DIT2? AF5? Who cares what it's called? This is what I'm working on at the moment...
Monday, February 1, 2010 at 11:17 Usually when I release a new time management system I have tested it quite thoroughly myself. This is important because often any drawbacks only become apparent quite a while down the line.
But in the case of the new DIT2/AF5 system, I think it might be more helpful to have other people working on it with me at the same time so that we can share our experiences of it together.
So what I am going to do now is to share the basic outline of what I’m doing now, so others can run with it and see what they can make of it. I’m not going to go into much detail because I think that would destroy the purpose of the exercise - the detail should appear from our experience of working the system.
This is what it consists of:
1. You need a page-a-day diary with plenty of lines. Also some form of bookmarking for today’s date and the two entry pages (see below) - though turned down page corners are probably quite sufficient.
2. All new tasks are entered on the page which is one calendar month from today’s date. Example: Today’s date is February 1st. New tasks are entered on the page for March 1st. Tomorrow I will enter new tasks on March 2nd and so on.
3. All re-entered tasks are entered on the page which is one week from today. So any task I re-enter today (Monday February 1st) goes on the page for for next Monday (February 8th). Tomorrow (Tuesday) they will go on the page for next Tuesday 9th and so on.
4. Nothing is ever entered on any page, other than the pages currently one month and one week from today’s date.
5. All active pages are treated as if they were one long list and you continue to circulate round them doing the tasks that stand out.
6. All tasks which are on pages earlier than today’s date have expired. They are dead, done for, dismissed, deceased.
The thinking behind this is that you can put anything you like into the system. If you do nothing about it, it will remain there for a month and then expire. If at any time you commit yourself to a task by taking some action on it, you are put under increased pressure to get it finished by being given only seven calendar days to do some more work on it. Of course many tasks are done in one go, so can be deleted without being re-entered.
That’s all you need to get started.
Reader Comments (158)
The second February in step 2, shoul that read March?
"2. All new tasks are entered on the page which is one calendar month from today’s date. Example: Today’s date is February 1st. New tasks are entered on the page for February 1st."
Thanks Mark for giving me another tool to experiment with
best regards
It's January 31. Where do I find February 31 to enter new task? Do I take instead February 28 again (that way, I have to use February 28 for 4 consecutive days...)
I didn't want to make things more complicated by mentioning that, but the answer is yes, continue to put use February 28 for four days. If it gets full then move on to the next day. When it gets down to the 1 week spot, then again the rule is that if the page is full you continue on the next page.
One question, if putting things one month/week ahead of time has more to do with creating auto-timed dismissal than having to do with the calendar - then I could use last years left over (empty) one day a page diary. If I'm not concerned with actually using the task diary as an calendar as well?
Excited to start testig out DIT2/AF5/FLOW/AFD/WHATEVER ;-)
/jonaz
On the idea of assignments and other tasks with due dates, any comments on how best to handle them? If I enter them a month off when they're really due on a date that's closer, that doesn't feel right. But If I enter them on their actual due date, then I wouldn't be working on that page until either a month or a week from when the task is due.
The dates on the pages are only involved in the dismissal procedure.
So it's not a "Do It Next Month"-system ;-)
/jonaz
Jonaz - I'm totally confused. Here's a real example.
I receive voice message from a potential client inquiring about my service. According to the rules. I write "Call back client X" one calendar month from today’s date.
So when do i call back client X?
Also, if you start the system fresh, all of your tasks are written one month from today. Do just choose a few things to work on and put them into todays date? How many do you choose.
It's quite clear I'm missing some essential detail.
What I read now seems very motivating to me - a perfect mixture of the best of both Systems.
Thank you very much, Mark for publishing so much input again and again...
Just beginning to think about DIT I´m wondering, if it makes sense to mark tasks that are re-entered (will expire in 1 week). Perhaps write them down in another color or whatever... What do you think?....
Does it matter which end of the list you start from? In AF1 you always start from the earliest; in AF2 you always start from the latest; in DIT it doesn't matter. Do you think it matters with this model?
You use the dates on the diary pages only when you put a new task on the list, and also for dismissal (when you come to that date in real life those tasks are dismissed).
I'm sure Mark would be able to explain better, I might have gotten it all wrong. But I think that that date one month ahead has nothing to do with when you *do* the task. It just a matter of introducing a "self-dismissing" system.
/jonaz
Paper version:
* get yourself a bunch of paper sheets
* put on each piece of paper: "expires on MM/DD/YY", going from today to whenever
* add tasks on the pieces of paper that expires 1 month from now (new tasks) or 1 week from now (re-entered tasks)
* treat all 'future' pages between now and 1 month from now as one big active list to circle around as you do tasks that stand out to you.
Digital version (actually much simpler!):
Porting this to a digital world, what you basically have is one long list of tasks, sorted by expiration date of the task, where the expiration date is determined by when you added (a month earlier) or re-entered (a week earlier) the task. You circle around the list doing tasks that stand out, and every day the top portion of your list expires... right? I'm imagining tasks could be color-coded by expiration date (expiring today = reddish, expiring less than a week from now = yellowish, expiring later than that = greenish).
Digital version summarized:
* one long list of tasks, sorted by expiration date
* expiration date = 1 week from now (re-entered task) -or- 1 month from now (new task)
* circle the list and do tasks that stand out
* tasks that have expired are gone forever
Questions:
1) What do you do when you go on vacation, are in the hospital or "quit" AF5/DIT2 for two weeks? What do you do with all the tasks that have "expired" unconciously? In AutoFocus, a task never expires if you don't specifically let it expire.
2) Can I re-enter a task without actually doing anything with it? (as when you reviewed a task in AF4 and decided to add it to the list again). Or am I not allowed to re-enter a task unless I actually did something with it?
3) Related to the previous question... I imagine that this system will more actively force me to "review" tasks that have been on the list for too long, by forcing the tasks to expire if I don't do anything with it, and decreasing the window of opportunity once I commit. If I then decide to split the task in several pieces, I imagine I should then consider myself comitted and enter all of those as re-entered tasks?
4) I guess one way to tweak this new system somewhat more towards AF4 would be to consider the first 7 pages (or expiration dates) as the closed list, and everything after that the open list, so that you circle in the closed list until nothing stands out and then go to the open list once and then back to the closed list. Or is that a bad idea? In fact, maybe you could have 3 "levels" of lists, the "expires today" list, the "expires this week" list, and the "expires this month" list. You circle the today list until nothing stands out, then you go to the week list and go back to the today list after every circle, until nothing stands out in either of them, then you go to the month list, etc. Just like with AF, but in three levels instead of one.
Those were my thoughts so far :).
Cheers,
Tijl
So if I'm starting fresh, all of the things I'd like to do today are entered ONE MONTH FROM TODAY'S DATE. Essentially, I'd have 30+ pages blank, and then one page full of tasks. I'd start working from March 1 (a la AF), and renter tasks/projects that need more work, ONE WEEK FROM TODAYS DATE.
Does this sound correct?
I hate to rain on a parade as glorious as yours but I think you are adrift. The key concept in "autofocus" is to let your subconscious pick the time to tackle the next task. You do this by scanning and picking from the list. The challenge is how to balance the "old" vs the "new". Some of the aging items may never happen (at least as written), perhaps because they were poorly conceived, improperly stated, or simply not actually important. The "new" tasks have "pseudo-imperative" of the "now" but some will surely prove to age poorly. That is why they must wait their time a bit. [As always, the truly urgent, the must happen now, simply cut to the front of the line -- that is the real world.]
To my mind, AF4 is at the sweet spot. Simple, unidirectional, with a clear way to ultimately prune the deadwood tasks. One can argue about how and when to cross the line or draw the next line, but that is small stuff. Tying the pruning system to calendars or fixed intervals loses all the abstraction that makes the system flexible and adaptable to different styles and contexts.
For myself, the next challenge in AF is how to read those internal subconscious clues better, how to bring some rationale into play without interfering with the glorious spontaneous subjectivity of the approach.
Beware of tinkering in response to minor issues or for the fun of playing with something new.
Thanks for all your stimulating efforts,
bob
Thank you for sharing this with us.
Yes, that's correct.
Re your question about "Call back Client X", if there is a date attached enter on the calendar rather than the Active List.
"What about real-life appointments" like doctor's appt on March 3. Well, the Covey pages I use have a two page spread -- one side is for appointments and the other side is a "Daily record of events". So I'll use the daily record for the list and I can still look through those right-side pages, ignoring the date while I work on getting them done, and use the left-side pages to track appointments. Cool!
I'm anxious to check back in a couple of days. (Or, the way my day looks so far, maybe this evening.) (grin)
-Allison
I like the digital idea, and that does seem easier, but somehow a paper and pencil has a kick for me.
-Allison
My opinion (without actually trying this new approach) is that it adds complexity (e.g. 1 week/1 month/up to 30 active pages) without perceived benefit (i.e. unrewarded complexity).
At this early stage (and I understand it's very early), I don't plan to test this version as it is. I was interested in something closer to DIT, so I guess it's either AF4 or DIT for me. Luckily, there are a lot of choices to pick from.
Just thought I'd share how I have set mine up. I decided I needed a looseleaf system, because I don't want to carry around a 365-page book. I will add pages and take out pages once a week.
I put a bunch of sheets of 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 into a "report cover" type binder. I labeled the first page "Expires Feb. 8 Monday," and each subsequent page similarly. Also on the first page, I wrote "Reentered Feb. 1" ~ and the following pages likewise.
Beginning on the "Expires Mar 1 Monday" page, I wrote "Entered Feb 1 Monday" and the following pages similarly.
This solves the February 28 pileup. I am using 7 days for the Reenter interval, and 28 days for the Enter interval.
So the first page is labeled:
Exp. 2/8 Mon
R. 2/1
The last page is labeled:
Exp. 4/12 Mon
Ent. 3/15
R. 4/5
I will use 3 plastic tabs to mark Today's expiration page, Entry page, and Reentry page.
I will probably use something like a "Do It Tomorrow" procedure with a separate calendar to actually use this list, until and unless Mark comes out with some other guidelines. I think it will work great! I'm very excited about it.
Thanks, Mark!
~Sarah J
I can see some potential, but mostly this just looks like autofocus with expiration dates. I'll keep checking to see if anyone's comments on using it impress, but I can see the following happening quite easily:
1 - resistant task goes in a month from now (i.e. currently March 1st). I don't do anything until that day on it (because I'm resisting it)
2 - Towards the end of March 1st, it dawns on me that it's about to get dismissed, but I don't actually want to lose it, as I generally resist dismissal. The solution is to do a little work on the item, and move it forward a week
3 - Same occurs the next week, and the week after, and ...
... Eventually my list is cluttered with items I keep doing 5-10 minutes on every week or so, all at least 1 month old. Eventually I will let some get dismissed, but in the above example I think it would have gone much quicker under AF
I'm also a bit worried about how, in AF, I generally had a good overview of everything on the list - I'm not sure it will be so easy in this system.
I will test this new system. I hope I understand it. :D
@Avrum :) I tweak my start and write my "re-entered" tasks 1 week from now and new tasks on my AF4 1 month from now.
Lets start !!
<< I was also thinking about Anne's comment, we should perhaps stick to 4 weeks instead of a calendar month? >>
You can do that, but it makes it less instinctive as to where the 1-month point is. "Today's Feb 1st so I put new stuff on Mar 1st" v." Today's Feb 1st so I put the stuff on... let's see... hmmm... ah, yes... Mar 1st!!"
<< One question, if putting things one month/week ahead of time has more to do with creating auto-timed dismissal than having to do with the calendar - then I could use last years left over (empty) one day a page diary. >>
Good point. Yes, you could.
<< If I enter them a month off when they're really due on a date that's closer, that doesn't feel right. But If I enter them on their actual due date, then I wouldn't be working on that page until either a month or a week from when the task is due. >>
It's important to realise that the dates are the expiry dates, not the dates you are planning to do them. If you enter something on the page for March 1st, then it expires on March 1st. You may do it any time between now and then. The easiest way to enter something with a specific date is either to use a reminder system (like Outlook Tasks) or enter on the list with the date you want to do it in brackets, e.g. "Call Bob (Mar 10)"
How about calling DIT30 - 30 meaning the +30 days.
Or DIT 30/7
OR DIT+1 - being like the next DIT and plus 1 month.
-Christian
<< But defaulting to one month from now? >>
See my previous comment (to Lenore).
<< It's quite clear I'm missing some essential detail. >>
Yes, you are. You're missing para 5 "All active pages are treated as if they were one long list and you continue to circulate round them doing the tasks that stand out."
<< I´m wondering, if it makes sense to mark tasks that are re-entered (will expire in 1 week). Perhaps write them down in another color or whatever... What do you think?.... >>
If you want to distinguish between re-entered items and ones which have not yet been actioned at all, then all you have to do is to draw a line under the tasks on the 1-month page each time you move on to a new 1-month page (i.e. at the start of each new day).
<< isn't this effectively a To Do List - albeit self deleting, the very essence of what DIT strove to take us away from?!?! >>
What labels it is given and what its relationship to DIT is are much less important questions than whether it works. And we won't know that more than a month has passed.
http://create.ly/fzr4bk5y3
<< Does it matter which end of the list you start from? In AF1 you always start from the earliest; in AF2 you always start from the latest; in DIT it doesn't matter. Do you think it matters with this model? >>
In para 5, I say just treat all the active pages (i.e. all pages from today to one month's time inclusive) as one list which you circulate around. So you just start again from where you left off.
How does the new system, in any way, take on the spirit of DIT i.e. Knowing that you've completed a full day of work?
My situation is that mental health issues mean that sometimes I am simply not capable of coping with very long lists and need to keep the present very short and simple. My head is buzzing with a whole lot of things I would like to do or feel I have to do, which means a very long list, which leads to anxiety and confusion. The flip side of that is that leaving them out altogether also leads to anxiety if I don't find a good system for recording them somewhere else for retrieval later. Putting something down for expiry in 7 months time, means that I can forget about it for the next 6 months.
Concrete example: I have had a substantial art project in mind for quite a few years. However my present reality is that I am dealing with joblessness, poor health etc. If I put the art project for expiry in 4 months, I can "forget about it" for 3 months while I get on with other stuff, including more modest art-related activities. Of course it ends up immediately on the subconscious list, meanwhile the conscious list becomes shorter and more feasible.
At the moment to be honest, I find autofocus too much of a hurdle. Very short daily to-do lists of a few key tasks are sometimes as much as I can manage. Once autofocus has broken down it is hard for me to get it rolling again. I'm interested in this new system, but I won't be rushing into it unless I can find a way to continue engaging with it even during those times when my psychological resources are very limited.
Your summary of the "electronic version" of the system is correct.
Questions:
1) What do you do when you go on vacation, are in the hospital or "quit" AF5/DIT2 for two weeks? What do you do with all the tasks that have "expired" unconciously? In AutoFocus, a task never expires if you don't specifically let it expire.
This is one of the complications which I am trying to keep out of the initial version so that people could experiment and see what works. The answer I myself am experimenting with is that you cross out all the days between the last 1-month page you put tasks on and the current 1-month page. Then you renumber the first day you missed to today's date, and the similarly renumber the 1-week page, then each day renumber the next pages until you catch up. That's much harder to explain in words than it actually is in practice! For example if you are away for the next 2 days (Feb 2 and 3), when you come back 1) delete Mar 2 and 3, renumber Feb 2 to Feb 4 and Feb 8 to Feb 10..
2) Can I re-enter a task without actually doing anything with it? (as when you reviewed a task in AF4 and decided to add it to the list again). Or am I not allowed to re-enter a task unless I actually did something with it?
I wouldn't advise it. You will undermine the entire rationale of the system.
3) Related to the previous question... I imagine that this system will more actively force me to "review" tasks that have been on the list for too long, by forcing the tasks to expire if I don't do anything with it, and decreasing the window of opportunity once I commit. If I then decide to split the task in several pieces, I imagine I should then consider myself comitted and enter all of those as re-entered tasks?
That would be my reaction too, but it's worth experimenting with.
4) I guess one way to tweak this new system somewhat more towards AF4 would be to consider the first 7 pages (or expiration dates) as the closed list, and everything after that the open list, so that you circle in the closed list until nothing stands out and then go to the open list once and then back to the closed list. Or is that a bad idea? In fact, maybe you could have 3 "levels" of lists, the "expires today" list, the "expires this week" list, and the "expires this month" list. You circle the today list until nothing stands out, then you go to the week list and go back to the today list after every circle, until nothing stands out in either of them, then you go to the month list, etc. Just like with AF, but in three levels instead of one.
I did actually try this out and all it did was quite seriously get in the way!