what comes right after Now.Later: everything else.

Three rules.

  1. Now holds one item.
  2. Next holds up to three.
  3. Later holds the rest, and you don't have to look at it every day.

Notice what's missing from this system: guilt. A thing on Later isn't something you're failing to do. It's something waiting its turn.

You don't have to fill the lists yet. Draw the columns and write the three words. We'll fill them over the next few days.

Nicholas

Today's page, filed under "just looking." It changes daily and I'm not recommending it: [link]

Shortened slightly. From the first day of the main course.

Nicholas Pedding's mark: three columns, with one item in Now N.P. NOW · NEXT · LATER

About Nicholas

I sort things.

One question interests me more than any other: what goes first?

When I started out, I used my inbox as a to-do list. Whatever landed next got my attention. One afternoon I counted thirty-one tabs open and had finished none of them. Later I built a list with a hundred and forty items and dreaded opening it.

None of that was a lack of effort. It was a lack of order.

So that's what I write about. Not motivation. Order. Three lists, one thing in Now, and a place for everything else. I write short, I number things, and every note ends with one thing to do next.

Nicholas

What joining means

Exactly what you're signing up for.

Two a day.

34 emails over about seventeen days. First a starter of six (three days), then the main course of twenty-eight (two weeks). Free.

Short.

Most take two minutes to read. Some take one. Each ends with one concrete thing to do, or a plain question. Replying is optional.

One link a day.

Every email carries this same line:

Today's page, filed under "just looking." It changes daily and I'm not recommending it.

It's one link to a page that changes daily. It may be an affiliate link, which means 512 Promotions LLC may be paid if you buy something after clicking. Looking is optional. So is everything after looking.

One click out.

Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. One click and you're off the list. No questions, no “are you sure” maze.

Now:

Put your email in. That's the whole job today.

Next: the first email. Later: everything else.