[keone]

There are a couple of alternate ways you could deal with this without resorting to the numbering scheme you've described:

1) Why not just create a context entitled "Boss Assigned" or something similar? Mark all of your boss requested actions with that context and a due date. Then, when you are in context view you will readily see how many "Boss Assigned" tasks you have, and deal with them accordingly. And if you want to get even more precise, you could also create sub-contexts under the "Boss Assigned" context (phone, email, etc.).

2) Create a sub-folder in your "Work" folder (assuming you have one, of course) in your projects list, and title it "Boss Assigned." Then put all of your boss assigned projects into that folder.