Recently I was talking to an entrepreneur and the topic of what to do next after achieving inbox zero (see Manage Email Like a Boss) came up. His answer was perfect: go straight to the one page strategic plan. For many entrepreneurs, the one pager acts as the highest-level gameplan for the business. If it’s truly the gameplan, it needs to be visited frequently. Only, too many entrepreneurs put a one pager together and then treat it like a static document to be updated once every 90 days. The best entrepreneurs treat it like a living document and use it to align the leadership team on a frequent basis.
Here are a few thoughts on inbox zero and the one page strategic plan:
- Inbox zero comes from reading emails once and processing them (often deleting them or putting them into folders to address later based on priorities), but it also acts as a to do list for many, and once the current to do list is done, the next logical place to go is the one pager
- Quarterly goals and annual goals, while usually fixed for the designated time period, should have a quarter-to-date or year-to-date value so it’s easy to see where things currently stand, as opposed to only having the desired outcome
- Priority projects should be the most frequently reviewed area of the one pager as it has the most important things to accomplish in the next 90 days (or sooner depending on where things are in the quarter), and, like the inbox acting as a pseudo to do list, the priority projects act as a high-level to do list for the company
The next time you hit inbox zero and consider what to do next, go straight to the one page strategic plan.
What else? What are some more thoughts on inbox zero and the one page strategic plan?
David Cummings on Startups 
I use a modified version of GTD so as soon as I’m at inbox zero, and all my commitments are completed, I go sorting through others boxes to see where I can unlock constraints.
Fairly, I need to make a tl;dw version of this video that’s not an hour!