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An Action is the single next step toward one of your Outcomes, built fresh each time you need one. Donna shows you one at a time, so you never face a full list. An Action is for right now rather than for a list you file it on: act on it, skip it, or shrink it, and Donna builds the next one.

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How Donna builds each one

Donna assembles each Action from the moment you are in:
  • what the Outcome needs and where it stands
  • how much time you have before the next thing on your calendar
  • the kind of day you are having
The same Outcome produces a different Action on a different day. It shows one step rather than a list because working memory holds only a few items at once (research puts the practical limit near four; Cowan, 2001).

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Every Action names a first physical move

Donna anchors each Action in a concrete physical move: “open the expense doc,” “pull up Sarah’s spreadsheet,” “type the subject line.” The Action names the first motion rather than the whole task. Concrete first steps of this shape are called implementation intentions, and research links them to a higher rate of actually starting (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006).
You can shrink any Action to its smallest first step with the first-step handle on the Action card. “Just open the doc, five minutes” is a complete Action. Shrinking down to the first physical move is how every Action is meant to be shaped.

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Sized to your calendar window

Donna reads your calendar and sizes the step to the time you actually have: “write the expense intro before your 3pm” is a different Action than the one you would get with a clear afternoon. Sizing also follows the kind of day you are having; how Donna reads that is covered in Adaptation.

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How each one is framed

Beyond size, Donna picks an angle for each Action, varying it so the prompts do not blur together:
  • the interesting part of the work
  • a real deadline
  • who is waiting on it
  • something new about it
  • a challenge
If a particular framing reliably gets you started, Donna leans on that one more. A deadline is named only when it is real: one your calendar shows, or one you told Donna yourself. Say “this is due Friday” while you are setting up an Outcome and Donna keeps that date, names it plainly, and lets it move that Outcome up the morning brief. You never see a countdown or an overdue flag.

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Skip freely

Skip any Action and Donna builds a different one rather than handing you the same thing again: a different angle, a smaller scope, or a question about what is in the way. If the same work keeps stalling, Donna retires that step entirely and starts fresh. Skipping is never shown as a count, and skipping an Action does not lose the work it came from.

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Actions are disposable, Outcomes are tracked

The Action is cheap and the Outcome persists. Donna tracks the Outcome over time; the Actions toward it are built, used, and replaced. The work an Action produces carries forward, too: see Memory for what happens to it after. When Actions count toward a short commitment, that is a Cycle.

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You set the pace

In settings, under Action shaping, set your preferred actions per day (1 to 10). It is a soft target, eased on hard days. As you approach it, Donna offers to call it a day and names what you finished rather than a number. The offer comes with two things to tap: that’s the day closes it out in a line, one more, quick puts one small Action on screen. A real external deadline is the one thing that overrides the limit, and Donna names the deadline plainly.

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Frequently asked questions

Donna builds each Action fresh in the moment rather than pulling it from a list you wrote earlier. It looks at what your current Outcome needs, how much time you have before your next thing on the calendar, and the kind of day you are having, then sizes one next step to fit all three. The same Outcome produces a different Action at a different time of day.
Use the first-step handle on the Action card to shrink it to its smallest physical move. “Just open the doc, five minutes” is a complete Action. See Every Action names a first physical move above.
You can skip freely. Donna keeps no visible count of skips and does not hand you the same thing again. It shifts to a different angle, a smaller scope, a different medium, or asks what is getting in the way. If something keeps not moving, Donna retires that step and builds a fresh one.
When you finish an Action, you can go straight to the next one instead of taking the break Donna offers. Donna sizes each proposed Action to the state you are in, so a clear, high-energy hour gets more than a frayed afternoon between meetings. Your daily actions setting stays the ceiling unless a real deadline overrides it.

Next: Capture

Where loose steps that belong to no Outcome wait for their moment.

Go deeper: Starting when you're stuck

The full guide on getting unstuck: shrink the task, name the first physical move, and start.