Prioritize and Purge through Migration to Focus on What Matters

Sarah’s desk was buried under sticky notes and half-finished notebooks. Every day felt like a scramble simply to find what she was supposed to work on next. Then she discovered migration: at the end of each month she reviews her log, writes only the tasks she still needs in the next month’s section with a > symbol, and moves all far-off events into the Future Log with a <. The rest she crosses out. Instantly, her notebook shrank from 20 messy pages to three clear ones. She no longer wasted time choosing which to-do to tackle first.

Migration isn’t about copying everything. It’s a filtering ritual that forces you to question every commitment. You physically decide what deserves another moment of your attention. Each arrow you draw is a conscious recommitment, and every strike-through is permission to move on.

Behavioral science calls this “decision inertia”—the tendency to stick with what you’ve already chosen. Migration leverages that inertia to lock in only your top priorities. By writing them again, you give them fresh mental weight, making it more likely you’ll actually do them.

By contrast, tasks you skip never get that arrow and quietly die off. You’ve just built a lightweight system that automatically weeds out noise and spotlights what truly matters.

At month’s end, flip through your Monthly Log and find every open task. Ask yourself if each still matters. Rewrite the important ones in the new month’s section with a > symbol, and move any future events into your Future Log with a < symbol. Cross out anything that no longer serves you. This simple migration ritual will leave your notebook fresh, focused, and aligned with what you really want to accomplish.