Break

I’ve decided to take a couple of weeks’ break from this website.

I’ll be approving comments, dealing with registrations and removing any spam or other offensive content, but otherwise will not be contributing.

The live demo on Thursday, March 3rd is cancelled.

Comments

[JD]

Mark: The sheer volume of output from you recently has been phenomenal. It must of course be exhausting, but ultimately, I hope, rewarding.

I am seeing SF in contemporaneous action by its maker, delivering both the quality and quantity of work you said it would.

I will miss not having the live demo to look forward to, but eagerly await your return to the forum. Meanwhile, there's plenty to digest as it is.

[Alison Reeves]

Have a nice break Mark - I look forward to seeing you back here soon.

[smileypete]

Have a good break Mark, you deserve it!

Get a few long leisurely walks in when (if?) the weather is good.

Read a few short stories too if that'll help, I quite like Jack London.

[David Drake]

Sorry to see Mark go. A very unpleasant turn of events. Guess I will go too. Best wishes, Mark.

-David

[Bernie]

Mark, I hope everything is okay.

I will certainly miss that Mar 3 video! However, there is plenty of material here already to keep me busy honing my SuperFocus skills, and plenty of articulate folk to help me out.

Today went much better on the "little and often" front, so I think I will get there.

Best wishes.

[Pastor Chris]

"I am seeing SF in contemporaneous action by its maker, delivering both the quality and quantity of work you said it would." I agree with JD regarding the recommendation of SF by the quality and quantity demonstrated by Mark's output.

[Maureen]

Hope that all is well. And as others have pointed out, there's plenty of info and help for us while the cat's away.

[Christopher]

Mark,

I greatly appreciate your work here. You are patient and extremely helpful. Thank you so much. Enjoy your break.

Christopher

[Brian]

Mark,

No good deed goes unpunished. You have the patience of Job. The system works best with the minimal set of rules necessary.

"Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex, intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple, stupid behavior." - Dee Hock

[David Drake]

I to, greatly appreciate Mark's work. I must admit, I am glad to see Mark is human like the rest of us and at times, gets annoyed and needs a break! He has a heart of gold and has proven himself beyond measure. Mark, enjoy your break....rest. I too am staying away from the forums (except for this post here) until you return. I do understand your feelings. Remember me and what I encountered with Norman U?

-David

[Jane S]

Are you trying to torture us with that countdown timer, Mark?

[ik]

:) this is childish

[Alan Baljeu]

No, this is freedom! No need to refresh every hour for weeks wondering if Mark has returned. :-)

[Pastor Chris]

I like the timer. It appeals to the side of me which also thinks Superfocus is the best time management system out there. The timer may be not only for people on the forum but for Mark as well. He knows exactly how much down time he has, something I can identify with in my own life.

[Paul]

When you get back...

I've been transitioning back to paper and trying your latest systems, as I generally like your systems. Superfocus has me coming up against the following issues:

1. Merlin Mann's insight that if a task is really urgent you would be doing it instead of making entries in your todo list seems very true for me. And the category of "things that are important and I want to be thinking about them today but not truly urgent" is too fluid for this system.

2. It isn't especially important to me to *force* myself to complete tasks before I can look at other tasks, and this can be harmful (see below).

I'm a lawyer. Most of my tasks fall into three categories: (a) done so quickly it doesn't make sense to make a note that I am working on them; (b) large tasks with no impending deadline that need not take priority over other tasks; and (c) large tasks with immediate deadlines that I am working at without having to be told. It is a problem if I let tasks in the second category create roadblocks to small tasks on the column 1 list, because the email doesn't get responded to and phone calls don't get made and so forth. I.e., anything worth putting into column 2 because it's incomplete is likely to be significantly *less* important and time sensitive than the bulk of the column 1 tasks. Breaking those big tasks into parts just creates little tasks that are done before there is much of a reason to put them into column 2.

So I am falling back on plain jane Autofocus, except that I keep a sticky note on the current page with a list of 2-5 things I am either working on or thinking about working on that day. Sort of like Superfocus without the constraint - I track the column two tasks but don't enforce them strictly.