Doing Everything - Yes?

Here are a couple of quotes from the Forum today (Thursday):

First, one from Wooba:

Since using no-list methods, I have often had days when I feel like I have done everything, and that there is nothing else I need to do. That is a great feeling in some ways, but scary too. Sometimes the idea appears that I will never have anything else to do. Which is odd, because before no-list I was always scared of having so much to do. So when everything is done in a day, I can truly relax and kick back, guilt-free. It is a totally different way of being.

and one from myself (slightly edited):

I think it’s a matter of gradual accretion. I find no-list results in a fairly standard list of things I’ve worked on each day - the well-trodden pathways of the mind. And as I get more and more on top of these subjects I find that I’ve got more capacity. That leads me to work on a few more things and some of those will “stick”.
Most of the time this method of working copes quite happily with emergencies and the like because they usually fall within the existing things I’m working on. Sometimes of course that pattern will get disrupted and sometimes that disruption will result in new stuff being added to the regular work I’m doing.

Both of us are finding that with no-list we come to a point where we seem to have done everything. That is the point where we need to push forward and extend our activity into further worthwhile projects - which can of course include having more leisure.

Speaking personally I’m finding that the best no-list method for achieving this state is the one I described last Tuesday under the heading  A Variation on My Current No-List System. But as I’ve said before, there’s not that much to chose between no-list systems and you can swap systems with little or no adverse effect.

Comments

[Sarah Jane]

I have a number of systems I use around my no-lists. With the no-lists part of my systems I vary with the format I use depending on demands and how organised I am.

If I'm experiencing things as in-control and organised, then I really love the spaciousness and ease created by my iteration of a Version 1 type no-list. I call it Gentle Focus.

When everything is coming in all at once, I like my iteration of a version 2 type no-list. I'd call it Chaos Control. I put things that are needing to be done in the next two to three hours on the no-list and find the approach slows me down and clarifies my mind as to what is important to be done next.

[Mark Forster]

Sarah Jane:

<< my iteration of a Version 1 type no-list. >>

Do you mean by that the 5T system found in "Secrets of Productive People"?

[Sarah Jane]

Oops - used my own descriptors.

What I've called Version 1/ Gentle Focus is what you (Mark) have recently described as "my current no-list system". It's very similar to something you described a few weeks ago which I adapted slightly and kept using.

What I've called Version 2/ Chaos Control is like what you called "a variation of my current no-list system".

Hope that makes sense.