Coyote Watches

BryanR of our discussion forum has put an interesting article on his blog Coyote Watches about his experiences with AutoFocus and SuperFocus and how they have helped him with the effects of Post Concussive Syndrome.

What the system allows you to do is keep a list of activities that you roll through every day.  Most to-do lists are open ended, you just keep adding to the end of the list and you tend to forget about the beginning.  His system is a closed list that loops around on itself which causes older tasks to become relevant again.  This is perfect for my memory issues.

What next? - Consolidated List

Here’s my consolidated list of things I’m going to do now (with thanks to all those who made suggestions). It’s not in any order of priority.

1. Next issue of the newletter
2. A video (or perhaps even a series of videos) on how to implement SuperFocus
3. Some short (half-day) seminars
4. Daily tips
5. Guest postings on how people are using SuperFocus
6. Teleclasses
7. Re-design website so it is SuperFocus focused
8. Write an e-book on SuperFocus
9. How to handle various types of tasks
10. SF Troubleshooting Guide
11. SF Guide for Young People and Families
12. Guide for Migrating to SF from GTD
13. Electronic Apps
14. Demonstration with Animation
15. Link to SuperFocus rules on main page
16. Daily log of a major Column 2 project

In true SuperFocus style I’m going to throw the lot into my list as one major task (“What Next? list”) just to see what happens!

Some suggestions for What Next?

Following my request in my last post, I’ve so far received the following suggestions (names of contributors in brackets):

• How to handle various types of tasks (Malisa)
• SF Troubleshooting Guide (neumatist)
• SF Guide for Young People and Families (neumatist)
• Guide for Migrating to SF from GTD (John)
• Electronic Apps (DS)
• Demonstration with Animation (leon)
• Link to SuperFocus rules on main page (sindikat)
• Daily log of a major Column 2 project (OhNiners)

I’m not sure I feel particularly qualified to write the the Guides for Young People and Families or the former GTDers, but there’s obviously the basis for a considerable literature here!

What next?

Now that I’m beginning to recover from the flu (or whatever it was), I’m turnng my mind to what I should be doing next.

Here are some of the SuperFocus-related projects which I want to get under way:

• Next issue of the newletter
• A video (or perhaps even a series of videos) on how to implement SuperFocus
• Some short (half-day) seminars
• Daily tips
• Guest postings on how people are using SuperFocus
• Teleclasses
• Re-design website so it is SuperFocus focused
• Write an e-book on SuperFocus

I’m sure I shall think of some more things to put on the list. Anyone else have any suggestions?

Most Popular Content This Week

Here are the most popular content pages this week, together with the number of hits. I’ve done this rather differently from last week as I’m only showing pages with specific content:

3,984       Rules for SuperFocus
3,118       SuperFocus - Forthcoming 3rd Revision (Discussion)
1,288       Variation: Urgent Tasks on Next Page of SF? (Discussion)
1,287       Autofocus System
1,086       Superfocus3 electronic implementations? (Discussion)
766         Filtering, Urgency and Creativity (Discussion)
517         Liquid thinking (Discussion)
480         “at least one pass through the list a day” (Discussion)
472         What do you put on your list? (Discussion)
470         clogged up column2 creates resistance to the system? (Discussion)

End of Testing SuperFocus v. 3

Today is the 28th day I have been using v. 3 of SuperFocus. It’s also the day on which I originally intended to release the rules, because today I finished reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace!

When I started the testing I set myself some benchmarks to achieve as quickly as possible. These were:

1. To read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” in its entirety (in English).
2. To blog my promised review of all the AF etc systems.
3. During the time it takes to do 1. and 2., to go for a walk of at least three miles for an average of at least three times a week.
4. To have no backlogs of any description at the end of this time.

At the time I thought these were quite difficult tests. But in the event they proved so easy that I began to wish that I’d set myself something more difficult.

I’d like to say a bit about each of them:

1. I read War and Peace when I was a teenager. It took me well over a year, and I skipped the Epilogue at the end in which Tolstoy explains his theories of history. This time I resolved to read every word without either skipping or skimming. In the English version it is 560,000 words long, so I managed it at an average of 20,000 words a day. By feeding it as a single task into Column 2 of SuperFocus I ensured that I kept constantly at it.

2. I did exactly the same with blogging the review of systems, i.e. treating it as one large task and feeding it into Column 2. I’d originally imagined that reading War and Peace and writing the reviews would take about the same amount of time. But that proved wildly wrong. Having started the tests on January 22nd, I published the last review of the series on January 29th.

3. I kept up the weekly average of three walks of at least 3-miles each for the first three weeks. By the end of that time I was doing walks of more like 9 miles. Then I was struck down by flu and had to abandon them. But I’ve no reason to suppose that I wouldn’t have kept them going otherwise.

4. There is of course no point in doing specific tasks like these if everything else is allowed to lapse, so it was important to show that nothing else was building up. At the beginning of testing I had a small email backlog, a largish paper backlog, and a big need to sort out my office. Using Column 2, by Day 5 I was clear of all of them and they never reappeared. The only other thing I got behind on was as a result of the flu: I ran up a backlog of subscriptions to the Discussion Forum. This I cleared in less than a day, once I was feeling up to tackling it.

Conclusions:

This is one heck of a powerful system - and I don’t think I’ve experienced anything like everything it’s capable of!

Skeleton-Service Only

I’m currently laid up with a temperature and flu-type symptoms, so I’m operating a skeleton-service only on the website. What that means is that I’m currently keeping up with comments, but everything else like writing new blog entries and dealing with forum registration requests is on hold for the moment.

Update on Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 12:24 by Mark Forster

Most things are still on hold for the moment, but one thing I have caught up with is new subscriptions to the Discussion Forum.

If anyone has applied for membership but has not heard from me yet, please contact me again.

Most Popular Content This Week

Here are the most popular pages on this site over the last 7 days, with the number of hits on each.

9,631         Discussion Forum
6,033         Home
5,356         Blog - SuperFocus Instructions (Third Revision)
4,103         Discussion Forum - SuperFocus - Forthcoming 3rd Revision
2,815         Blog
1,941         Blog - Rules for SuperFocus
1,911         Autofocus System
1,282         Discussion Forum - Transition to SF v3
1,257         Discussion Forum - Loose leaf vs bound notebook for lists
1,177         Discussion Forum - Autofocus Advance

During the week there were 6,940 unique visitors to the site.

Rules for SuperFocus

SuperFocus is a very simple but effective method of processing your work. You write everything you have to do in a long list in a notebook. As you think of more things you add them to the end of the list.

Then you start at the beginning of the list and keep circulating round the first page, working on the tasks until you have worked on as many as you want to. Then you move on to the next page and do the same. Once you have got to the end of the list, you go back to the beginning, and start again at the first page.  

On each page there is a second column on which you can add additional tasks, as follows:  

• When you are working on a page, you can add any urgent tasks to that page.
• If you work on a task and don’t finish it, then you re-enter the task on the next page.

An important rule is that you can’t leave a page before working on all the tasks in Column 2.

This summary only gives a general description, so it’s important that you read the complete rules as given below, and especially that you make sure you understand the rules about dismissing tasks.

THE RULES

Russian translation

French translation

German translation

Japanese translation

Korean translation

Spanish translation

Polish translation

Romanian translation

SuperFocus is an advanced but simple time management system, which aims to give the best possible balance between  easy and difficult tasks and urgent and non-urgent tasks. It also makes sure that you finish what you have started.

The system uses a ruled notebook with two columns on a page. If you can’t fit two columns into your page, you can use facing pages instead.

The two columns work differently:

Column 1

All tasks are entered initially in the left-hand column (Column 1) (unless they are urgent).

The list in Column 1 runs continuously from page to page.

Column 2

Is exclusively for urgent and unfinished tasks

SuperFocus Notebook

HOW TO WORK THE SYSTEM

Take your notebook

Leaving room for a second column, write a list of everything you have to do down the left of the page, one task to a line.

Continue onto further pages as necessary, using only the left side of the page.

Add further tasks as you think of them or as they come up.

Start work on page 1 by considering each task in turn until one of them feels ready to be done. Work on it for as long as you feel like it. When you have finished working on it, take the following action:

• if the task is finished, delete it by striking it through with a horizontal line. If it is a recurring task, re-enter it at the end of your list in Column 1.
• if the task is not finished, delete it in the same way. Re-enter it in Column 2 on the next page. If you are on the last page, then go back to the beginning of the list and re-enter the task in Column 2 of the first active page. If there is no room in Column 2, then re-enter it on the first page on which there is room.

Enter urgent tasks in Column 2 of the page you are currently working on. If there is no more room in Column 2, then enter it on the first page on which there is room.

Continue working in the same way by circulating around the first page until no more tasks feel ready to be done. All tasks in column 2 must be worked on before you can move to a new page.

Continue circulating round page 1 until all tasks in column 2 have been worked on and no more tasks in column 1 feel ready to be worked on. To clarify: you do not have to work on all the tasks in Column 1 but you do have to work on all the tasks in Column 2.

Move to the next page and continue to act in the same way.

Once you have reached the end of the list, go back to the beginning.

When there are no active tasks remaining on a page, the page is finished and is no longer part of the active list. This rule does not apply to the last page. Note that Column 2 does not have to be full. In the above photo the left-hand page is completed. The wiggly line at the bottom of Column 2 is to stop accidental entry of further tasks into Column 2.

Dismissal

Dismissal is an important process for weeding out tasks that are not going anywhere.

There are two occasions on which tasks are dismissed:

1. If no tasks are done in Column 1 during a visit to a page, all remaining tasks in Column 1 are dismissed. This rule does not apply to the last page of the list.

2. When you visit a page which is full (i.e. both Column 1 and Column 2 are full), all Column 1 tasks on that page must be either actioned or dismissed.

Dismissal only applies to tasks in Column 1. Tasks in Column 2 must always be be worked on.

Dismissal is where the system finally gets rid of all the items which the system has sifted and found wanting. This may happen very quickly (for instance if you have entered a long list of books you are thinking of reading), but more usually quite slowly.

These tasks are no longer active, but subject to review. It is a good idea to have a recurring task on your list called “Review Dismissed Tasks”. On review you should consider carefully why they were rejected, whether they really need to be done at all, whether the time is ripe for them to be done, whether they distract from your main goals, and any other factors. When you do re-enter a dismissed item, it is often a good idea to break it down or re-phrase it in some way.

Highlighting rejected items helps you to review them easily.

Remember that the dismissal rules do not apply to the page on which you are still writing items (i.e. the last page).

Signs and symbols

a. When a task has been actioned, it is crossed out with a horizontal line.

b. When a task is dismissed it is highlighted.

c. When a dismissed task is reviewed and either reinstated or removed altogether, it is crossed out as it is no longer subject to review.

d. A page which has no active tasks left on it is marked with a cross in the outside upper corner.

e. When there are no active tasks left on any previous pages, the cross is surrounded with a circle.

f. When there are no dismissed tasks still subject to review on any previous pages, the circle is highlighted.

Handling Various Tasks in SuperFocus

While testing version 3 of SuperFocus, I used some of the following methods

To read “War and Peace” I wrote the task as one project, which would only be finished when the entire book had been read. Therefore it remained constantly in Column 2, and some of it was read every time I changed pages. I used the same technique for writing the Reviews of the Systems and for clearing backlogs. The whole of each project was one task.

To do the dishes after meals, I did not keep the task on my list. Instead immediately after each meal I added the task to Column 2 as an urgent task.

I was reading several other books at the same time as War and Peace, but these I just put as single tasks in column 1. The task was effectively “Read a bit of X”. The books progressed steadily but much slower than War and Peace.

I kept “Email” and “Paper” as tasks in Column 1. Whenever I left them unfinished, as often happened, I re-entered the task in Column 2. Once I had cleared it all, it went back into Column 1.

I was reading Hokusai’s “100 Famous Views of Edo”, which I wanted to do one picture at a time. So I entered this as “Edo 7” and then “Edo 8” etc. This resulting in my reading approximately one a day.

Finally, writing this blog entry “Handling Various Types of Task in SuperFocus” started today as a Task in Column 1 of the then last page. It was then re-entered in Column 2 of the following page, which was the new last page, and then re-entered again on the next following page, which again was the new last page. Here it was completed and not re-entered again. So the system allowed for three drafts to happen in one afternoon and evening. (I have been writing the Consolidated Rules for AutoFocus at the same time - but they need more drafts!)

SuperFocus: The Last Page

A phenomenon which users of the latest version of SuperFocus may not have yet have come across is that unfinished tasks in Column 2 of the last page may end up being re-entered on different pages.

This happens when Column 1 of the last page is filled and a new page is started. So the last page stops being the last page. The result is that some unfinished tasks may be re-entered at the beginning of the active list and some may be re-entered on the new last page.

For example, if you have two lengthy tasks in Column 2 of the last page:

Read War and Peace

Write Review of Project X

War and Peace may be actioned before the Column 1 of the last page is filled up, and so will go to the beginning of the list. Project X may only be actioned after a new last page has been started, so will go to the end. Project X will only rejoin War and Peace once the new page has finished being worked on.

This phenomenon worried me a bit when I first encountered it, but I’ve come to realise that it’s actually an advantage. This is because it prevents too long being spent at the end of the list. There was a tendency in the earlier AutoFocus systems to “chase the end of the list”, that is for the list to be growing faster due to re-entries than one is advancing through it. Too many Column 2 items on a last page which has only a few items initially would exacerbate this. As it is though, some re-entries get diverted to the beginning of the list which allows the end to be reached faster.

Rules for "Do It Tomorrow": Russian Translation

Yegor Gilyov has put a Russian translation of the rules for Do It Tomorrow on his website at:

http://www.snailrider.ru/archives/83

Thank you, Yegor!

SuperFocus Instructions (Third Revision)

As I have previously mentioned, I have been experimenting with some further changes to the SuperFocus rules. These have been performing extremely well, so I am releasing them now. Please note these do make some considerable changes to the system as follows:

1) Unfinished tasks are now re-entered in Column 2 of the following page and not the same page.

2) Column 2 must always be cleared before moving on to the next page.

3) Once Column 2 of a page is filled, everything remaining on that page must be cleared the next time it is worked on.

THE NEW RULES:

Normal AF1 rules, except:

1. There is a second column (Column 2) on each page. This is used for adding additional tasks to pages as follows:

  a. Re-entering unfinished tasks. These are entered in Column 2 of the following page. If you are currently on the last page, then the following page is the first active page of the list.

  b. Entering tasks which you want to do urgently. These are entered on the current page.

2. Column 2 is treated as a part of the page along with Column 1, with the difference that all tasks in Column 2 must be actioned before moving on to the next page. No unactioned tasks may be left in Column 2.

3. Unfinished tasks are always re-entered in Column 2, even on the last page.

4. Once Column 2 is full, no further tasks may be entered on that page.

5. The following page for re-entry purposes means the next page which has any room left in Column 2. When you are currently on the last page, the following page is the first active page of the list. Similarly when entering urgent tasks, if column 2 of the current page is full the tasks are entered on the next page with room.

6. If no tasks are done in Column 1 during a visit to a page, all remaining tasks in Column 1 are dismissed. This rule does not apply to the last page of the list.

7. When you visit a page which is full (i.e. has no space left in Column 2), all tasks on that page must be actioned or dismissed.

Signs and symbols

a. When a task has been actioned, it is crossed out with a horizontal line.

b. When a task is dismissed it is highlighted.

c. When a dismissed task is reviewed and either reinstated or removed altogether, it is crossed out as it is no longer subject to review.

d. A page which has no active tasks left on it is marked with a cross in the outside upper corner.

e. When there are no active tasks left on any previous pages, the cross is surrounded with a circle.

f. When there are no dismissed tasks still subject to review on any previous pages, the circle is highlighted.

Conclusion:

The aim of these rule changes is to increase the flow of the system by no longer re-entering unfinished tasks on the same page. At the same time additional pressure is brought to bear to keep working on unfinished tasks. Once a task has been entered in Column 2 it must remain in Column 2 on every page until it is finished.

The new rule about what happens when the page is full is intended to encourage sensible use of Column 2. It is vital to the whole procedure, that one is clear in one’s own mind when a task is finished, and this needs to be defined carefully.

I will be publishing consolidated rules for those not acquainted with previous versions shortly.

French Version (pdf)

Many Thanks

Many thanks to all those who have made a donation using the donation button I have recently put on the site. I will be writing to thank them individually, but in the meantime I would just like to say how much I appreciate their generosity.

Donation Button

After repeated requests from my readers (yes, really!), I have at long last added a donations button to this site. You can find it at the top of the left-hand margin under the search box.

Everything on this site is currently free of charge, although it does cost quite a bit of money to maintain the site.

If anything has particularly helped you, you can show your appreciation by donating - it’s quite painless!

Newsletter

Just a quick notice to say that my the first issue of my Newsletter for a long time will be sent out at 7.30 a.m. GMT tomorrow. Don’t miss it!

I’m planning to make the Newsletter much more regular now and I intend it to contain articles of interest, as well as notices of seminars, activity on the blog and so on.

If you are not already receiving it, you can subscribe in the box at the top of the right hand margin.

SuperFocus v. 3 Notebook

Here is my notebook for SuperFocus v. 3. The photo shows on the left a completed page and on the right the first active page. Note that I’m using a double column format in a standard ruled Moleskine notebook.

Most Popular Content

Here is the most popular content on this website for the past month (with number of hits):

22,909       Discussion Forum
17,830       Home
9,237         Autofocus System
4,914         Blog (Journal)
4,838         Discussion Forum - SuperFocus - Forthcoming 3rd Revision
3,891         Autofocus Index
3,371         Blog - Review of the Systems
3,267         Blog - Preliminary Instructions for Autofocus v. 4
2,635         Discussion Forum - Systems are losing simplicity
2,169         Discussion Forum - Promised AF4 Revision

Time Management Helps

Here’s a list of my favourite time management helps:

• Moleskine Notebook. I much prefer using pen and paper for time management lists, and it’s important to me how the notebook feels. The standard Moleskine ruled notebook with 31 lines to a page is just the right size and durable enough to be carried around with me. I like the paper quality too.
• Papermate Comfortmate Ball Pen. The most comfortable, reliable and indestructible of cheapo pens, and of many a lot more expensive too.
• Time Timer. I use this visual countdown timer all the time for seeing how long I’ve got before I’ve got to do something. It’s also great for keeping track of the time during presentations, and for showing a group of people how long they’ve got for a task.
• Kitchen Timer. When a visual timer isn’t appropriate I use an ordinary electronic kitchen timer.
• Lever Arch Files. I find these the most useful form of filing. They also have the advantage that they will stand upright on a shelf. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be easily come by in the States.
• NEO Email Organizer. I don’t think I could survive without this program, which makes it possible to handle easily even vast quantities of email. I’ve been using this for years, and have found it invaluable. It only works with MS Outlook though.

(Please note that in the above list where the link goes to a supplier other than the manufacturer, it is given for illustrative purposes. I’m recommending the product, not the distributor!)

What are you favourite time management helps? Please answer in the comments.

More on SuperFocus v. 3

As I go on, I get more and more confident about the changes I’m testing for SuperFocus. With these changes in place, SuperFocus has proved itself to be capable of dealing with almost anything I’ve thrown at it.

There are several things which I’ve never quite managed to achieve in any previous system. I’d like to focus on a few of them:

1. In spite of the fact that I am still using the original Autofocus principle of entering tasks as they come up or as I think of them - without any pre-sorting - after nine days of testing I still have only 4 1/3 active pages. One of these is on the point of being finished. Compare this with AF1 where I quickly got to 15 active pages (and I was using a larger notebook too).

2. With urgent tasks, the system is simply superb. I can enter something which needs doing immediately or within a few hours and be absolutely certain that it will get done.

3. Perhaps the most impressive thing of all is how the system deals with difficult or lengthy tasks. These get cracked very quickly, but not at the expense of the mass of minor tasks which we all have to deal with every day.

4. A surprise for me was how well the system deals with repetitive tasks, such as learning a language, practising a musical instrument, and so on. In the past I have advised dealing with these outside the system by blocking out a set time each day. Although many people might still prefer to deal with them this way, nevertheless SuperFocus v. 3 can quite happily manage them too.

These are all very impressive, but what I have also found is that the system has the same feeling of flow to it that AF1 has. But unlike AF1 one doesn’t ever finish the day thinking that all one has accomplished is to process a lot of trivia. With SuperFocus v. 3 I am finishing the day feeling that I have accomplished the stuff that matters.