A New Random Method - Follow Up #1

At the beginning of Day 4 of testing I have 82 undone tasks in the system (including writing this post). I have the following page stats (I’m using three columns on a page of 33 lines):

Page 1 Completed 99 Remaining 0

Page 2 Completed 99 Remaining 0

Page 3 Completed 66 Remaining 33

Page 4 Completed  3  Remaining 50

Total  Completed 267 Remaining 83

267 tasks completed in three days equals an average of 89 tasks a day.

This means that I’ve got about a day’s worth of undone tasks in the system. This is about the limit that a random method can take without undue delays. 

Comments

[Margaret1]

Mark, how are you finding the system now? It would be interesting to hear why you found randomizer processing more satisfying than 54321.

[Mark Forster]

Margaret1:

It worked very well, but I ran into the usual problem with long lists - which is that they just keep growing and growing. And the result of that is that urgent tasks get delayed unacceptably unless they are given some form of special treatment. And if you are going to give some tasks special treatment then it's no longer a truly random system.

I find 54321 works very well to get going on tasks which one is resisting. But I haven't yet worked out the best way to use it systematically. I haven't gone so far as to buy the book and find out how the author does it!

[Don R]

I tried this random method for a day and it got me to take care of an important task (schedule service on my car for a safety recall) I would have put off if I had to do it based on motivation. It’s like you said, it’s easier to follow an order.

[TheQueenofHippies]

I really wish this method would work better over a consistent period of time. In this method, instead of using my intuition to select the task, I end up using my intuition to guide me how long I'm going to work on a given task. This is very powerful, since often my main challenge is just 'getting started' and breaking through the initial "ugh-field".

Also, with random systems, I may end up doing some very useful/fun/creative things that I probably wouldn't have done otherwise (started playing my flute again after adding it to the list on a whim, and I'm having a blast!)

Yet, life happens, urgent stuff comes up, and the list grows. It doesn't take too long until the system starts collapsing.